Los Feliz Arts

October News

Unit: DRAWING=SEEING   SEEING=THINKING    THINKING=DRAWING

Guiding Question: How can we practice the art of drawing and how can it help us become mindful thinkers?

In October we begun our drawing unit which allowed students to practice their visualization and observational skills. Students also gained an expanded understanding of two of the main elements in the visual arts: Line and Shape. Throughout this unit students were asked to “slow down” and become careful observers. They practiced hand-eye coordination, and their ability to see/observe and reproduce two-dimensional images and three-dimensional objects onto the two-dimensional space of the drawing paper.

Below you will find specific information by grade level. Please feel free to send me your comments or questions to eserrano@losfelizarts.org.

KINDERGARTEN AND FIRST GRADE

EQ: What are the different kinds of lines and how can I discover them in the world around me?

Students discovered diverse lines in the art studio based on the line pictionary (illustrations of different kinds of lines). Students created a “Line Zoo” that included at least 3 real or imagined animals using diverse types of lines  using the line pictionary as a reference.

EQ: How can we use lines to imagine a home and neighborhood for ourselves and our families?

Project: Students viewed “Harold and the Purple Crayon” while mindfully observing the different kinds of lines Harold used to create the world (and home) around him. Students created an original drawing of a home using diverse types of lines inspired by the line pictionary in the art studio. All homes designed by the students were combined to create a neighborhood.

EQ:  Inspired by Halloween traditions, how can I use contour drawing to practice hand-eye coordination?

Project: Art teacher showed images of art created to celebrate Halloween and defined the concept of “functional art” and “contour drawing”. Students used contour drawing and observational skills to create  a “Halloween Sandwich”. Students selected at least two ingredients from a sheet with photos of six ingredients (lettuce, tomato slice, spider web,  candy corn, etc.)

EQ: How do artists use drawing to uncover shapes?

Project: Art teacher introduced the concept of “shape” and illustrated the differences between geometric and organic shapes. Through the Shape Game students discovered how complex shapes are made up of combinations of simpler shapes. Through this drawing project students combined geometric and organic shapes to create a ” Shape City”.

SECOND AND THIRD GRADES

EQ: What are the different kinds of lines and how can I discover them in the world around me?

Project: Students discovered diverse lines in the art studio based on the line pictionary (illustrations of different kinds of lines) provided by art teacher. After reading a story (2nd grade: “The Legend of the Dreamcatcher”; 3rd grade: “The legend of Stone Soup”)  students select a small moment from the story, and create an illustration using different kinds of lines. Students used the line pictionary provided by the art teacher as a reference for their drawings.

EQ: How can we use art and, more specifically, lines to tell a story?

Project: Students listened to the Native American storytellers narrate a Native American story. Students selected a small moment from the story. They proceeded to illustrate it using as a reference photographs provided by the art teacher. Students were encouraged to accurately reproduce on their drawings the lines they discovered in the reference photographs.

EQ: Inspired by Day of the Dead’s folk art traditions, how can I use contour drawing to continue to practice hand-eye coordination?

Project: Art teacher showed images of art created to celebrate Halloween and Day of the Dead, and defined the concept of “functional art”. Art teacher introduced the concept of bilateral symmetry. Students use hand-eye coordination to create a mirror image of  half of a Day of the Dead skull.

EQ: How do artists use drawing to uncover shapes?

Project: Art teacher read “It’s OK to be Different” by Todd Parr. Students were introduced to the concepts of positive and negative space. Using opaque images projected from an overhead projector, students reproduced these shapes by observing and reproducing the positive and negative space.

FOURTH AND FIFTH GRADES

EQ: What are the different kinds of lines and how can I discover them in the world around me?

Project: Students took a Line Discovery Walk around school, and documented through drawing, text and photography the different types of lines they saw around them.

EQ: How can we use the art of seeing and our line pictionaries to enhance our drawings skills?

Project: Students looked at and interacted with a slideshow created using the photographs they took during their Line Discovery Walks on the previous week. Using their shoes as their subject, teacher reviewed concept of contour drawing. Students discovered different types of lines in their shoes using their fingers, and created an observational drawing of their shoes.

EQ: Inspired by Day of the Dead’s folk art traditions, how can I use contour drawing to continue to practice hand-eye coordination?

Project: Art teacher showed images of art created to celebrate Halloween and Day of the Dead, and defined the concept of “functional art”. Art teacher introduced the concept of bilateral symmetry. Students use hand-eye coordination to create a mirror image of  half of a Day of the Dead skull.

EQ: How do artists use drawing to uncover shapes?

Project: Students were introduced to the concept of blind contour drawing, and created a blind contour drawing of their hand on their sketchbooks. Students were introduced to the concepts of positive and negative space. Using objects projected on a screen from an overhead projector, students reproduced the resulting shapes by observing and reproducing the positive and negative space.

September News

Visual Arts with Ms Evelyn Serrano

What a great start to our year of discovery and learning in the visual arts. As an artist and educator, I feel blessed to be able to work with your students, and to witness their unbound creativity, boldness, and curiosity. In our first sessions together we defined ways to be productive, disciplined and creative artists, and to maintain together a space for safe and focused art making. Our first unit, “Ways of Seeing”, explored the expansive art of seeing mindfully with our eyes and with our imaginations. We also talked about “What is art?” and “Who is an artist?”. We were inspired by works of art, texts and our environment to explore the differences between looking and seeing. Using viewfinders (shaped in different geometric shapes) and grade-level illustrated books we explored the books’ text and illustrations. We found shapes, color, movement and all kinds of interesting details. This exercise helped us “see” the book in new ways, and allowed us to focus our eyes and mind when creating drawings of our discoveries. Kindergarten through second grade students played “Juego del Garabato” or scribble games, in which students created artworks based on different scribbles I provided. This is an excellent game to exercise and become aware of our infinite imaginations. I also shared with the students my cloud collection, a series of cloud photographs. We spent time “seeing” objects and stories in the clouds pictured, and practiced ways of associating the images with descriptive words. These exercises allowed us to become aware of the art of seeing with our imagination.

We were inspired by Exupery’s The Little Prince as a way to embark on an exercise involving hundreds of keys we found in the “Drawer of Wonderment” in grades 3 through 5. Students picked one key and created an artwork representing a place that could be opened by that key. Some drew their imaginations, others their brains, others drew rooms full of dreams and wishes; one students drew the White House (she assures me she will be the first female President of the U.S.). Towards the end of the “Ways of Seeing” unit students in 2nd through 5th grade created remarkable self-portraits inspired by elements found in iconographic portraits and self-portraits from the Renaissance to the present. Each Kindergarten and first  grade class  explored the question, “What makes it art?” and the topic of collaboration by reading The Mixed-Up of Chameleon by Eric Carle, and then created a collaborative collage project with their classmates.  Students decorated different animal parts and combined them to create fantastical creatures. The “Art Animal projects graced the art studio for two  weeks and were enjoyed by all. It was a special way to celebrate the work of our school’s youngest artists. As I work with our students I am reminded of my own journey as an artist and learner in my homeland of Cuba, South America, and the U.S. It is my hope that through their learning in the visual arts these fellow artists will continue to find relevant connections to their learning in other subjects, as well as gain an understanding and appreciation of their own very unique voices and wondrous creativity.