Art. Paper. Scissors. Glue!

UB High School Art Exhibit

2017-04-07T09:09:00.001-04:00

I absolutely love attending art shows. High schoolers always BLOW me away with their talent! Here are a few photos of the talent being showcased in WNY. Take note of all the political commentary pieces this year!

Big Heads

2017-04-04T07:52:00.001-04:00

Materials:

- Cardboard

- Newspaper

- Paper Mache Goop

- Paint

- Plastic Bags

- Masking Tape/ Duct Tape/ Packing Tape

- Accessories (optional)

- 5 gallon buckets (optional)

1. Take photos of students and print out a front view, back views, and each side. If doing a celebrity or character, find images for all views and print.

2. Start by making an egg shape out of cardboard- use a LOT of tape. Sketch out where your eyes, mouth, and nose would be.

3. Start building onto the form with plastic bags. I found packing tape to be the best tape because it laid smooth, covered the most surface area, and since it was clear, you had a better idea of what was being formed.

4. Paper Mache on top of plastic bags form.

5. Paint and add accessories! Some students wore theirs to a field trip to the Albright Knox! It was a labor of love, and I think I enjoy them too much... but it was such a fun project!

Parading around the school...

Mondrian Inspired Grid Drawings

2017-03-16T14:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I'm not sure why these images are rotated on the side! I've tried uploading them twice.

Anywho, after a lesson on cubism, abstract art, and Mondrian, students made these awesome grid drawings!

They could draw any subject matter, avoiding anything with too many tiny details, and then they drew a series of horizontal and vertical lines. Using only the primary colors and black, they colored in their spaces, making sure no two spaces of the same color touched. I tried to have the students use an equal amount of each color.

This was my teacher example I started and forgot to take a photo before I started coloring. I didn't really like how perfectly square the spaces are, so I decided to let student not have to do any measuring with the spacing of their lines.

Mixed Media Triptychs

2017-02-07T13:03:00.000-05:00

Northern Lights

2016-04-08T09:36:00.001-04:00

Materials:
- Chalk Pastel
- Black Construction Paper

EXTREMELY late post.. I happened to find these on my camera roll on my phone while I was trying to clean up the storage- woops! Still better late than never to share these beauties!

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Dragon Eyes

2016-03-16T07:56:00.001-04:00

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High School Art Show

2016-03-02T08:09:00.001-05:00

As a first year high school art teacher, I was BLOWN AWAY from the local talent WNY has to offer from their high schoolers! It was an awesome show this year, and it definitely inspired me to keep up my high expectations from my own students. Check out some of the beautiful work presented this year:

1st Place- "See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil

2nd Place, I believe?

And I think he won Honorable Mention

3rd Place- Self Portrait, Photography

This charcoal portrait was HUGE- and I loved it!

Can you believe those lungs are ceramic?

Another large mural- I love it! I need supplies like this!

My entries this year:

This one flopped over, so that was pretty disappointing. It's always nerve wracking having someone else handle "your" work!

Scholastic Teacher

2016-02-24T09:49:00.000-05:00

Featured in the current issue of Scholastic Teacher for my Symmetrical Origami lesson! Ya hoo!

Painted Vinyl Record Bowls

2016-02-23T12:44:00.004-05:00

Materials:

- Vinyl Records

- Acrylic Paint

- Oven

- Metal Bowl

- Metal Pan

- Oven Mits

Super easy!

1. Paint your record.

2. Turn oven to 200 degrees.

3. Center record on top of bowl. Bowl right side up makes a more concave bowl, bowl upside down with the record laying on top, makes a more shallow bowl. Place bowl onto a metal pan.

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes. You'll start to see it melting.

5. Using oven mits, take pan out.

6. Press either in the center of the record if the bowl is right side up, or down on the sides of the record if the bowl is upside down.

7. Let set to cool!

Sunday Comic

2016-02-14T20:34:00.003-05:00

Enjoy : - )

Line Paintings/ Amaze Art

2016-02-08T12:56:00.002-05:00

Inspired by Geoff Slater! These paintings are all made of one line!

Foam Sculptures

2016-01-26T08:20:00.000-05:00

Materials:
- Floral Foam
- Carving Tools
- Gesso/ Primer
- Acrylic Paint
- Wooden Base (optional)

2 Point Perspective Boxes

2016-01-22T12:35:00.004-05:00

Materials:

- Rulers

- Magazines

- 2 12"x18" Drawing Paper

- Colored Pencils/ Markers/ Crayons

- Glue

- 3DO's (optional)

After a discussion and lesson on perspective, students were taught how to draw in 2 point perspective. Their requirement was to draw 10 boxes, 5 with windows, and of those 5, have 2 smaller boxes inside. They were colored in either a warm or cool color scheme, and the background was collaged in the opposite color scheme. They were mounted on with 3DO's for more of a three dimensional effect. The students who originally drew their boxes so that they were all connected had an easier time figuring out where to place them onto their background paper (because they were all connected!)

As much as I observe students struggling with rulers, this was surprisingly one of the more successful lessons I've taught!

Animal Grid Drawings

2015-12-15T08:52:00.001-05:00

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Autobiographical Sculptures

2015-12-07T12:44:00.000-05:00

Materials:
- Clay
- Acrylic Paint/ Glaze

Students were asked to design and form a sculpture that represented themselves. I love the endless variety and creativity my students came up with!

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Fractured Value Drawings

2015-12-03T08:55:00.004-05:00

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Hungry Fish

2015-11-24T09:15:00.001-05:00

Materials:

- 12" x 18" Drawing Paper

- Pencils

- Colored Pencils/ Markers/ Crayons

- Imagination!

So I've made it a point this year to focus on my high school curriculum because it's all new to me. That being said, I didn't want to, or honestly have enough time to, devote to new lesson planning / blog reading / pinterest researching / etc. on my elementary projects. To preserve my sanity, I've decided for the most part to repeat some of my favorite lessons I've already taught for the past seven years (although... I have caught myself already doing a couple new projects!).

This Hungry Fish lesson is one of my fav's. It's simple. It's possibilities are endless. It doesn't require a lot of materials or prep. The kids love it. My original post can be seen here.

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Sunday Comic

2015-11-22T21:31:00.002-05:00

Wishing everyone a happy & healthy (maybe not on the caloric side) Turkey Day!

Enjoy : - ).

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Plaster Masks

2015-11-17T13:53:00.001-05:00

Materials:
- Plaster
- Water
- Buckets/Tubs for Water
- Vaseline
- Towels/ Paper Towels
- Paint
- Large plastic bags

1. Pull hair back and make a wrap around head using plastic bag, framing face. Tie back with tape.

2. Use another plastic bag to drape over shoulders and make a smock.

3. Apply vaseline to face, especially over hairs. This will be your release.

4. Dip plaster strips (about 4" - 5" in length) and layer onto face. Smooth out with fingers. We did a top half one class, let it set, and then the next class, placed that hardened half on the face, and attached the second half. It takes about 15 minutes to dry and set, so we didn't have enough time in the period to do a whole mask. We covered eyes and let a little space for the nose that the students could later patch up.

You can also use a hair dryer or fan to help speed up the drying time.

5. When the whole mask is complete, set, and dry, draw and paint.

6. Add any needed embellishments or build off of mask.

* If students chose not to use their actual face, I had plastic forms they worked off of as a model .

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Sunday Comic

2015-11-15T19:04:00.000-05:00

Enjoy : - )

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Photoshop Tutorials

2015-11-09T13:32:00.000-05:00

I find myself making a lot of tutorials for my students. Most of these are modified from what I've found on the internet already, but I've tried to break it down as much as possible, for my students who have never opened up the program at all. Feel free to use and share! And if there are any corrections or recommendations, I'd love to hear your feedback, as I am a photoshop novice myself.

How to apply a sunset to a landscape using photoshop from hmazzuto

Portrait retouching with photoshop from hmazzuto

Watercolor effect using photoshop from hmazzuto

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Sunday Comic

2015-11-08T19:32:00.003-05:00

Enjoy : - )

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Valued Portraits

2015-11-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

Materials;

- Photograph of Student

- Photograph photoshopped/ edited into 5 different value ranges

- Edited photograph printed for each student

- Drawing Paper

- Pencils

- Carbon Paper

- Tape (optional)

- Tempera Paint

- Paintbrushes

1. Take photo of each student. I photoshopped for them and made them into 5 values. Print out.

2. Have each student trace around the value areas. Should look like a topographic map.

3. Starting with the lightest areas first, label on print out all the lightest areas '1.' The second lightest will be '2,' and then '3,' and then so on. They are essentially making a color by numbers guide of their portrait.

4. Place print out on top of carbon paper (transfer side facing down), and then place on top of drawing paper. (print out- carbon paper- drawing paper)

5. Start tracing outlines. It might help to use a colored pencil to see which lines you have already traced. They can also tape the top two papers to the drawing paper on the top edge, so that they can lift the bottom edge and check their progress along the way.

6. Transfer lightly all the numbers 1 - 5 in the designated areas on the drawing paper.

7. We just studied color schemes, so the students were asked to paint their portraits using a chosen color scheme. When choosing, pre-designate the 5 colors they will use. If the color scheme only includes 3 colors, ex. primary colors, they were to use tints and shades. For example, (1) light yellow, (2) yellow, (3) red, (4) dark red, (5) dark blue.

8. Using their #1-5 guide, start painting in one numbered area at a time.

The students made triptychs.

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Halloween Silhouettes

2015-10-29T12:57:00.002-04:00

Materials:
- Tempera Paint
- Paintbrushes
- Drawing Paper
- Black Construction Paper
- Scissors
- Glue/ Gluesticks

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Color Mixing Experiment

2015-10-20T08:35:00.000-04:00

This was a nice and quick lesson we did to introduce students to color mixing and the color wheel. They were asked to make a stencil, retrace it 6 times with overlapping, and mix the colors where appropriate.

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