6Th grade Artists
6th graders wrapped up the year with this challenging project. Clay piggy banks! The students could create anything they wanted as long as they used a pinch pot, coil, and slab. All of the techniques along with slip and score were demonstrated and practiced. Each student had a plan before building. The students had to build fast with only 2 days to build. Once they were fired and came out as bisque ware, they were ready to glaze. We discussed all the do's and don'ts of glazing and they got to work to finish glazing in 1 day. Another firing and these piggy bank perfections were done! Their ideas were SO creative and interesting to see. I was very impressed with their building skills and hard work to get these done in 3 class periods. 6th grade was challenged with difficult projects this year and worked through them with ease. They will be very missed next year, but are very ready for middle school! Have fun at IKE! :)
Pop Art was popping up all around Elmwood! Students got a little sweet treat during this project because we chose to study candy that is popular in our culture. Each student studied 2 different pieces of candy and made 4 thumbnail sketches. They chose their favorite, blew it up in size and painted with tempera paint. When they were making their thumbnail sketches we discussed zooming in on a specific area, repeating things, using bright colors, and making things "POP!" We looked at Pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns. They took inspiration from these artists to create their sweet pop art. And YES they got to eat the candy at the end of the project :)
3D cultural masks were so fun to make and all the 6th graders made this so fun! First a lot of different culture masks were introduced to students and the 3 main uses for masks: protection, celebratory, and theatrical. Next students had to make some decisions and start their 2D planning. They had choose if it was going to be a full mask or partial mask. Was it going to have eye(s) open or closed? At least 2 colors had to be included,
If 6th grade students don't already have their dream room at home, hopefully they created it in art! They created dream rooms using 1-point perspective. They first learned about eye level, horizon line, vanishing point, horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines. Students did a lot of practice to understand 1 point perspective before they started their rooms. They practiced making basic shapes 3D, made objects like a TV, bed, and dresser using 1-point perspective and then sketched a rough draft of their room. Once they were done with their rough draft room, they went onto their final draft, using a ruler to draw all vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines. When they were complete they traced their pencil lines with sharpie, erased any missed lines, and colored with color pencil. This project was a challenge to turn things into 1- point perspective, but the students did an excellent job. It was so fun to see what they would want to have in their dream room!
Before the holiday break 5th and 6th grade learned about value of color. 6th grade made christmas lights with oil pastel, traced them onto black paper, then added chalk pastel with the color of their light and added white to change the value of the color. They smeared the chalk pastel outward around the light to create a glow. Last they punched holes in the bottom of the lights and strung them on yarn. They were hung around the hallways giving the school a fun holiday spirit!
6th grade completed these beautiful zebras to show for the 5th and 6th grade Fine Arts Night. The students learned about color schemes, focused on an analogous color scheme, and used a new medium, liquid watercolors. First students drew their zebras. We talked about looking for simple shapes when drawing an image. Next they painted all of the stripes with liquid watercolors using an analogous color scheme, mixing colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Once they were done painting, they carefully cut out their zebras and glued it onto black paper which really made the colors pop! I was very impressed with their painting and blending skills to create theses colorful zebras!
6th grade students started out the year using recyclable materials to make a magazine bowl. Students discussed different sculptures, specifically sculptures in our community. The students chose a theme for their bowl and ripped 75 magazine pages for their theme. Next they made strips by rolling the magazines on a ruler and securing them with tape. Once their 75 magazine pages were made into strips, they taped the strips together in a long chain. Next coiled their chain into a tight coil. Last was to pull and separate the magazine strips to complete their bowl. The bowl had to be at least 4" tall and pulled evenly, but the student could decide on the shape of their bowl. It was a very long project and they showed hard work and dedication to create these beautiful magazine bowls! I am very proud of their first masterpieces of the year!