be an artist

One of the first things I do with students is introduce what I call "artist behaviors" -- Look, Think, Choose, Do. When I had my own art classroom, I had reference pictures on the wall:


Now that I'm doing art lessons in other teachers' classrooms, I almost always write the four words on the board before starting an art lesson, no matter what grade level I am working with. If I'm with students I've worked with before, I have them tell me what "the four artist behaviors" are while I write them; if I am with students who are new to me, I quickly introduce them and then refer to them during the lesson. I explain first that artists look everywhere, at everything, to get ideas, and that once they have an idea they look more, very carefully. While they are looking, they start to think about what they want to do. They need to choose materials and tools, and also, if they are painting or drawing, where something is going to go on the paper, how big it will be, what colors they will use, whether it will be realistic or abstract, etc. I emphasize that an artist will always look, think, and choose before they begin to do their art work, and that this helps them to be creative.

Making a big deal about looking and thinking has helped me teach children to slow down, take care with their art work, and make personal choices that may be different from the person sitting next to them or across from them. If I am reading a picture book to introduce the art activity, I make sure they have ample time to look at the illustrations, and I will point out details if they don't find them. If we are using a visual reference, such as photographs or a famous art work, we spend time really looking at the elements of art and think about the artists' choices of color, line, shape, and texture, and the use of space, When they are ready to begin an activity, even if everyone is working on the same thing, I make sure they have choices of color, or materials, or sizes, or background colors, or something that will be theirs, not mine. I always ask them to think first about what they are going to do, picture in their mind where they will start and what they will be using before they start.

And I usually point out that "look, think, choose, do" are good behaviors for ALL school work... and even out of school.... not just for art work!
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what can you do with a dot?

Here's a lesson/activity I did recently with a second grade class. It includes a read-aloud, some art-history and art appreciation along with creative, mixed-media art-making.

We started out by brainstorming a list of things that have or are circles. The brainstorming session, which took maybe ten minutes, was followed by a read-aloud of the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds. Then we looked at photos of two Kandinsky paintings which are composed almost entirely with dots: Farbstudie and Several Circles. I asked students to comment on these two paintings; they noticed that he had used many colors, that some dots or circles were inside others, and that some were overlapped.

While giving directions, I introduced the term mixed-media, which in this case included any combination of crayons, markers, colored pencils, and collage, and also the terms representational and non-representational. They were given very simple directions: to use mixed-media, and to see what they could do with a dot, either representationally or non-representationally. Then they went to work and I observed.

Some students started large, while others started very small. Some partitioned their papers, and some started with borders. Once they were started and getting involved with their compositions, I invited the students to get up and walk around to take a look at what other people were doing with their dots. I reminded them that getting ideas is ok, but copying is not. Watching the students work on these was a real treat. They loved the activity and everyone was completely concentrating on their own work, including the wiggliest of students. One of the best moments was watching one little boy with a marker in each hand, drawing circles with both hands simultaneously.

The complete lesson is available in my TeachersPayTeachers store. It includes step-by-step directions, a mini-biography about Wassily Kandinsky and a 'draw and write' worksheet for responding to Kandinsky's art and the reading.

This lesson would be great anytime kids need a creative break. It was all successful. Here's what the white board looked like after the introduction:



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positive-negative designs

These designs are great for introducing positive/negative space. I have done them with second graders and fifth graders, and by far they were much, much easier for the fifth graders, but the second graders held their own with them, too. The hard part for the younger ones was creating the "mirror image" and to be honest, it was a little hard for some fifth graders as well. Of course, a lot of it depended on how careful the students were being.

All that's needed for this activity is 12x12 white construction paper, 6x6 black construction paper, scissors and glue. I like glue sticks better than white glue for this because some pieces are small, but either will work.

Directions are pretty simple. I explain them while modeling the process, making sure to point out to students the importance of making clean cuts, not trimming anything, staying away from the corners, and lining up the edges of the square.

Place the black square in the center of the white paper and mark the corners with a small pencil dot. Pick up the black square and cut a shape into one side. Lay the black square back onto the white paper, lining up the corners with the pencil dots. Take the cut out shape, lay it into its "hole" and then turn it out, like opening a door. Glue it down to create a mirror image, being careful to line up the straight edges to keep the square contour line straight and true. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.... as many times as possible, until there is no cutting space left. Big important rule: Don't cut off any corners! Finally, glue down the black square (which is not longer square), lining up all the pieces. Done!

The samples here were done by fifth graders, one of whom accidently cut into one of his cut out shapes. He asked what to do and I told him to find a creative solution, and he did. :-)
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torn paper face collages

This lesson focuses on shape, color, and space, and deals with proportion and facial features without the stress of attempting to create a realistic face. Because the shapes are torn, not cut or drawn, the lesson automatically lends itself to what I call "ish-ness" (named after Ish, the wonderful little book by Peter Reynolds). The "rules" for the activity are simple: start with two predominant colors, include all face parts, don't overlap the shapes, and use no scissors or pencils. After listing these on the board, I ask students what they think "predominant" means. If no one gets close, I define it for them as main, as in "two main colors" ... and stress that it doesn't mean that they can't use other colors as well. Just before they start, I ask them to think about whether they want their piece to be symmetrical or asymmetrical, reviewing the meaning of the terms.

Students use a 12x12 sheet of black construction paper for their background, and each table has an assortment of colored construction paper to choose from. As they work, I encourage creatively-used shapes for different facial features, and remind them of the ongoing collage rule of putting glue on the back of the colored pieces, not on the background. I also remind them to tear any straight edges that may have made their way to the piece. Generally with collage work, I don't even get the glue out until after students have torn several shapes and started arranging them on the background. I encourage them to get all their shapes defined first before gluing anything down.

After a walk-around, where students can take their time looking at everyone's art work, I go through the pieces one by one and we identify as a whole group what the two predominant colors are, and whether the piece is symmetrical or asymmetrical. I also point out how lines have been created between the applied shapes, in the negative space.
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where's the art?

Last spring, the elementary art program in my district met the chopping block.... and lost. When a few creative ideas for bringing the program back were shot down due to assorted legal and contractual technicalities (and, in my mind, also due to a lack of creative thinking coupled with a rigid mind-set), I found myself out of a job after twenty years in the classroom. It's taken me some time to adjust to this, and even though I eventually decided to retire, I have not given up advocating for more authentic art in the classroom. I hope that eventually I can get back in there to make art with students. In the meantime, I'll do what I can here....

what if?

What if I just put out a bunch of art materials and don't do a lesson? What if I ask students to think about other art they've done? What if I tell them to do something similar to something they've already done, but to change it somehow or, if they want, to just explore?

One student might draw herself in a garden, surrounded by a rainbow, under a rainy-sunny-starry sky:



Another student might explore lines with watercolor and crayon:



Somebody might do a bird collage:



Somebody else might do a three-dimensional line collage:



Somebody might do a shape rubbing:



Somebody else might draw or trace a series of rectangles and fill them with colorful patterns:



And somebody else might make a collage of the sun:

sunflakes

Frank Asch has a wonderful poem called Sunflakes that's the inspiration for this second grade activity that incorporates radial symmetry. I introduce the art activity by showing photographs of snowflakes from the book The Art of the Snowflake by Kenneth Libbrecht, giving students time to look carefully at the shapes and negative space, and pointing out how the shapes repeat on each ray of the snowflake. This introduces the concept of radial symmetry. We then do a shared read-aloud of the charted poem, and talk about what a sunflake might look like.

To make the sunflakes, students first cut three skinny lines from a 9x12 sheet of construction paper which are overlapped and glued onto white paper, arranged to create six equally-spaced radial lines.... not as easy as it sounds! They then cut and glue a variety of shapes onto and between the lines to build up a "sunflake" shape. Emphasis is on radial symmetry and color. Only red, yellow, and orange construction paper is used for the sunflakes, so a lesson in warm colors can also be thrown in. These sunflakes reinforce cutting skills and geometric shapes. Another possibility is to have them paint sunflakes, which could incorporate color mixing.

The discussion at the end of the lesson focuses on a review of the concept of radial symmetry. A wall display includes the poem and an assortment of sunflakes.