Clarketastic Art

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

The Art Olympics PArt 2: Outdoor Events

Day two of the Art Olympics was just as fun as the first day.

Event one: Students began the class with a pallette throw. I took the round palettes that I have and put colored tape on each one (to represent each group) Each player took turns throwing the palette like a frisbee. The team with the farthest throw was awarded the most points.

Event two: Ball throw.. for my basketball loving boys. I made three buckets, and three balls. Each bucket had a work of art on it, the balls had art by the same artist on them. They had to match the ball with the bucket, and make it into the bucket (much harder than they thought!) They got a point for each bucket they made, and matched correctly.

Event 3: Environmental Sculptures. Students were given information about what an environmental sculpture was and were shown examples. Each group was given a bucket to collect things in, and then they were off! I was AMAZED with their creations! The winnning team and subsequent places were chosen by teachers in the building who voted for the best one.

Event 4: the final event! Famous Art Recreation Chalk Drawings

Each group chose from several different works of art. Each group was given a sidewalk square to work in. Prior to beginning, we looked at some Via Colori works (if you don't know what that is, google it! Its a great event) Again, the first-sixth places were chosen by teachers in the building.

Incase you are wondering about the winners... I mean afterall, they are middle schoolers and they love a good competition!

Each class had 6 groups. The first team to complete each event, or do the best on each event received 6 points, the next 5, then 4, then so on. I kept a score sheet for each event and totaled the points at the end of the second day. The next day in class after the olympics. I awarded the winning team with full size candy bars (which, yes, I did buy myself, but there are plenty of things kids get excited about, like one small piece of candy)

At the end of day two, great fun had been had by all, including me! It was a lot of prep work for me, but seeing them actually enjoy something (*GASP*) made it all worth it!

The Art Olympics #1 Indoor events

Picture this... It's the end of the semester.. you've got classes full of 7th and 8th graders who are just DONE... and truth be told, you are also DONE!

Two weeks left.. you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. How do you keep your students motivated to make it to the finish line?

I thought of this idea last year after I saw a similar idea on Pinterest.

The Art Olympics consisted of both indoor and outdoor events.

Day one: The Indoor Events

Event 1: Collaborative Painting
Students were given a piece of colored roll paper, paint brushes and black paint. They had to work as a team, to plan and execute a collaborative table painting. The subject could be abstract/non-objective, or realistic. I set a timer and gave them 20 minutes to complete the painting.

Event # 2: Blind Partner Drawing

Each group chose two students to participate. One was the describer, the other was the artist. They were given 10 minutes to complete the event. The student who held the picture, was to describe what they were seeing, only they could not reveal what it was, they could only describe its details. The artist was not allowed to see the photograph and had to rely solely on the describer to create their picture.

Event # 3: Foot or Mouth Painting: groups were to choose one one person to participate. That student chose whether they wanted to complete a mouth or a foot painting. They were each given the paint they needed and a simple picture of a flower to paint. Time 5-10 minutes

Event # 4 : The Matisse Challenge.

Henri Matisse was losing his eye sight in his older age but still would paint using a long handled brush, sometimes it would be a paintbrush attached to a long stick. Groups chose one student to complete the task: They were given a picture to draw and used a marker attached to a wooden dowel. Time: 5- 10 Minutes

Event # 5 the final event for the day: Relay Race drawing: Students were given a picture of a boy that was broken into 4 sections. They had to choose the order they would go in. At the start of the time, student #1 would run up and draw the first portion. When finished they would run back tag the next person who would run up and complete the second section.. etc.

The kids LOVED this day! They were so excited to come back the next day to see what the outdoor events would entail.. stay tuned for part 2!!

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Boom Boxes

So you might know these as "explosion books" but I have given mine a new name, "Boom Boxes" Why, you might ask? Well ours were created while listening to different types of music.

Day One: We began the project by practicing some abstract drawings while listening to different types of music. I created a little half sheet book for each student that consisted of 10 pages. I created a youtube playlist of 10 different instrumentals, some popular songs, and songs from each genre.

The next day we began two abstract paintings (this class is a 6th grade semester class, I have them every day for 40 minutes for 18 weeks) I had to have them create two 12x18 paintings instead of one 18x24, because there are 28 of them and there is simply not enough room for that size paper, we improvised. We talked about abstract paintings and looked at a few examples before we began.