Sea Intaglio Prints

Fourth graders made these beautiful metallic sea creature prints using foam plates and metallic pencils. First we discussed composition and cropping. The girls chose a sea creature image from a variety of sources. They cropped the image and then reproduced the picture on a piece of printer paper. The printer paper was laid on top of the foam plate and while applying pressure, they retraced the lines of the drawings. After they completed the tracing, they removed the printer paper revealing the engraved plate. To make sure the indention was deep enough, the girls retraced over the plate with a dull pencil. They were able to choose between a variety of colored printing paper for the print. When the print was dry, they colored over the image with metallic pencils. The results were amazing!

Texture Assemblage

I do this project every year with my pre-K class. We begin by talking about what exactly texture is, and the girls give some examples of textures--(usually soft, bumpy and smooth). Next I give them a sample of textures, which consists of several small pieces of fabric, bubble wrap, sand paper and other types of materials. We have a short "texture hunt" where I call out a texture, then the girls find a material in their texture samples that fits the description. Next I lay out loads of different materials and objects for the girls to glue to a paper to make their own texture assemblage.

Texture samples

 

 

Color and Trees

I pulled this lesson by D. Sweeney and J. Rounds from the December 2011 issue of Art and Activities. Every  piece turned out beautifully. Background in chalk pastel, snowy ground in torn paper, fence is painted, the trees are collage with shadows applied with a museum board and lastly white paint splattered for snow flakes. Easy with fantastic results!

Rodeo Belt Buckles

Rodeo is big business in Houston and the girls love it! Go Texan Day is celebrated each year on a Friday before the rodeo starts. A massive trail ride makes its way through city streets, and people from every walk of life dress western for the day. At our school, the girls invite parents to see them dance in their western wear. This year our pre-k made their own rodeo belts. We discussed rodeo events and symbols before they got to work. It was so cute to see them galloping around in their belts!

Imaginary Still Life

I love this project because it addresses so many design principles. After looking at many examples of still life paintings, the class discussed how artists make objects look three dimensional, like they are in front of other objects, farther away or closer up on the table, and grounded (rather than floating in space). I set out a large group of items for them to draw from life. After the students had drawn about 7 items, they outlined them with Sharpie, painted them with watercolor and cut them out. The items were arranged on a background made to look like a table. Each girl conferred with me to make sure the space was used well and the object's placements made sense before gluing the items down.