Starry Night Tissue Collage

Lesson Summary:
This was an art activity based off of Vincent Van Gogh's style. Each student was to create a background and cityscape. The background is tissue paper glued onto a black piece of paper. Then the tissue paper was then covered with a clear protective gloss. After the protective coat was dry, then students were able to add more jazz to their background using an oil pastel. Then students were to add a cityscape at the bottom of the page again using black construction paper and a white crayon to add details to the buildings. To finish the piece, the cityscape was glued on top of the background.

Extension Activity:
This lesson could be used with a variety of landscapes and backgrounds with Vincent Van Gogh's style. If students are learning about different states, they could chose the state and make a tissue collage that is individual to that state. If the student chooses Arizona, they could keep the same background used in the cityscape, but would change the city to a desert. They could add cactus's and different levels of land since Arizona is not very flat. The student would also be able to add colored details with crayons to both the desert and cactus's.

Creating a Pinch Pot

Lesson Summary:
We began by learning about the history of pinch pots and the correct ways to create an art piece. We talked about how Native American Tribes have used pint pots for thousands of years and that many used them to store grains such as corn and wheat. The class learned how to create a pot step-by-step while learning vocabulary such as slip and wedging. Then we began working with the clay to make our own pinch pots. Teachers moved around to each student and made sure that they were using proper technique when working with the clay. The requirements for the lesson were that each student needed to use the tools provided to make three different types of textures. Personally, I created a watermelon for a pinch pot. I added shapes (the seeds), texture (the inside of the watermelon has an indent), and lines (the outside has lines to separate the different colors of the outside of a watermelon).

Extension Activity:
After the student's pinch pots have been created, it would be fun for the students to paint their pinch pots. Since they have to dry, the first day students could mold the pinch pots. The next class they could then add colors to projects. That way they can incorporate color as another art element and more personality too. For example, on mine I could add more watermelon characteristics through color.

Elements and Principles of Design

Balance can either be symmetrical or asymmetrical. In this photo a symmetrical balance was used. As discussed in class if you were to cut the object in half, both sides would be exactly the same.

Elements and Principles of Design

Unity is an element of design in which all elements are related. In this picture, the elements are related by both color and by theme.

Footprint

The above footprint was our first assignment. It is an introduction piece for teachers to use to get to know his/her students as each item on the footprint represents things about the person. In the footprint I made, each part represents myself. Each toenail is colored different because I believe that represents my personality-colorful. I also went through a nail polish faze when I was younger. On the far left side, there is a volleyball and a tennis ball as I play both sports here at NSU. When I'm not practicing or working out for either sport and have free time, I love to just sit, relax, and watch movies which is represented by the movie film. In the middle is a little drawing of my family-dad, mom, two older brothers, myself, and a paw for my dog. They are everything to me. Another feature of my foot was the sun and water which represents the lake. I spend almost every weekend there with family and friends during the summer. Many of my favorite memories of growing up happened at the lake so it is a huge part of my life.
A nice extension on this assignment would be to have students "walk in another person's shoes". Students could choose a famous person in history to study and then create a footprint for that person. For example if a student studied Albert Einstein they would learn that he was successful in both math and science. His accomplishments could be represented on the footprint by E=MC2 (just one idea). Then the footprints could be hung up around the room and shared between the students.