Drawing glass

Students from Level 11 learned few tricks how to achieve the texture/ transparency of the glass using soft pastels on a black background. They were drawing the objects from observation, which is really important when practicing drawing / coloring skills.

Ours school was invited to take part in the International Peace Poster Contest. Students from Level 12/13 created these fantastic art pieces sharing a message for peace.

by Anastacia 

by Kristel 

by Ilia 

by Joliza

by Luke

Here is a link from the competition with some more information

Anticipating the future

Two of my students created this painting together on an after-school activity mixed art and decided to cut the picture in two pieces in the shape of a puzzle so each one of them will take one part home. They decided to keep the painting for the next 10 years, and after all that time, who knows where, to reunite and recall memories from QSI Skopje. The puzzle piece will be in case they are so changed they can’t recognize each other J Today they are taking the piece of the puzzle home, and hopefully keep it for the next 120 months,  3650 days. I will be patiently waiting to hear the story of their meet together. 

Redesigning chairs

Few weeks ago, our school threw out many items that are not needed and used. One man's trash is another man's treasure. I kept few chairs to redesign them in the art room with level 12 and 13. They joint in two groups and made a plan how will they repaint and redesign the chairs. It's a great activity to practice design, creative thinking and skills they can use for everyday situations and jobs.

Dough figures

Making figures out of dough. Woow this was fun! We made plenty of dough for students to create an owl and a another figure of their own choice. Some of them made plates, pots, some created animals, and some just wanted to take the extra dough to play at home.

I'm finished! Now what!?

Students often run trough an art project just to finish first or to have more time to do their free art. Doing free art it's not a negative thing, especially for the bigger students who are actually encouraged to think of what they like to do in their free time or even tell me what type of art project they like to work on (I ask them this usually at the start of the school year) so I can do my planning based on their needs. Though, for the younger students, free time often means they can draw what ever they want, and that's fine, but very often that ends up with hundreds of papers used for marker stick figures and drawings that are not leading anywhere. For that reason, I restrict the number of papers they get for free drawing and I created set of activities  for them to do so that they use the time more constructively.
When students finish an art project early and they answer positively on my question that there is nothing more to add and that's the best they can do, they can choose to read a book (or look at pictures if they are not readers) of famous artist, they can work on a long term project of their choice, they can do weaving, which is very calming and relaxing, they can use the scrap paper we collect for recycling and make something out of it, or they can draw with color pencils, markers or crayons on a paper they get from the teacher, but they need to make sure they will use the paper the best way they can, since they will get just one piece of drawing paper.
Here are some photos of what some of my students are doing when they are done with their art project.

I forgot to mention that the middle school students and high school students have their own sketchbooks, so they work in them whenever they have some free time in art class.

Logo Design

Working on the Unit Intro to Elements and Principles of Design, I thought what could be a better  lesson to learn the power of line, shape and color than the lesson for creating a logo design. Students were introduced to the basics of design, the biggest difference between design and art, what is important to create a successful design, and what is the goal of designs, in this case, logo design.

First we watched few videos about the steps needed to create a logo and video about recognizable and catchy logos we all know, but never paid so much attention to them to understand the message they send. The kids really enjoyed and it was really fun to see them making up their own companies and brands, defining the motto, goals and target audience of their product and creating many different sketches for their final logo. They were encouraged to discuss among each-other so that they'll hear other people's opinions and suggestions, and especially to learn the fact that design is many times a team work, and it's important that the designer's creations are accepted and understandable by everyone. 

I have to say I was amazed and positively surprised of their successfully created logos, by their inventiveness and creative thinking! I was just woooooow

Water color leaves

Fall leafs are just endless inspiration for art! Our  six and seven year old students made collage with leaves they drew and painted. We looked closely at leaf shapes and discussed what are the various shapes, how the the veins and stems are formed and all the other features the leaves have. First students drew various of types of leaves, the goal for them was to try drawing as many different shapes as they can. Next they drew stems and veins, and by adding the vein lines, they were actually creating little planes on their leaves. Afterwards, they painted each plain in a different color and experimented with water color blending. Finally, they let them dry, cut them out, joint them together on a construction paper, and as a final touch, they traced the veins with glitter glue to make them more fancier. What can you say, they just love to add glitter!

Masking tape shoes

 High School students working on the 3 D Unit, creating some masking tape shoes.

 The art room was turned into a shoe factory for a while, and the only material students could use was masking tape and scissors.