Cardboard Multiples

Using cardboard to make sculpture is easy, inexpensive, and fun.  The materials that will be needed for this project are sheets of cardboard, 18" x 24" (one for each student and perhaps some extra), scrap cardboard for stencils, scissors, rulers, and hot glue guns.

The Project

The students will each receive one sheet of cardboard, and they will cut out a piece in any shape that will be used as a base so that their sculpture will be able to stand on it's own.  Then they must design a shape and cut that shape out of the cardboard at least 40 times.  The shape can be anything from a square or triangle to a polygon of their own design. Depending on how large their pieces are they can continue to cut out more pieces until they run out of material.

This lesson is designed so that the students will have to plan ahead.  Their shapes have to be small enough so that at least 40 pieces can be removed from their piece of cardboard.  The size of their base is important as well so that enough material is left over for those 40 pieces.  To help with this, you will need some scrap cardboard, this can be cheap cardboard bought with the large sheets or from boxes picked up from a grocery store.  The students will use this scrap cardboard to cut out their shape and use it as a stencil.  They will then draw their shapes onto their sheets of cardboard to make sure that they can cut out at least 40 pieces and have a large enough piece for the base.

Once they have drawn out their 40 or more pieces, they will now cut out their pieces, and the base, using scissors.  After this they will begin gluing their pieces together in any form that they desire.  Their sculpture can be representative or abstract, it is up to the student to decide.  The sculpture should be finished before attaching it to the base, this is to make sure they can configure their piece to stand on its own while attached to the base.

Some students may finish early and might have enough time to add some color to their piece.  They can do so with paint, markers, crayons, etc.  Another thing that they can do is to tear some of the cardboard in places to show the corrugation inside.

Here are some online examples:

This last example is not all the same shape, but this is something that the students can do to attach their pieces together.  This artist used slits cut into the sides of each piece to attach the shapes perpendicularly.

Wire Sculpture Portrait

Wire is commonly used in art lessons to create sculpture, especially of the human form or of animals.  Not so common though, is wire used to make portraiture.  This lesson will allow the students to work in the third dimension and focus on negative space and how to show form with minimal materials.

This lesson will start with the students finding an image of themselves to use as a reference.  The image needs to be a portrait and should be at least 9" x 12".  Using some stiff board, or a piece of wood, the students will glue their image to this surface.  Then, at the two points where the edges of their shoulders or arms leave the frame, they will punch or drill small holes through the image and the board.  These holes will be used to fasten the ends of their wire and keep everything in place.

Once two long strands of wire have been fastened, they will bend and manipulate the wire, using pliers and other small hand tools, to follow the lines of the face and chest, depending on how much of their body is in the picture.  They will bend wire around the shapes of their eyes, nose, lips, hairline, etc. to basically make a line drawing of their face using wire.  There also shouldn't be any cutting of the wire, it should be one continuous line starting from either side of their shoulders and then connect, or touch, somewhere in the piece. While they are doing this, they should also make the wire come out towards the viewer to create form.  For example, the nose should be protruding from the two dimensional space so that it can be seen from any angle other than directly in front; as well as with the brow, chin, lips, etc.  The idea, however, is to not make these elements protrude to realistic lengths, but only to allow for a three dimensional aspect of the piece.

After the sculpture is completed the wire will be removed and attached to a base, so that the piece will stand upright.  This base can be anything from a small block of wood, or stone, to some sort of found object that has meaning to the student.  The piece can also be hung on the wall if the student so desires.

Online Examples:

Film Making

Film has been considered a high art form for quite a long time, but how can it be included in an art classroom?  The answer is simple, have the students make a short film.  However, depending on the class and the budget of the school, it may not be that easy.

Example Lesson 1

For starts, the class must be given a lesson on the history of film making.  Covering everything from it's invention to it's use in today's world.  In order for the students to make a short film that explores the artistic elements of film making, they would have to know how this is achieved and why.  This is where I would include a lesson on the vocabulary of film making.  I would show them film clips and screenshots that emphasize the different camera angles, movements, and shots.  The students would also be quizzed on this information and asked how to use these techniques to emphasize an idea or emotion.  Now the students should be ready to start making film of their own.

The students will be expected to make a short film that will tell an emotional story.  The story can be about anger, love, sadness, etc.  The story should revolve around only one of these emotions.  They will be put into groups and each member will be given the chance to film, cast, and edit.  The story will be written by the students and they will be given guidance to ensure that they are along the right path.  Using the different techniques that they were quizzed on, they will be expected to use these to show the emotions in their story.

Example Lesson 2

Another possibility, if there was not enough time to include a full blown film making lesson, would be for the students to make screenshots.  Given the same lesson as above pertaining to the history and techniques of film making, the students will work in groups and create several screenshots that show an emotion or action in a setting, using a digital camera and Photoshop to edit these images.

Special Needs and the Gifted and Talented

When teaching in the public school system, you have to expect encountering students with varying levels of skill and ability.  This doesn't mean that you have to create different lessons for different groups of students, only that you will have to expect different outcomes.  These different outcomes will be graded according to the student's ability, and the lesson can be modified so that the student isn't working above or below their skill level.

Special Needs

The first group of students that we will discuss today is the special needs group.  Depending on the student, whether they have difficulty with motor skills or difficulty understanding concepts, the lesson can be tailored to their needs so that they will learn the most possible.  This, unfortunately, causes that student to be singled out.  This becomes an even larger problem when there are more than one students with special needs, and it becomes a group that is being separated out.  The best way that I see to counteract this is to not tell the student that they will be held to a different level when the assignment will be graded and allow the student to work on the project in the same manner as the rest of the class.

A great project to use in this manner with students with special needs is a still life drawing.  All of the students will be drawing from the same subject that will be placed in the center of the room.  The students will be given a choice where to sit, so that they will feel comfortable drawing what they can see from the angle they choose.  Along with that, they will not be expected to draw everything that they see, they will be asked to draw a smaller area of the still life.  This will further allow them to draw something that they are all comfortable with.

As far as materials go, they will all be drawing with graphite pencils on white drawing paper.  This lesson can even include some scratch drawing where the students can experiment with different papers and drawing materials to not only learn about different materials, but also do it without the pressure of it being graded.

Grading the work of students with special needs is difficult to talk about hypothetically because each student is unique, and will be graded based on their particular skills and abilities.  Generally speaking, however, students who have motor skill difficulties will not be graded on technical skill the same as other students, and students with difficulty understanding concepts will not be graded poorly for not understanding the goals of the project.

Gifted and Talented Students

For this group the assignment will be drawn in the same manner as above but can be extended to work on a larger portion of the subject, and can even include using different materials and papers.  Their technical ability will be graded at a higher level than the rest of the class and these students can be talked to individually and the teacher can encourage the student to use some compositional strategies as well.

The subject in the center of the room will include some glass objects and some chrome or glossy objects where these students will be encouraged to draw reflections and also focus on some transparent pieces.  It will be up to the teacher to talk with these students before the class decides on their seating and how they view the subject so that the teacher can ask them to challenge themselves and work on the more challenging objects.

This also creates another group that is singled out from the rest of the class and can discourage those who are not as skilled.  One way to avoid discouraging the other students would be to have the gifted and talented group work on an extra assignment that they can work on at home.  Have these students draw a still life at home using a toned paper or have them draw challenging objects as a separate drawing that will be an addition to what the rest of the class is doing.

When dealing with multiple skill levels, it is difficult to avoid singling out students and discouraging others, but these are some easy and effective ways to counteract these issues.  It is always best to challenge your students, no matter what skill level, so that they learn as much as possible.  It is also always best to not hold their level of skill against them when grading their work.  The most important thing is that all of the students are learning at their own pace, and that they are all comfortable doing so.

Media in the Classroom

In today's world, the term media covers a lot of ground.  In the art classroom, the term can be narrowed down to several different forms of art making.  I have seen schools where there is only one art teacher, and this teacher has to include some types of media art into their curriculum.  I have also seen schools where there are several art teachers, each focusing on one or two types of art making.  Typically, when there are multiple teachers, one teacher is set aside solely for the media arts.  He or she will teach digital photography, animation, video/movie making, etc., and the students at the school will rotate between teachers throughout the school year.

I am ready to be a part of a school where I am part of a group of art teachers.  However, I wouldn't consider myself prepared just yet to be a single art teacher who teaches everything that the standards require.  In this blog, I will be discussing several projects that I have seen, or designed myself, that can be used as media arts lessons.

When it comes to media arts, there are several computer programs that are necessary to have; the first being Adobe Photoshop.  I can imagine that most of my students will have experience using this program at some point in their lives, and they will likely feel comfortable using it in the classroom.  Another program that I am familiar with is Adobe iMovie, this is a great and easy to use program that just about anybody can use to create a movie or short film.

Some Project Ideas

Using a digital camera, or cell phone (not preferred), and a tripod, the student will place the camera in a single point and will not move it at all.  The student will take several photos of themselves posing in front of the camera in several positions.  In Adobe Photoshop, the images can be layered so that the student will appear in all of these positions in one picture.

This is a great way to get the students to learn the basics of using Photoshop, or any kind of photo editing software.  It can be more about the different poses as well, compositional strategies can be used here, and the students can even try to tell a narrative with their images.

Online Example

Online Example

Another project that I have seen before is for the students to make a stop animation film using various techniques.  They can use modeling clay, wire sculpture, cartoon/photograph cutouts, etc.  Anything that can be easily and efficiently manipulated between frames.  This project works very well with iMovie.  They can include music, sound effects, and learn the basics of cutting and transitioning.

Online example:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByGq-EdQ2L0

Online example:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSzCLf8tjP4

My Class

Depending upon the situation of the school, whether there are several specialized art teachers or one, these projects and many others can be included into the curriculum.  If I were to be the only art teacher, I would most certainly include these projects, or ones similar.  My media arts background isn't as in depth as some other's, but I am always willing to learn about different technology so that my students will learn as much as possible.

Even if I was a part of a team of teachers, I would still include media art lessons in my curriculum.  These lessons would likely include different mediums and would be combined with media arts to create a sort of hybrid lesson.

Photojournalism Techniques

Below are some photographs that I took to display several compositional and photojournalism techniques.  These photographs were taken with my smartphone as I was around town and one was even taken in Charleston, SC.  Besides the simple techniques, such as, Rule of Thirds, Golden Triangle, and Golden Spiral, these photojournalism techniques focus on making the image tell a story or to put the viewer inside the photograph.

Disturbance

This technique tries to put the viewer within the photograph by placing a frame within a frame, which, in this case, places the viewer inside of the room.  The point of this is to make the viewer feel as if they are experiencing one environment while viewing another.

Place

Place is another technique that puts the viewer into the photograph.  In this case, the subject is the room, but another subject is the table in which the photographer appears to be sitting.  By doing this, the viewer gets a stronger sense of perspective and can feel how large or small the room is.  This technique is used quite often in photojournalism for it's way of letting the viewer experience what the photographer experienced at the time of taking the photograph.

Proximity

Proximity is used most often with portraiture, but can be used with inanimate objects as well.  The purpose of this technique is to reach a level of intimacy with the subject.  The viewer will be forced to notice the subject and examine it, more so than the rest of the image.  This technique is a powerful tool when photographing faces for it's effectiveness is showing emotion.

Vantage Point

This technique is achieved by placing the camera in a place where your eyes would not normally go.  Disturbance and Place are commonly used at eye level, whereas with vantage point the viewer views the subject from an angle that they likely have never experienced before.  This can make the subject appear larger than life, or even distorted.

In The Classroom

Most students today will likely own a smartphone, and it will likely have a sophisticated camera.  Chances are, they are decently skilled with their device, and are capable of taking some good quality photographs.

This photography assignment will include the students taking photographs with their phones, and they will have to take shots using the 4 techniques described earlier.  This will be a good starting point, so that the students will feel comfortable using their device and will be able to think more about the composition of the image instead of worrying about how to properly use the camera.

Once the students have taken the 4 four photographs, and each image successfully exemplifies the techniques above, it is now time to have them use a different camera.  The cameras can be ones that the students already own, preferably digital, or if a student does not own a camera, the school, depending on the budget, can assign one for that student to rent.  However, another option would be disposable digital cameras.  Unfortunately, the disposable cameras will not have the option to edit and crop the image on the device, like a smartphone or a digital camera would.  This, however, is useful to the student, because they will have to focus on the composition and take the shot by placing the camera exactly where it needs to be, unlike with a smartphone where the image can be edited immediately after.

The Subject Matter

The students will need to think carefully about their subject and how to incorporate these techniques to abstract or tell something about their subject.  Teenagers usually are passionate about technology, music, and fashion.  Subjects could include cell phones, articles of clothing, music playing devices, etc.  These would likely be subjects for the techniques proximity and vantage point.

As for place and disturbance the students could take photographs of the things that they do with their family and friends.  The environment should be used to the photographer's advantage.

Example of Proximity

Example of Vantage Point

Example of Place

Example of Disturbance

Here are some websites that the students can read to learn how to achieve certain goals in their photography endeavors.

• www.diyphotography.net
• www.thephotoargus.com
• digital-photography-school.com