Paper Weaving

This project was presented by Ms. Jundt and me. We had the topic of 3 deminsional art. We chose to do paper weaving because we thought it looked really interesting, and it would be something that everyone would enjoy doing. We introduced some ideas such as weaving, twisting, shade, and tint. We informed the students that they needed to do at least one tint or one shade within their project and that they needed to use either all cool colors or all warm colors. They also had the option to use several different types of media in their projects as well. Many students chose to incorporate glitter to their projects.

Ms. Jundt's and my bulletin board turned out really well. We really liked the fact that our project recycles news papers and uses it in a creative way. We found this quote, "We all have our own life to pursue, our own kind of dream to be weaving and we all have power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing." We both thought that this quote was very suiting and were very excited as we were putting this bulletin board together.

As an extension activity, I would have the students find a news article that relates to them in one way or another. After finding this article, then I would have them paint their story onto the weaves in either patterns or using line techniques to represent how the story made them feel and use appropriate colors. Then, whenever the students look at their weaving, it will always remind them of their story. We could have them frame it for display as well.

The Hidden Safari

This project was really cool to me because I had never done anything like this before! First, we experimented with drawing some images upside down. We learned that doing this tricks your eye into focusing more on space and lines. After doing this exercise, we chose an animal that we could see in the jungle. There we lots of pictures of examples given. I chose an elephant. We were told to have it upside down, and then to try drawing the animal. We were given a light blue colored pencil. Then, we were to use the elements and principles of design to hide our animals using warm colors. Also, we used the concept of patterns. We also made some really neat sneaky glasses that we could use to discover the hidden image. Lastly, we were told to describe three things about our animal.

As an extension activity, I think it would be really neat to do a social day. You could show the movie, "The Lion King." Then, you could have the students act out their favorite animal or scene in the movie. After acting out the different parts, then you could have the students make a giant hidden safari image. They could draw out a part of the movie or their favorite scene that they watched, and as a group they could make a giant hidden and secret image.

Eric Carle Collage

For this project, we were introduced to the very talented Eric Carle. He is the author of many children's books. For his books, the illustrations are all done with collages. We watched a video in class explaining how these are done. Eric Carle was very inspired to follow his dreams at a young age, and he wants to help children to reach their dreams and to follow them. I loved to create my own inspired creation of an Eric Carle collage. My collage went off of an idea from a quote that I saw once and since I have always thought it was a really neat saying. The quote says, "Aim for the moon, and even if you miss you land among the stars." This project was fun to do!

As an extension project, I would have the students create a short story book that they could accomplish over a couple of weeks. They could write their own story about their life or their interests. This could be two to three pages long. Then, when the students and teachers discuss their work with the student's parents, they would have some great art work to show case!

Finger Painting

This project was a finger painting project inspired by the "Starry Night" painting by Vincent Van Gogh. I really enjoyed doing this paiting. I didn't think that it would turn out the way that it did using only my hands. As we were painting, we listened to music. Listening to music was very inspirational for me. I enjoyed looking at everyone else's work afterwards and seeing the diversity in the paintings.

As an extension project, I would have that students do a "share your own talent" day. This would be an opportunity for them to either bring in or share an item about something that they excel in or love. Then, once everyone has shared their own talent almost like their own Van Gogh original, then that would be their inspiration for their next drawing project.

Elements and Principles of Design

The top picture is an example of an organic shape. An organic shape is based on natural objects such as trees, mountains, leaves, ect. I took this photograph at Northern State University. I really like this picture because it is in the winter time, and I think it is really beautiful outside. A great extension project for students would be to do a Nature Walk, and write Haiku poetry. It would be fun to see the creative ideas that the students come up with.

The bottom picture is an example of value. Value shows a range of tones from dark to light. This photograph was taken in Switzerland. The lightest tone of value in this photograph begins right at the top of the water, and gets darker as the water gets deeper. You can see a couple swans floating in the deeper water where the value is darker. I think a really fun extension project for value would be a combined one with texture. You could have the students play around with different textures as well as trying out different values. It would be challenging to have them try to get in the correct shadows and see exactly where the light is coming from, ect.

My Foot Story

This week, we created a foot describing our life. I really enjoyed this project. It was also really neat to see everybodys outcome! I liked brainstorming how I wanted to design my foot, and what aspects of my life I wanted to incorporate into it. I felt there wasn't enough room on there for everything I wanted to add! I wish I would have added more additional things to it, however. For example, maybe some stickers or some other pictures or creative things, now that I have seen more examples of the idea.

Each person's foot was unique to their own life. Depending on what you wanted to add to it, there could be several elements and principles of design used. From using basic lines and shapes to using value. It is all about creativity, and how you want things to fit together and within each other. You can make things within your life be a symbol for something else. This is why it is so neat.

Some awesome extension projects could be to use this as an ice breaker or get to know you activity or project. You could have to students interview one another, and make the partners foot. It could be really neat to see how someone else puts together important things in your life.