Noguchi Creatures and Color Schemes

January 7, 2016

In this Grade 3 unit of inquiry, we explored the wonderful shapes and forms of Isamu Noguchi. Building on our previous inquiry into color and color schemes, students created 2D abstract compositions using an analogous color scheme. We also explored how 2D forms can be transformed into 3D ones.

Students began by selecting a range of analogous colors from colored paper, cutting out abstract shapes, and arranging them into a composition on each side. We were looking at how we create balance and rhythm in our compositions.

Then, we cut our pieces to transform the 2D compositions into 3D sculptures. Due to the fact that the sculptures had legs, the students referred to them as creatures, which livened up the project a bit. The "creatures" were installed in a hallway by the school atrium.

Our final step was to draw the completed sculptures using a different color scheme and adding a contrasting background. This was a great project to allow the students to explore color and color relationships in a variety of forms.

Digital Process Journals in the PYP Art Studio

January 7, 2016

I've been working on trying to have students use technology more and more in the art classroom. One area I've been interested in is having students use the technology as a support for their learning and artistic creation. I want students to see the technology as a tool that allows them to understand and reflect on their art making in a new and deeper way. To this end, I've started to create digital process journals to help students record their artistic journey and to also serve as a tool for flipping the classroom so that more class time can be devoted to creating and one-on-one feedback. In doing so I've noticed a few advantages:

Facilitate more home learning by flipping the classroom
Easily differentiate learning for students
Easily monitor progress through the unit
Allow for more in-depth analysis of artworks and art-making
Encourage students to document and reflect on their learning and artistic exploration

These journals are built around 4 sections:

Investigate: Learning about artists, artworks, tools, and materials
Plan: Writing a Statement of Artistic Intent, thumbnail sketches, tests and trials, peer feedback on the process
Create: Recording the process of making; Challenges and success
Reflect: Evaluating the final artwork and reflecting on the outcome.

Flipping the Classroom

Originally, I envisioned a digital process journal as a way to organize student learning and streamline my assessment of their work--and my early attempts were largely focused on that. However, I've begun to see the possibility of using the journal to flip the classroom. Since students take their iPads home, i've started to include activities and learning tasks into the journal with the idea that they are completed outside of the classroom. This means that we can devote more time in-class to working one-on-one and engaging on a deeper level with art making. As I trial this out through this year, I'm going to explore different possibilities to

Creating a Process Journal

Using Keynote or Google Slides, I create a template for each unit and drop in the source materials that students will need. Often, the majority of the pages are empty with short instructions to paste a photo of the process or record an answer to a task.

Here's my process for creating the journal for Explain Everything on the iPad:

Create a template using Keynote or PowerPoint
Drop in source materials that students will need
Export as a PDF
In Explain Everything, import the PDF
Save the file as a Explain Everything Project (XPL)

For cohorts that don't have iPads, I use Google Slides to create and share a slide show with the students. Each student essentially has their own slideshow on which they can make changes, add notes and images, etc.

Post-it Note Mandalas

December 15, 2015

Our current unit of inquiry in grade 4 is looking at self expression. We are investigating mandalas and their uses and histories from around the world. We are also looking at the principle of radial balance and how this is embodied in mandalas.

To get students engaged with the idea of a mandala and what radial symmetry is, we created Post-it mandalas using post-it notes, markers, an iPad and Keynote. This was a great introduction to the summative project where students will design a larger mandala that represents aspects of themselves and use a similar approach and technology to create it.

Students began by drawing a simple design beginning in the corner of the post it note. Every few minutes, they took a picture with their iPad and pasted, copied, and rotated the design in Keynote to create a Mandala. After each iteration in their design, students assessed how it was developing and made changes to better unify it. There has been some great visual problem solving going on as students deal with parts of their design not lining up as they expected--instead of starting over, they are working to incorporate the "error" into their design.

As students worked through their designs, it was really interesting to see the evolution of the design as they challenged themselves develop their design.

Using Statements of Artistic Intent in PYP Art

December 13, 2015

A Statement of Artistic Intent is like a thesis statement for an artwork. It describes "the what," "they why," and "the how" behind the intention to make an artwork.

Chandelier

September 8, 2015

This project began with a desire to make the space more interesting and engaging for the students.As a new school, there a number of spaces that have yet to owned by original artworks from the students. One such space was the atrium space above the eating area.

As students were already exploring the properties of color, as well as the transparency and texture of plastic, this project fit in perfectly with their units of inquiry. Inspired by Chiluly’s approach to making sculpture, students explored the properties of plastic, and worked together to create a large artwork for their space.

We began by collecting hundreds of bottles and painting the insides a range of blues, greens, and purples. Then we made single spiral cuts along the body of the bottle and used a heat gun to stretch out the pieces and harden them (older students and teachers helped with that bit).

A big part of the project was making sure the students could be involved in as many steps as possible in the construction. To accomplish this, I built a form with pop-riveted bottle caps on it which allowed young students to screw the bottles on.

Working in teams, the students assembled all the pieces into the large sculpture. Perhaps the most exciting step was watching the installation of the sculpture by a group of workers. Each stage of the process required many hands working together.

The final piece hanging above the eating area in the Junior School.

Sky Jars: Color and memories

September 7, 2015

I've become intrigued with how our brain remembers color. There's lots of neurological research about how our brain processes color, but not much about how we remember it. This was the leaping off point for the current project with the grade 5's called Sky Jars. We created a jar of color that evoked a memory of the color of the sky from a favorite memory. Students were challenged with remembering and then recreating that color.

First we did a thinking routine about our summer to visualize the memory, the sky, and its color. then, using food coloring, we mixed primary colors into jars. Finally, we labelled each jar with information about the memory (place, time, and memory). The best part was naming the color; Students were challenged to come up with names that evoked the memory or place without naming the color. We ended up with Buckingham Sky, Rocky Mountain Haze, and Trouble Brewing.

After installing the artwork in the atrium, students completed a "Looking Ten-times-Two" thinking routine. This allowed them to reflect on their creating process, as well as how their memories came to form part of a larger artwork. For the past two weeks its been great to watch people walk by, stop, and read the memories.

Diatoms and the Diatomist

February 22, 2015

This video kicked it all off for the Grade 1s. Their current UOI is How The World Works, and they are looking at the different states of water. Following on from our adventure in painting ice balls, we were looking at what was inside water.

I remember seeing this documentary about Klaus Kemp, one of the only people in the world who creates intricate artworks out of diatoms.

After looking at the video and discussing the shapes (we've been looking at different types of symmetry in art and nature) we discussed what kinds of lives these creatures must have. Students drew their interpretation of a diatom design, which we then cut out to show as if we were looking through a magnifying glass.

Gallery of student works

Draw, Draw-bots! Draw!

February 22, 2015

Quite possibly the most fun I've ever had with an art project.

This unit tied in with the grade 4's unit on How The World Works. We were looking at electricity.

Presented with a pile of switches, wires, DC motors and coffee cups, students worked in pairs to design, build and "release" a drawbot. Each one ended up having its own character.

Painting with Pendulums

February 21, 2015

The grade threes are engaged in a transdisciplinary unit on simple machines. In visual arts we have been looking at the complex, and not so simple, machines of Rube Goldberg.

We looked at some of his drawings as well as the OK Go video This To Shall Pass. Their culminating task will be to design and build a Rube Goldberg-like machine that links up with other machines.

After watching the video and looking at the drawings and then doing some drawing, I wanted to get students thinking about how machines could create art. We built 5 pendulums with paint bottles, artists' easels, and string. Students experimented with different weights and directions for setting the pendulum in motion. When they were ready, we set them in motion. It was very messy, but produced some wonderful results.

Students experimented with how the length of strings and different weights affected the pendulums arc. Our next step in this unit of inquiry is to translate their knowledge of different machines and the excitement of pendulum painting into artistic creations that have a whimsical element, in much the way Goldberg's drawings did.