Transformation Portfolio

Here is the most recent portfolio completed by my Grade 6 students, and one of my favorite so far! I called it the Transformation Portfolio. The idea behind the name was taking a found object, and transforming it into something else. But, in retrospect, isn't all art transformational? Anyways, may have to rethink the name!
This portfolio consisted of three projects, an altered photograph, a wire sculpture and a collaborative altered book! Here are the project descriptions, as well as students examples from the Transformation Portfolio!

PROJECT #1: ALTERED PHOTOGRAPH - Student had to bring in a photograph, and using the subject matter in the photo, alter the surface! They could take away, or add on! Turned out great! Love what this student did with the different media! She really experimented!

This altered photograph is much more subtle, but she added that little ladybug that you see in the center! So cute!

PROJECT #2: WIRE SCULPTURE - This was the best project I have done yet as a teacher! Start with a piece of wood, and hammer in two nails to create the holes. Next get a coat hanger and cut off the hooked end. Have students twist the coat hanger into any shape they like. Try to encourage them to keep it abstract, and to try not to twist it with an idea in mind. Next, use a hot glue gun, and glue the coat hanger ends into the holes. Once that is dry, take a stocking, and stretch it all the way over and around the board. You then take white glue, water it down a bit, and coat the pantyhose with 2-3 coats, letting it dry in between each coat. Once the pantyhose is firm, the students can begin to look at their shape, and turn it into something! This is easy for some, and tricky for others, but it really is the fun part!

A toucan!

A wolf!

A person throwing up! Ewwwwww! I was super excited for this one!! This was created by a wonderful kid, but he literally can not sit down for longer than 1 minute. This is the first assignment that he sat, worked on, and finished ALL YEAR! So happy for him, and it turned out great!!!!

A shark!

A waterfall!

PROJECT #3: ALTERED BOOK - I absolutely love this project, but it turned out to be fairly complicated because I began it so late in the year. I provided the class with a picture book. I tried to choose books that had pages filled with different pictures and text (I actually scavenged the old library books that the library was getting rid of). Each student gets the book for  certain number of days. If I had started this earlier in the year, each student would have it for a week, but because I began so late, I had to create a complicated calendar system, as seen above! Each student gets to choose a two page spread, and must alter their pages to express what art means to them! There were no limitations on how they could do this, except for that they could not rip the page out! At the end, we will have one, massive book, that the entire class contributed to, almost like an art room yearbook! This project is still going, but here are a few pictures from a week ago!

After a few weeks, you are already unable to close the book. So excited to see it at the end!

String, paint, felt and sharpies!

This student chose to work around an image from her pages, adding to it by using collage!

Paint and tissue paper!

I will add more pictures of the Altered Book project as it goes. I love this project so much, I would like to do it every year! It is a beautiful memoir of the students of that year.

Extension!
ARTIST STATEMENTS - Because the students were so excited and proud of their wire sculptures, I decided to take that opportunity to get them talking about their art, and expressing why they did what they did through Artist Statements. First we talked about what an artist statement is and how to create one, then they sat down with their sculpture and went through a number of brainstorming questions to get them describing their artwork, both visually and thematically. They then used that brainstorm to create their artist statement, which are now on display beside their sculpture in the Learning Commons at our school!

Potential Addition!?
Have students incorporate a pic of themselves, make it more about them, and what art means to them. This will make it easier to remember, years later, which student created which page. It would also ask the students to create something more personal.

Question!?
I want the students to be able to remember this collaborative piece as well, but I have not quite figured out an easy way to do this. A picture of their pages for them? Pictures of everyone's pages burnt onto a CD? Still thinking about this...

Collage Portfolio

I really enjoy creating themed portfolios for my students, rather than one project at a time. I try to make each portfolio centered around a theme, utilizing a few different techniques, or media, or project styles. Each portfolio usually has 2-3 different projects, ranging in difficulty and effort, along with a open project, that must incorporate the theme.

I like this approach for a few different reasons.
ONE From what I have seen so far, every student can find something within each portfolio that they will be successful at, that they will find challenging and that they will be able to explore and feel creative. I feel that is so important for younger students, to get ample opportunities to express themselves, to confront challenges and to feel success.
TWO If a student does feel challenged or stuck at a certain project, they could set it aside and work on a different piece.
THREE I enjoy seeing students make connections that they may not have thought of before. Providing different projects around a particular theme, gets these connections started.

Here is an example of a recent portfolio that we just completed with my Grade 7 students, The Collage Portfolio. This portfolio had students practicing color theory, highlights and shadows, collage, and color matching.

Project #1: Collaborative Color Wheel - In small groups students were to design a complex color wheel, utilizing primary, secondary and tertiary colors. They then used magazines to find the color matches.

Project #2: Color Collage - Students were to choose a picture from the picture file that had a wide range of tones, highlights and shadows. Again, using magazines and their complex color wheel, they had to color match and recreate the image.

Project #3: Greyscale Collage - Students now had to transfer their knowledge of color, highlights and shadows to a greyscale. On scrap paper, student had to create crosshatched greyscale, then tear that up to create the collage.

In reflection, the process of this portfolio was great. It was a little too much collage though. I noticed the students getting sick of it by the end, which is never the reaction you want. If I were to do it again, I would make the required size smaller for the last two collages. I had them do it on 81/2x11 paper, this was just too big.

For the students who worked hard though, they created some amazing pieces! Here are a few more fabulous examples!

Project #1

Project #2 (sorry for the glare...)

I will be posting more examples for portfolios that I have done with my students, along with examples.

What Makes You Proud to be Canadian?

In my first year of teaching art, all I want to do is foster creativity. I want my students to leave that art room everyday saying, "wow, that was awesome, I had no idea that I could create something like that!" I want each one of them to know that whatever their style may be and however they create; it is amazing and it is theirs. I want each one of them to feel good about their creations. I want them to feel confident about their own individual expression. I want to drill this in now, before they get into the adolescent years, and begin to question themselves, as we all do at some point.

I struggle with this concept, because to do this, I need to create open-ended projects; projects that may be completed in any way they can imagine. The complications of these kinds of projects in an art room of 32 Grade 6 students, is that you end up with 32 different kinds of pieces, 32 different medias, 32 different styles, and accordingly, 1 million questions about techniques. Am I doing them a disservice by not teaching them all a particular technique? Are they missing some key outcomes by doing these open-ended projects?

I am not sure of the answer here, because when I get to see the finished creations of my open-ended projects, all unique, all different, my heart bursts. Below is the most recent example of this awesomeness.

I received an email about a Canada wide artistic contest called 'Here is Canada'. The prizes are awesome, and so I thought, what a great way to motivate the kids, on a theme extremely pertinent to them? The guiding question was, "what makes you proud to be Canadian"?

Take a look at just a handful of the amazing artwork that these students created...

Pencil drawing of a woodsman with snow frozen in his beard :)

Indian ink and watercolor paint :)

Mixed media collage :)

Mixed media puzzle pieces that are raised off the black paper :)

This kid is so cool... a walking stick carved with different images such as a peace sign, maple leaf, beaver, etc. :)

This girl is super talented... large acrylic painting with smaller attached canvases and leaves made from yarn :)

Watercolor painting :)

Another amazing piece... Acrylic paint on canvas

Can you believe that these pieces were created by Grade 6 students?! The talent and love for art in that room blows my mind every single day. I love it :)

So, I am not sure what the right answer is, but I know what I'm doing can't be completely wrong. How can it be when artwork like this is the result!? And so, my learning curve continues...