Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Stop Motion Videos High School Art Project

For this project I'm giving my wife, Ana (the elementary art teacher of the family) credit for this project. She came home one afternoon and showed me all the cool simple stop motion videos she had her students make. I thought my students could also benefit form this type of project, so I came up with a master plan.

Most of the videos were shot using iPad 2 or 3 (iStopMotion or iMotion HD app) and edited it in iMovie. One student shot his short with a 35mm camera. Backgrounds were made and voiceovers/soundtrack applied. I ask that there be an into and ending credits. Most students worked in groups of 2-3. It was trial run with this project and the next time I teach it I will make some modifications so that it runs smoother for my students. We all have to start somewhere...

Click on the link to watch the shorts. More will be added once they are submitted. 











Sunday, March 10, 2013

Light Boxes high school Art


During a job interview one of the typical questions I'm asked by a director or principal is" "what do I effectively do in my classroom?"  I usually start answering one or two ways:

A1: I create problems for my students and they have to solve them.

A2: I teach kids how to make something from nothing. 

One of major failings of 21st century education is the lack of hands-on life-long skills. I was chatting with a fellow educator a couple of weeks ago about opening up our own school where we will teach our students skills like cooking, basics to plumbing, car mechanics, carpentry, electricity...you know, solutions to real world problems. Academics are important, but there is a major imbalance in that most schools are slaves to passive learning. I will argue that students need to be more physical in the classroom-be it labs or project based. 



The light Box project below is truly made from the abstract:

1. The box is mat board that has been die cut, taped, and painted

2. The wires from the light had to be screwed into the plug 

3. The glue from the hot glue gun holds the light in place

4. A pointillist style image is painted on Plexiglas

5. Silicone was placed on the ledge of the box to hold the Plexiglas
6. Plug it in
 
A shell (finished box)
Parts of the light
Don't touch the hot tip!
Design of the side of the box
Light inside the box
Plugs
Making the plug. Students were scared during this part because once it was pieced together they had to plug it in to see if it worked. Most thought there were going to get shocked...hardly.
Painting
Chalking
Adding tissue paper under the image was an option.























Slab Vases High School Art Ceramics

Having a functional art project is always handy. Several months ago my students made vases with rectangle slabs of clay scored upon one another to create negative space. After glazing the projects, we took them to the darkest room on campus and placed a lit candle inside the vases and took a handful of photographs.  

Unglazed vases







Monday, March 4, 2013

Photograph experiments in high school art

If you have ever been a chair of a school accreditation committee then I feel your pain. It isn't much fun herding cats and hunting down documents. Sorry I haven't posted in awhile.

My high school students printed out their photos and were given access to scratching tools, x-acto knives, origami paper, and magazines. The objective was to physically manipulate the photos. Most were scannable while the more blurry ones with glare were taken by camera since they have pull-out areas. Enjoy these non-photoshopped images.















Somewhat 3D with the hands coming forward.