Geometric to Organic - Shapes Gone WILD!

WOW! I found this lesson online and developed it into was a fun way to teach geometric and organic shape to my 4th grade students. They LOVE art mediums that react to different stimuli. This was a simple exercise, where the students were to draw GEOMETRIC SHAPES with washable markers on white drawing paper. I encouraged overlapping and interesting juxtapositions. Once they were finished, we sprayed the paper with water and watched the ink spread into VERY INTERESTING organic shapes. That was just TOO COOL! The next class, we took black markers and outlined shapes, both organic and geometric, to really pull them out for all to see. This certainly opened up the opportunity to review LINE AND DEPTH by encouraging the students to fill up the negative space with line design, showing lines going under and over each other. The resulting design was really eye catching, don't you think?

Pretty Patterned Pussy Cats

What a fun and whimsical way to teach pattern to these 2nd grade students. Even though, most of them are familiar with REGULAR pattern,IRREGULAR pattern became the challenge. Can you pick up where a student used IRREGULAR PATTERN? Their imagination flared and their creative juices flowed while still using this PRINCIPLE OF DESIGN. They also use SIMPLE SHAPES to create more COMPLEX SHAPES as they form these cute kitties with paint. It was a prrrrrrrrrfect project!!!!! (funny.....right????)

ATC's are Still LOTS of Fun!!!!

One art activity that most of my students LOVE to do is creating personal Artist Trading Cards (ATC). These are small 2.5 by 3.5 inch cards on which people create small works of art out of various materials. THEN.....you trade them! People trade them with friends and other artists, even around the world. What you end up with is a miniture gallery of art from a variety of artists. ATC's can be made out of posterboard, material, matboard, or just about anything. They can be decorated or created with all kinds of media, ie. paint, pencil, pen, marker, collage, fibers, etc, etc, etc. The imagination can soar!!!! Try some of these your self, and Google, "ATC" or "Artist Trading Cards" and see where you can go or where you can trade!