Here is a collection of artwork that I have completed in my Curriculum and Instruction: Visual Arts Class!
Sketching
One day we walked into class and had to sit in a seat where there was an animal that we did not particularly like. I sat with a dinosaur because I remember as a child, dinosaurs scared me (until I watched the Land Before Time series with my sisters). We were directed to complete different style of sketches using the animal we chose. Here are my sketches of the dinosaur I chose…
Print Making
In our last Visual Arts class, we got to do printmaking! We did it in a variety of ways and it was SO much fun! We used ink, rollers, and premade stamps for one station, at another station we used foam stamps and used paint on a sponge to transfer the paint, and another station we got to use little foam decorative pieces, colour on them with a marker, and then stamp our papers. We then turned those papers into boxes with a top and a bottom! These are super simple ways and can be done (the last two methods) with very little resources and supplies that most schools would have handy! This is something that I will definitely be incorporating into my classrooms in the future!
Mask Making
For a final project, I had the opportunity to make a mask. I had so much fun being creating and applying different paper sculpting techniques to create such a fun art project. I used techniques such as repetition, scoring, balance, colour, and 3-D features. In addition to creating the mask, I had to answer some questions about it and will have to perform a little skit about the last three following questions (how the person behind the mask moves, sits, etc.).
What aspects of yourself are in the mask?
This mask is like me because I have wavy brown hair and long eyelashes. I have a big loud voice that I love to use which is why my mask has a fairly big mouth. I wear glasses regularly which is why my mask also has glasses. I love to wear jewellery and get dressed up, just like my mask.
What personalities are in the mask that does not come out in your life generally?
An aspect of the mask that does not come out generally in person is how it looks confident. I am generally worried about what other people think of me and not as confident as sometimes I should be. My mask tells me that I like to have fun and might be a bit of a party animal.
How does the persona behind the mask move?
When I wear this mask I walk with confidence and am all dressed up! I walk with a little pep in my step while strutting my stuff. I am wearing fancier clothing than normal and walking into a party.
How does the persona behind the mask sit?
I sit with my legs crossed and my head held high. My eyes are wide open and my mouth is talking to a friend who is sitting beside me. Everyone around me knows I am there as I am taking up physical space and a lot of emotional space as my personality shines bright, lighting up the room.
How would the persona behind the mask stand?
When wearing my mask, I stand tall and posed naturally. My right hand is on my right hip, feet staggered (one in front of the other), and my hair is blowing in the breeze. My personality shines bright, lighting up everyone’s smiles around me, as I say something to comfort them. I stand with open and warming body language, with open arms (in a theoretical sense).
In the second picture, my friend created a mask that is a student with their brains exploding. In this image, I was acting as her teacher and helping her get through the tough times at school! The last picture is a group of us that made masks in my Cohort.
Emphasis in Art
This week we brought in items from nature and rearranged them to show different elements and principles of design. Here are some of the arrangements my group created looking at rhythm, repetition, contrast, and unity.
Adapting Lesson Idea
This is an assignment I completed after reviewing artwork by Norval Morrisseau. He was an amazing artist from Ontario who created beautiful Woodland artwork. For this assignment, we were to consider Morrisseau’s artwork elements and examine the Visual Art Curriculum document. I correlated Fundamental Concepts from the curriculum to grades one, two, and three, in the primary division. See image below.
Fundamental Concepts are things that students will have an understanding of by the end of that grade. These are different among curriculum subjects and in Visual Art, they are divided into the elements and principles of design. The elements of design are line, space, colour, texture, value, shape and form. The principles of design are repetition and rhythm, balance, proportion, variety, emphasis, unity and harmony, movement, and contrast. Students will not only create their own artwork using these elements and principles, but they will also be able to identify the elements and principles within other pieces of art as well. As students progress through school grades, the elements and principles become more complex and build off the foundations from the grade before. It is important for teachers of younger grade students to ensure their students have a good understanding of the elements and principles of design. This is important because as the fundamental concepts become more complicated, students need to have an understanding of the basics before they will be able to understand the new concepts.
Completing this assignment was very beneficial because I found an ideal grade (three) for a lesson on Morrisseau and geared it down for grades one and two. This depended on how the Fundamental Concepts from the curriculum fit the elements and techniques of the artwork style. This method of lesson planning is beneficial to me as a new teacher in classrooms because it allows teachers to create a basic lesson plan and adjust it to multiple grades. Starting off as a supply teacher, this is a great method to practice because every day will be different schools, grades, and students. Having an art lesson pre-prepared that is suitable for multiple grades is a great resource to have.
Materials required for artwork inspired by Morrisseau are everyday items that will be available in most classrooms. This type of artwork is handy because these items will be in classrooms that I supply in and not things that I will need to carry around with me from school to school and class to class. Material choice can vary but the basics include:
- paper
- pencils
- colouring items: pencil crayons, markers, crayons, pastels, etc.
Why does this matter…
I really enjoyed learning about Morrisseau and the elements of his artworks. I feel that this is a topic in visual art that I can comfortably and confidently teach students at any grade level. The complexity and challenge of the artwork can change quickly depending on the grade of students I am teaching which is extremely beneficial to me as a supply teacher. This style of art is very eye-catching and very intriguing! It is very abstract which is beneficial to teach to students as they don’t necessarily have to be good at art.
There are many great resources out there with Norval Morrisseau’s work. When teaching this style of artwork in Visual Art classes to students, I would have these websites prepared to show students Morrisseau’s artwork and to learn a little bit about him.
Some of the links that I will be prepared with include:
Family by Norval Morrisseau
References:
Image Credit: norman.m on Flickr Image
Floorplan
This is a floorplan that Dana and I made up for how we would have our ideal classroom when having students complete an artwork using paint.
We were required to have:
- 25 desks for students (the students would sit with their backs towards the trapezoid tables so that all students could look towards the front of the room – where the carpet is)
- 2 desks for quiet work spaces
- 3 trapezoid tables – where we would put the paint stations
- a carpet to demonstrate lessons with the class
- a conference table (3 cubes by the carpet)
- 3 stations for collecting clean water and emptying dirty water buckets
Exploring with Colours
We had a choice to explore different scales of monochromatic warm or cool colours. I chose cool colours because I did warm colours on the previous assignment. I took a couple different greens and blues paints, as well as a yellow, a white, and a black. Using the colours and mixing in white I made different tints of the colours and by adding black I made new shades of the original colours. I painted them using different line techniques (straight, curved, and dotted).
Hows Your Heart?
This assignment had us think deeply about our feelings and how it impacted us. We used a monochromatic scale of colours to represent how we feel. I chose warm colours because I find them appealing when used in a monochromatic scale.
Hurts Worries Hopes Joys
Goorts' Gearbox 