Seventh Grade Surrealism

Seventh graders have been working on a semester-long unit on value, an element of art that describes the use of light and darkness.  They have learned how to use a variety of sketching pencils and they have applied this skill toward creating some amazing drawings.  They drew apples with a variety of media, including pencil and colored pencil. For the last project of the value unit, we looked at some of the most famous examples of Surrealism by Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali, then they created their own "Surrealist Apples."

Here is "Son of Man" by Rene Magritte, one of his most well-known paintings- I used this to prompt the Surrealist apple project, of course.

I am so impressed with the originality and the wonderful Surrealist sense of mystery that they were able to capture in their drawings! Here are some of the beautiful results. 

Sixth Grade Perspective Drawing

Sixth graders learned how to draw in one-point perspective and used this technique to design a room. In one-point perspective, all diagonal lines lead to the same point, called the vanishing point. Students designed and created their dream rooms, including furniture, skylights, and home decor. 

Click here for a great tutorial on one-point perspective by art educator Harold Olejarz!

Here are some wonderful examples of the rooms: