Students researched artists and were asked to find facts about the artist's life and understand the artist's style. The variety of artists was a pleasant surprise and showed the diversity of interests the student's hold. After the students returned with their artist we looked at a variety of Day of the Dead artwork for inspiration.
Students were asked to include five visual elements that would showcase the artist's life and work in their final image. A skeleton was brought in from one of our science labs for reference while students sketched out their design. The background is created on black paper with a niche shape to reference an alter.
The foreground will focus on the main skeleton created on a separate white piece of paper. Students collage elements together to create the finished piece. Students use a variety of materials based on their artist's style, their personal design.
Not only are students getting to honor one of their favorite artists, learn about a cultural tradition, and learn new techniques but they are starting to appreciate the artistic tastes of their fellow classmates and seeing how they can work and learn together in an art studio environment.

Our next exchange is a few weeks away and I hope many of you are already thinking about getting your cards ready to mail by November 5th. The next theme will be Art Parodies! There are lots of fun and humorous ways to be inspired by art throughout history. Just take a gander at a few I found on Pinterest if you need a little inspiration. Have fun and we look forward to seeing your creative interpretations on the masters next month. Make sure the students label the back of their ATC with their info & add the artist/art that inspired their artistic parody!
If you have not signed up for the exchange it couldn't be easier, simply sign up here and mail your ATC's by Nov 5th to Space Center Intermediate, we look forward to sharing a bit of fun with art history with you soon!

Last week brought a new addition to the art room at SCIS. It felt a little bit like Christmas meets a dream when our wonderful tech walked in with a Sympodium in her arms. The bundle of joy will bring a bit of a learning curve that I am excited to put to full use in the weeks to come. (A sympodium uses SMART technology to make the computer and demonstrations interactive.

As students jump into one and two point perspective drawings this week, I hope to give students a chance to interact and use the technology to demonstrate their understanding of drawing in perspective. Students will be able to label vanishing point, horizon line and demonstrate how to make shapes into 3D forms. We are all excited with the new possibilities of the interactive lessons with technology integration!       

SCIS 7th/ 8th grade students are working on a quick exercise in painting values in watercolor, learning about masking fluid while creating a self portrait.
Pinterest and other websites are a great resource for new ideas. I found a simple tutorial online and was reminded of a project I did when I was in high school using color mixing and value. I wanted to plan a project that would help students to understand the range of values that can be achieved with watercolor. Many were realizing for the first time how to add more water or less to attain a wide range of color value.

To begin we took photographs of the students and their photographs were simplified in a free online photo editor, Pixlr to create value layers.  First the photo was edited to black in white and boosted the contrast before applying the adjustment "Posterize".
The students drew and then protected the white areas of their portraits with masking fluid prior to painting the lightest area of watercolor wash in the color of their choice. After their initial wash of color students painted in the other values in layers of color on the surface. The final magic moment is when the paint drys and we get to remove the masking fluid to uncover the painting, Voila!
Check out our gallery of portraits!

Intro to Art students have been learning about elements and principles of design during the first six weeks of the school year. Students have recently finished their monochromatic paintings.

Monochromatic means using only one color in different tints, shades and tones to create your art work.

Students had to mix the paints to create contrast and depth in their tree paintings. The end result of their paintings creates a lovely mood from the moon glow to the sometimes spooky trees!


Check out our Monochromatic Gallery on Artsonia and leave some encouraging comments for our budding artists!

Cooler air has blown into Houston over the weekend and we are celebrating by blowing some fall trees into our world. Students are using India Ink and a brush to paint in the trunk and roots then blow the organic lines of the branches out where the wind my take them! We are learning to not be afraid of those magic moments that might happen in art when we allow the medium to take over. The branches are more natural and less structured than if they mechanically drew out each branch.
After the branches were created we are going back into our painting with watercolor techniques to add the bright fall colors.

The first cards for our ATC Exchange have started to arrive
at Space Center Intermediate!
We are all excited for the offical swap of our year long exchange.
We hope more schools will join the fun as the year continues. If you would like more information on the themes, size requiremens, deadlines, etc
 please jump over to our ATC page!
Our first theme is : All About ME: Introductions and Goals for Year
Students were asked to share a bit about themselves, their interests and possibly their goals for the year. It is always nice to start fresh at the beginning of the year and IMAGINE the possiblities. On a small 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" rectangle students are sharing their visual voice with students across North America.

Over 22 schools have signed up to send us their creative responses to the themes... here are a few of the cards that have made their way to our mail box so far this week!