Mrs. Smiley's Art Room: February 2016

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Third Grade African Masks

Third graders learned about African masks, including their traditional materials, makers, and meanings. Masks are used for ceremonial purposes and combined with costumes and dance. They learned about some of the most prevalent characteristics of masks, including zoomorphism, or animal characteristics, and abstractions. First, they sketched their masks, adding color and explaining the specific ceremonial purpose of their mask. Using primarily natural materials such as shells, feathers, and stones, they brought their sketches to life to create these lively 3-D creations.

"This mask is for good"

"For ceremonies"

"Good luck for farmers and food"

"Used for making people grateful"

Friday, February 12, 2016

Seventh Grade Social Justice Collages

Social Justice Collages

In the spirit of Romare Bearden

Seventh graders explored the work of Romare Bearden (1911-1988), an African-American artist who worked in collage, oil paint, watercolor, and many other materials. He created many of his collages as social justice statements during the Civil Rights movement, to celebrate and to make public the arts and culture that was taking place in predomininantly African-American areas such as Harlem. His collages captured both the struggles and the joy that African-American communities experienced during the Civil Rights movement.

Seventh graders chose a social justice topic with which they feel a connection. They used collage materials such as magazines to create their own statement pieces.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Eighth Grade Project: Artists of the Great Depression

Hello Eighth Graders, I am excited for you all to explore these incredible artists of the Great Depression, and I am looking forward to hearing about what you think of them and how they inspire you. Please see the information below to help you with your art and research project.

Artists of the Great Depression

With your group, create a posterboard or a PowerPoint about the artist. Please send all writing components to Erica as a Google Doc for editing before you glue it down: esmiley@moodle.rashi.org

Include:

· -A piece of artwork inspired by the artist with a 3-4 sentence artist statement

This can be 2-D or 3-D and in any art media of your choice, even something we haven’t covered this year. It should be clear how the artist has inspired your work. For example, you can use similar subject matter and/ or similar materials. Type and print this.

· -A one-page typed double-spaced visual analysis of one of the artist’s works

See attached visual analysis guide for details. Don’t worry! This is not as challenging as it seems- you are basically writing about what you see and your reaction to the piece of artwork, and what it is about the artwork that makes you see it that way.

· -Two examples of themes or imagery in common with TKAM

These can be bullet-pointed but should be typed.

· Four examples of significant events in the artist’s life

Plus, date of birth and death should be included. These can be bullet-pointed but should be typed

· Four items that you imagine might be in the artist’s backpack/suitcase.

These can be listed, drawn, or sculpted from any media you like.

Resources: Any museum website, any PBS documentary and its supporting materials online, any books or articles provided by Erica. Please see Erica to approve any other sources. Please see the art room blog for links to additional resource pages.

Edward Hopper