Construction Paper Layers high school art project

I was checking out a project that was made using thin sheets of painted wood stacked in layers presented in a box. This was about the time we had made our light box projects, so the concept of using a box to contain art was still on my mind. While I didn't have the thin sheets of colored wood, I figured that construction paper might be a good substitute. In many ways this is similar to my middle school mola project except that each layer on this project has a representation object opposed to cut-out abstract shapes that form an image.

Shoe Drawings Grade 7 Art

Stinky feet day is what I like to call the shoe drawing project. Hadn't had students draw their shoes in a couple of years. It is a great exercise in teaching rendering. Prior to drawing shoes they made value scales to practice making different shades. All are drawn from life.

Fake Batiks Grade 7 Art

Decided to try a different approach to a batik-like project this year in hopes of not setting off the fire alarm. The cloth was stretched on a 14" x 20" frame. Paint was used to create the image and a coat of beeswax applied over it before crumbled and submerged in a bucket of fabric dye for 12 hours.

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. 

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.