Layered Landscapes and Artist Pages

     Here are a few recent drawing assignments that I tried out this year! The first is a landscape assignment that I did with my Grade 6 classes, and the second is an artist research assignment that I did with my Grade 9 classes.

Grade 6 Layered Landscapes:

     This assignment had 3 main objectives.

1. Students will understand and demonstrate how to represent foreground, middle ground and background. 
2. Students will create an original fantasy landscape incorporating multiple layers and additional images. 
3. Students will experiment with oil pastels on black paper.

     We began the lesson by talking about foreground, middle ground and background. I had some students pose like statues, and the rest of us pointed out what was closest to us, in the middle and farthest away. We then talked about photographs and how, for compositional purposes, photographers often think in terms of layers to create interesting, deep, visual effects. We looked at a few photographs of landscapes and again, pointed out the layers together. From here, I showed a short video from Youtube called Foreground, Middleground, Background in Art Class (found below), which highlights how layers have been used in many famous paintings to create depth!

     After the video, I did a demo of the project. I begin by talking about landscapes and brainstorming various ideas that they could use. It could be a realistic landscapes, like a beach, or an fantasy landscape, like Candy land. The were to begin by sketching in their sketchbooks an idea for a simple landscape that has the three layers that we discussed earlier. They were to show this to me once they were finished. When a student came to show me their sketch, I had them point out the three layers to me. This helped me to know that they understood the concept and caught those who did not understand early, before they began the final peice.
     Next, they took a black piece of paper and redrew their idea using a white oil pastel.
     The next step, is my favorite part, because the kids always panic when I tell them that they now have to tear it apart. They must, carefully, tear along the lines that they drew so that they have the 3 layers in separate pieces. You could have them cut it apart, but the torn look adds a nice 3D element to the finished piece and helps to break apart the layers a little more. It is important to note here that the simpler the initial drawing is, the easier the tearing will be. They can always add more detail later, but if they make initial sketch too complicated, the tearing will be a disaster. Another tip that I learned from doing this is to have them label each layer on the back so that they know which one is which.
     From here, they get a new sheet of paper, and glue the layers back together. Begin with gluing down the background and working towards the foreground, and overlap each layer by just the slightest. This, again, helps add to the to depth and 3D effect.
     Once everything is glued down, they may now begin to go back into the landscape and add color and detail using oil pastels!
     As an added effect, I had them create two more objects that they wanted to stand out, like a bird, or a cloud. They drew them on a scrap piece of black paper, tore them out and glued them on top of everything else.
     Here are a few of the works in progress! It is difficult to see the layered effect of the torn paper in these images, but in reality, it is quite visible.

     Food for Thought:

• Some students really rushed this project. The use of the oil pastels was messy, and the layering was unclear. Is this because of the nature of the project? Or is this the nature of a Grade 6 student, as I have seen this with other projects as well in Grade 6? Or is this merely the nature of the specific student? Regardless, how do I encourage thoughtful, attention to detail and finishing quality in Grade 6? I rarely accept an assignment the first time a student comes to me and says that it is finished. I will often give a suggestion for an area of improvement and have them sit down once more and work on that. How can I get them to begin doing more self-regulation?

Grade 9 Artist Pages: 

     This assignment began as a quick sub plan that turned into something much more successful than I thought it would. The objectives of this assignment were:

1. Students will research and visually represent an artist if their chosing. 
2. All aspects of the page will represent the artist, such as the style of drawing, the color choices, the media choices, the font, the images, the layout, etc.
3. The page must also include 5 facts about the artist and 5 facts about the artists artwork.

     So it was a sort of research project with a twist. They student had to visually represent their chosen artist. I told them to imagine the artist was doing this themselves, so every choice that they made had to be based on something they learned about their artist. If they didn't know what colors to use, they had to go find out what kinds of colors their artist normally used.
     Here are a few examples of some finished pieces!

Sorry that the image is sideways, I can't figure out how to rotate it once I get them in here. I will it before next time. :)

This student did not do a visual artist, but rather asked to do a musician. I thought, why not, they are both very pure forms of personal expression, music and art. It turned out nicely.

     The majority of assignments turned out extremely well, and some students began to get really creative with materials. The assignments that did not turn out as well were clear examples of students who had not done the research and who did not really understand their chosen artist.
   
     Food for thought:

• I think this would be a great assignment to open up for more choice. I really intended it to be a sub plan for 2-4 classes and it ended up taking closer to 8. Because of this I had them do it on plain white paper, and encouraged them to stay with simple media (except for a few who insisted and I could not refuse!) But after seeing the possibilities, why not allow them more freedom in media choice? Sculpture? On canvas? It is Grade 9, and what a great opportunity to demonstrate some higher order thinking skills, individuality, and pushing their own limits?
• I wonder if the text, the 10 facts, are even necessary to include? I half included that criteria so that I knew that they had done the research, and so that they would really understand the artist, but the majority of students demonstrated their understanding of the artist visually so well, that the words seemed excessive. Maybe this would just be a preliminary criteria, collect the research in your sketchbook, show it me, and somehow represent that information visually as well? I am unsure of this...