Revitalizing Old Projects

This semester I decided I needed to breathe some new life into one of my projects I have been teaching awhile. The students have always done well on it, but I wanted to see them think more deeply than they had been. The project was focused on mixed media. At this point in the semester, students had learned how to use many different media in their work, and the mixed media project was meant to help them think past one art material at a time and use several including non-traditional materials like found objects to create a unique composition.

I decided to update this project by providing a new focus for the theme of their piece and adding an inspirational artist to the lesson. I chose Romare Bearden as the artist and personal culture as the focus. I included a reflective essay in the project where students explain how they represented their culture and why they chose the media they used for the piece. Below is my student gallery for the week. I really enjoyed this new twist on an old project. 

A Visit to the Traditional Classroom

I apologize for the lack of entries lately. I have been enjoying my first summer "off" as a teacher. This week I had the pleasure of teaching at a summer art camp for children ages 6-12. At first I was nervous to enter the traditional classroom again after my year in the online classroom. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this week and realized that all the confidence I gained this past year as an online teacher has translated well into the traditional teaching environment. I love working with different age groups as a change of pace and I got to try several new art lessons with campers that I have been thinking about for some time.
Who Am I Collage:
For one group I introduced the idea of a mixed media portrait collage involving things they like. I started with a lesson on facial proportions that I teach in my high school class. I followed that up with a step in which they trace the portait onto a page protector. Lastly, and the part they enjoyed the most, they constructed images of their faces using pictures from magazines. They paid close attention to picking things they are interested in. They also focused on matching the colors of their skin and hair tones. The final result is a layered portrait.

Pinhole Cameras:
I was so excited to try this lesson with a younger group. I have always been primarily interested in photography and I want to get younger students excited about traditional photography. The campers worked together to build pinhole cameras out of shoe boxes and captured images with them. I set up a darkroom to develop their photos and create reversals of them. When the students returned for a second day of my class they wrote creative stories about them and mounted them. The result was multiple ages of students excited about a method of photography they've never experienced before. I want to continue to develop lessons like this to promote the understanding of this older technology.
I also was able to showcase some of my recent art as part of the instructors' exhibit. What a great week!