Cement Making

For the cement making, I used a plastic tray that held the wet cement into play. After the cement was poured into the tray, I had to shake the tray a little bit to bring the bubbles to the top and had to lay paper towels over the top to get some of the water off of the surface. Once enough water was off the top, I placed the picture into the cement. It is important to get all of the stones and the picture pressed into the cement so that it stays in. To ensure the picture stayed in the cement, I placed seashells on the corners. Then I just placed different types of stones in the cement deep enough to make sure they stay in, along with creating a heart design with the pink stones. The cement took two to three days to dry. Once it was dry, I slid it out of the tray. Finally I took a damp paper towel and wiped over the picture and the stones to clean the cement off that had went on top when placing everything into the cement. This made it look clean and shiny.

A cross curricular project for cement making would be for literature. Students could tell a story with objects placed into the cement. They could do one story within one stone or the students could tell one story using multiple stones.

Lacy Clay Ornaments

This project is Lacy Clay Ornaments. I started by drawing a design that was connected within. I started with a circle and then made a heart with circles on the inside. I connected the heart to the large circle with lines. Once the drawing was complete, I traced it with black permanent marker. I taped wax paper over the tracing so that I could squeeze the clay onto the was paper for easy peeling when taking it off. Once the paper was taped on, I mix water with some clay in a small bag. After the clay was mixed well, I cut off one corner so there was a tiny hole to squeeze the clay out. I traced my drawing twice with the clay to make thicker lines. Next, I used water colors to paint the ornament while it was still wet so that the paint colored the clay, along with blending it together. Finally I let it dry, then peeled it off of the wax paper and tied a ribbon by the top of the heart.

A cross curricular project would be to make fossils in social studies. Students can fill in holes in rocks with clay, and peel it out when dry to have a whole figure. This would help them understand how fossils are made.

Rainbow Fish Collage

The fish was designed by drawing a fish from an outline of a fish. I drew the fish upside down as instructed. Then the fish was cut out and had to be covered with different colors of paper, but the paper had to be torn instead of cut and the whole fish had to be covered. I chose red, purple, and blue because they look good together, along with the primary colors red and blue make purple. I glued the paper onto the fish, staying in the lines, then added some glitter ans sequins to bring some shiny details to the fish.
This project could be used for a reading/literacy class because the students would have to use their imagination for how they want the fish to look. It would be easier to use for lower elementary because their imagination is better, along with the students liking to tear instead of cutting.

Oil Pastels

The oil pastel art piece was completed by looking at an object, sketching it, then coloring it by blending oil pastels. I used monochromatic blue coloring for the jug. The more of the oil pastel that was on the paper, the easier it blended.
Oil pastels can be used for a social studies lesson where the students are learning about Native Americans. The students would be building tepees, and they could use the oil pastels to mix the different colors of the tepees.

Print It!

This project is print making mixed with the Easter holiday. I used a cleaned, foam meat tray and carving sticks to make an imprint on the foam so that it was textured. The texture had to be pretty deep into the tray without putting holes into it. Once the design was traced, I used ink and a roller to transfer the ink from the tray onto my carved tray. The ink had to be even. Then I used paper and smoothed it out over the foam piece. Slowly, I peeled the paper off of the tray. I did this with four colors. Once they dried, I glued them onto construction paper.
Print making can be used for social studies lesson where the students are learning about fossils. The students would be able to make their own form of a flat fossil.

Scratch Art

The scratch art project was created using a pointed wooden stick and black paper that is colored underneath. This way when the black is scratched off, the color came through. I had a shape and had to imagine an image and create a scene using the given shape. My picture is ghosts in a forest. The ghosts are made out of the shape. The ghost on the right did not turn out the greatest because I was not informed prior to the project that once the paper gets oily from being touched, it does not scratch off.
A cross curriculum project could be to use geometry when learning the shapes. The students would have to create a scene like I did, but have to include all of the shapes they have been learning. The students would like it because the black paper can come with a mixture of colors instead of one solid color. For the students to make the colors appear would be a joy to them.

Pebble Painting

This is the completed bulletin board from the project a classmate and I co-taught. The project is for second graders. The students had to dip different sizes of rocks into paint and shake them inside of a box. There was a piece of paper in the box so that the rocks created a design. The students also had to cut their paintings into shapes, so math was reviewed. With this project, the primary colors were learned, along with how to make secondary colors by mixing the primary colors. Another cross curriculum project for pebble painting is a science lesson that explains how and why rocks are different sizes. The students would learn about erosion.

3D Design

This image a weaving design showing 3D. The twists are made out of newspaper taped to a piece of board. Once the twists were complete, I painted them using cool colors, along with the background. I added the green ribbon for another cool color and the blue glitter for some shine. A cross curriculum project would be math. Students could measure the dimensions and volume of different parts of the weaves.

Hidden Safari

This project was titled "Hidden Safari". To create the project, I used a light blue colored pencil to draw a zebra, then used warm colors to create designs over the zebra so that you do not notice the zebra. In order to see the zebra clearly, I made "ruby red glasses". This is see through red plastic that when looked through, you only see the cool color. The zebra is hard to in the red picture, but it shows if looking closely. A cross curriculum for this project would be science. Students can learn about different animals and draw the animal of their choosing.

Eric Carle

The Eric Carle project is based on how Carle does his illustrations, which is by overlapping pictures. He uses a thin paper to that it is easy to cut and layout. My version of a Carle artwork is a moon talking to a butterfly with curiosity. The butterfly overlaps the moon and grass, which all have textured looks and different shades of colors. The pictures cannot have many words on them being his books are children's books.
The Carle project could be used for a high school English class who have to write and illustrate children's story. It would be cross curriculum with an high school art class. The project would also be appropriate for an upper elementary to middle school level as well.

Van Gogh Art

The Van Gogh art project uses thick lines, along with fore ground, middle ground, and back ground. Instead of trying to copy Van Gogh's "Starry Night", I decided to make a scene from my farm. The back ground is the horizon with the sun setting for the night. I used many different colors to show the different reflections the sky can have. The middle to front ground were many trees, like a forest. The trees in the back are smaller to represent the distance factor. The fore ground is a typical red barn with straw in the upstairs windows. I also textured the straw to give it a realistic look.
This art project allows students to use their creativity on representing layers. The project could also be used for a print class to show how you have to practice planning layouts. It shows how to organize.

Elements and Principles of Design

For this project, I had to find characteristics of elements and principles of art. The first picture is an example of lines. The second photograph is one example for color. An extension activity would be have the students complete a science project with describing different species using technical terms of color, and describe the type of lines, such as curve or straight.

Footprint Project

For the first art project, my class made a footprint of our own feet. We were allowed to choose any color of construction paper, and had a partner trace our foot. If anyone had small feet, they could use both feet. Then we were set free to be creative with our foot. At least 3 mediums had to be included and the materials had to be related to us or our background. This way the footprint related to ourselves.
The construction paper color I used was blue, being it is my favorite color. Behind the foot, I drew a cow on brown construction paper, symbolizing the cattle I own, along with my farming background. I also had half of an egg glued on for when we used to pick eggs out of the coop and butcher the chickens. The 2 types of bean seeds are the last thing that represent the farm. They represent the garden we have every year, along with the field crops that we plant and harvest. The deer head shows my love of deer hunting. The deer is actually one that my uncle shot in the fall of 2010. The fishing hook represents that I like to fish, and that is the main thing my family does for the week every summer when we go to my uncle's cabin. The last thing on my foot is a basketball made out of tissue paper. I love to play sports, especially basketball, so I attempted the basketball. I played as many sports as I could in high school, so that is the reason I included sports.
An extension activity I would use with the feet is a math lesson. Once every student has completed his or her foot, we could use them to measure the distance around the room, the height of the room, and maybe the distance of the hallway. It is a good exercise for students to practice measurement. The project is also unique because only the one group of students will have the distance in their own feet. If another class were to complete the same project, more than likely their distances would be different.