Mandolorian Helmet (Randolorian)

This was a fun and challenging project! I've never worked so creatively with cardboard before and I discovered that it can do so much more than I expected. Being stuck at home during social distancing, I've had some time to try projects out of my comfort zone... this is one of them.

I followed this tutorial: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-cardboard-costume-helmet/ and kind of made it my own. I like to call it a Randolorain helmet...

- Patrick

Happy Earth Day!

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Being stuck inside, we were missing our local forest. So we built it using recycled cardboard and paper mache.

Here are some photos of our neighbourhood forest building project:

Painted Rocks

Painted rocks is an easy and fun project that can be done with any age group- and just vary the expectations as the artists get more experienced.

Start by collecting rocks and cleaning them. Next, get the art supplies you will need:

Acrylic paint, brushes, water cups, reusable sheet.

Choose an idea for the project to develop expectations/criteria. We started with a simple idea: colours - and since we've been learning about Egypt lately-  ancient Egypt! We chose red and blue as our main colours and added gold for the Eye of Horus rock.

- Patrick

Magic Tree

I've suggested this idea before, and I'm sure I will use it again, but a great studio project can start with the prompt: something that you pass everyday. This is also a good way to train the eye to see magic and beauty in the world. For me, I find it in the parks and trails of Toronto.

Here is a recent example:

Inktober Highlights

During the month of October, many artists attempt a global art challenge: Inktober- to do one ink drawing every day for the whole month. This is a great art studio project.

A few years ago, I complete the challenge and I did it again this year. Although many of the ink drawings are quick and rushed, the point is to have fun, get into good drawing habits and find new ways of working with ink. Here are a few of the highlights from this year:

- Patrick

Happy Halloween! Symmetrical Pumpkin Project

It's been a busy fall! I just finished Inktober (doing one ink drawing a day for the month of October). I highly recommend this challenge - and it may be a fun class project for higher grades. For the younger grades, my class had a great time doing these Symmetrical Pumpkins.

We've just started 2D Geometry in Math, so this project is great way to practice symmetry and to celebrate Halloween with a fun craft project. This is also a great way to introduce the concept of negative space. 

Step 1: Draw half a pumpkin on a half sheet of orange construction paper.

Step 2: Cut out the pumpkin and then the eye and the mouth. *Keep all the pieces of orange paper*

Step 3: Flip and glue the orange pieces onto the full piece of black construction paper. 

Patrick

Symbolic Self-portrait class project

A fun and rewarding studio art project is the Symbolic Self-portrait. To do this you will need a projector and some large coloured paper.

Step 1: tape a piece of large coloured paper to the projector screen

Step 2: have each student come up one at a time and sit on a chair in profile in front of the projector screen and shine the projector towards the screen (this creates a shadow profile of the student on the paper that you taped up)

Step 3: trace the outline of the student's profile on the paper (or have students work in pairs to trace each others' profiles)

Step 4: have students brainstorm things that represent their identity

Step 5: have students research visual references for their chosen symbols and items

Step 6: have students organize the space inside their traced profile to draw their symbols using the reference images they found

French Elements and Principles of Design Handouts and Worksheets

Les Éléments et Principes de Design!

I have uploaded French Elements and Principles of Design Handouts and Worksheets to my Teachers Pay Teachers site:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Les-Elements-et-Principes-de-Design-4559755

These are great to use with any age group.

Patrick

Coco Oil Pastel scratch-board project

Recently my class had a great time making their own scratch-board using oil pastels. We used the "Land of the Dead" from the movie Coco as inspiration for a colourful, geometric, fantasy landscape.

Step 1: use warm coloured crayons to colour a white sheet of paper
Step 2: cover the crayon completely with black oil pastel
Step 3: use a toothpick to draw (scratch away) a geometric landscape to reveal the colour beneath

This is great way to use a new technique with different materials and practice using the principle of design: contrast and the elements of design: colour, shape and form.

Here are some examples of student work:

Patrick

Class Snowflake Project

Happy Holidays!

A simple, traditional and fun winter art activity is the class snowflake project. For this, I used two different basic templates for students to use as guides and then cut to make their own patterns.

They look great all together up in the hall, and make the school look more festive and ready for winter!

Something that you pass everyday Studio Project

This year I started doing Something that you pass everyday Studio Project. This encourages students to become more aware of inspiration that they might find all around them. The goal of the project is to find something that they pass everyday that they can use as inspiration for a drawing.

Once the drawing is complete, they colour it traditionally (with watercolour paint, pastels, pencil crayons or markers- depending on the available supplies), or digitally (Photoshop or another image program- depending on available resources).

Here is an example the I recently completed of a window that I pass by everyday. Most days, I walk by it without noticing it, but one day, it caught my eye and I saw how beautiful it was and took a quick picture for future reference. I did a drawing from the photo and the coloured it in Photoshop.

Environmental Art Project!

The Eco Club at my school recently completed this awesome project building some robots out of cardboard to encourage students and staff to properly dispose of used markers and old batteries.

The first robot is Marker-bot and kids are encouraged to feed it old markers.

The next one is Zap-bot and kids can feed it old batteries. 

This kind of project is great because it's a fun way to raise awareness about how to properly dispose of certain products and gets kids asking why. It is also an interdisciplinary project that combines visual arts and social studies with a co-curricular club. 

- Patrick

The Principle of Design: Pattern

As I work through the elements and principles of design with my students, I try to find engaging and achievable projects to highlight the potential of each. The School of Islamic Geometric Design is a great site for patterns and got some fantastic ideas for a memorable pattern design studio project here: http://www.sigd.org/resources/pattern/

There are so many beautiful patterns all around the Aga Khan Museum. It would be great to include a field trip to the museum to explore pattern and find inspiration.

I first visited the museum a few years ago, see some photos in a previous post: here.

Patrick

Giant Blue Spruce - large scale studio project

A studio project that have found challenging and fun is a large scale drawing. I recently completed a large scale pencil drawing of a blue spruce tree. I scanned the drawing and coloured it in Photoshop.

A project like this creates a great opportunity for students to take risks, since it will be a long-term commitment and the results may not be what they initially wanted. This can be a memorable learning experience as it gives students who haven't tried something like this a seemingly insurmountable task to attempt and try to work through. Definitely a challenge and a memorable experience!

Patrick

Teachers Pay Teachers

There are some great resources on the site Teachers Pay Teachers, for basically any content, level and detail you want to teach. It's great for ideas, activities and plans to get you started and to make your own for any class.

Recently I've been using some of the resource and I've added my Elements and Principles of Design worksheets, as well as a full Elements and Principles of Design Unit Plan, complete with lesson plans, suggested art studio activities and art history examples.

Cheers!

Patrick