Middle School Peer Critique

We had a successful art critique session, where students paired in groups of two discussed about their works and talked what makes the artwork good and what can be improved. The goal of this teacher-free practice was for students to help each-other, to learn from one-another and to all benefit from the discussion. We followed the rule of being positive and stick to the TAG method-

Tell the artist something you like; Ask a question; Give the artist a suggestion

Preschool Art Class

Hands-on, processes oriented art projects. Preschoolers are awesome artists!

High School Art

High school students are using art class to improve their art skills and we enjoy our studio arrangement in class. Students are working at their own pace following their own interests. We started the year with a Sketchbook Unit and a Drawing Unit, so students are learning some drawing techniques and tips. We are using some exercises from the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain", taking an approach that promotes visual thinking and growth of creativity. 

I'm really happy to see that all my high school students learned that drawing is a skill that will improve the more time you spend doing it, just like any other skill .

Playground

Working on their fine motor skills, 6 year old class builds a playground with paper strips. 

Blind Contour Drawing

In this lesson students drew without taking the eyes of the subject and without looking at the paper. With blind contour drawing they practice how to focus on the face and all of its contours, without worrying about how the drawing looks like. The goal is to practice our observational skills.

Building with lines

Open-ended exploration of ideas and materials is a way to create imaginative and unique artworks. Students from the 8/9 year old class were challenged to build a futuristic city using materials that are representing different types of line. It was a fun way to wrap up our line lesson.

Painting with spices

Painting with spices allows students to paint and explore a new 'art' material with no boundaries. This was an open-ended activity with no expected final result  which gives students opportunity to explore different ideas and draw/paint from personal experience. We started the lesson with a picture talk (Art Appreciation), observing and discussing the painting of Stuart Davis, "Picture of a town". Looking at an abstract painting of a town was a great way to spark discussion of favorite places, personal impressions, memories and understand how different people find different places important and meaningful.In this art lesson, students practiced how to represent real places and objects through variety of lines, shapes and symbols.While students worked independently, they were encouraged to move, share and smell the spices, talk about personal favorite places, favorite spices, favorite food, flavors and cultures.