Digital Photography: Magazine Covers

Digital Photography students have just finished their magazine covers. Each one includes at least 3 images, one of which the student needed to take themselves. They needed to come up with a title and subtitle as well as 4 articles that you could find in their magazine.

Animals in Art: Imaginary Creatures

The students in Animals in Art are now finished with their last project for the quarter. They had a lot of fun combining different animals into their own imaginary creature. This project was challenging for some, but most enjoyed being able to mix their own colors and create something very unique compared to those around them. 

Mixed Media: Paper Sculptures

Mixed Media A students have been working on creating multiples of the shape they chose for this project. They are assembling the pieces together and beginning the early stages of their sculptures. One thing they were asked to think about is the use of positive and negative space. Many of the students are using their shapes to create radial designs.

Animals in Art: Imaginary Creatures

Our last project for Animals in Art focuses on creating imaginary animals and mixing colors using acrylic paint. Students were given the primary colors along with black and white paint and had to mix the colors they wanted for their animals. Students are also using colored pencils to create their background for their creative creatures.

Mixed Media: Paper Sculptures

Our next project in Mixed Media is a paper sculpture. Today the students used square pieces of paper to come up with some options of three-dimensional shapes that they will be creating multiples of. Each student created 3 different shapes and then picked one that would like to work with. They will then be assembling these shapes of various sizes into a sculpture later this week. 

Mixed Media: Coil Baskets

Below are more examples of finished coil baskets. These were the final projects for the 1st quarter of Mixed Media. Some of the examples below include lids, other students were able to challenge themselves by adding beads, creating handles, or making multiple baskets. 

Animals in Art: Imaginary Creatures

Our last project for this quarter involves taking different animals and combining them. We are also using acrylic paint to focus on using color. We are accomplishing this by using the primary colors along with black and white to mix the secondary colors, as well as create darker versions called shades and lightened versions known as tints. All students have finished drawing and are now in the process of beginning to paint.

Digital Photography: Magazine Covers

After analyzing magazine covers and completing an activity on using text in Photoshop, the students developed a plan to create their own magazine cover. When finished, each cover will have a minimum of 3 images, one of which must be an original (all others could be found online). Students are working on developing "feature articles" to place on the cover that are related to what you would actually read in their magazine. The titles and stories must be ideas that the student has developed on their own. 

Mixed Media: Coil Baskets

Students are starting to finish their coil baskets in Mixed Media. Below are some finished baskets along with some that are still a work in progress. Adding designs, handles, lids, and bead work are some of the ways that students could choose to challenge themselves while creating this project.

Digital Photography: Self-Portraits

The 10-12th graders in Digital Photography have just completed their Self-Portraits. They needed to incorporate at least 3 images of themselves into a photograph of a location they chose. Some students took their photographs during school and others took pictures on their own time to have more choices in locations. Creating depth, and adjusting the proportions to match the distance away from the viewer were two of the requirements the students were asked to focus on with this project. 

Animals in Art: Franz Marc inspired Oil Pastel Drawings

Our final step in completing the Franz Marc inspired oil pastels was adding a clear coat to prevent smearing. Many of the students found working with oil pastels very challenging but their projects turned out great!

Mixed Media: Coil Baskets

Students in Mixed Media A have worked on their baskets for 5 days now (after spending 5 on coasters to get the process down). They are working on bringing the sides of their baskets up and continuing to focus on keeping the coils close together by creating stitches in a figure 8 pattern. Some students will be creating large baskets, while others will make multiple smaller baskets. Other options include making lids and spending extra time creating a design on the sides of their project.

Animals in Art: Franz Marc inspired Oil Pastel Drawings

While analyzing the work of German Expressionist artist Franz Marc, the 8th graders pointed out characteristics that were present in all of the examples. Some of the things they noticed were simplified animals, unrealistic colors, and abstract backgrounds. We also discussed how color was used; two ways we focused on were using color as a separation between the animal and background as well as using colors to show moods or emotions. We looked at examples of animal paintings that were blue and compared them to animals painted in yellow. Students came up with other colors that are often associated with specific emotions or moods.