Keeping it Creative: Early winter update!

4TH GRADE: African Masks. For the past month we have been building masks! This is a great project for kids who love to build and work on something that does not involve a lot of drawing but a a lot of mess! This is one of my all time favorite projects too, who doesn't like to work with lots of messy materials! 

 Masks from Mrs. Calkin's 4th Grade

Building the masks!  The masks take about four to five classes to build. This is day two of building, adding the tissue paper and mod-podge over the paper mache layer. This helps make the masks very strong and full of color. 

 5TH GRADE: Keith Haring Clay Figures. We finally were able to paint our clay figures we made which were inspired by the artist Keith Haring. We made the clay pieces back in October and then started an Optical Illusion Box project (see some pictures of those below!). Now we are finished those boxes and could paint the clay figures this week.

 

 6TH GRADE: Cubism!
We were able to study some of Picasso's cubistic faces like the one above ( The Weeping Woman, 1937) and look at the different ways he broke down the face. There was sometimes a side profile, which is what Cubism is; breaking down an object into different perspetives. Students were asked to draw a side profile of anyone they wanted (even a made up person!) and use some recycled materials to build a face. Here is one of the building days with Mrs. Hick's class:

5TH GRADE: Optical Illusion Boxes

This project definitely challenges students to think about making lines to trick the eye and move back into space.  There is lots of patience involved with this particular project. There is always lots of effort and energy put into making unique designs. The best part, watching students teach each other how they came up with a new pattern or, how they figured out to create their own.