Ms. Gross's Art Gallery

The first step to creating this project was picking out a darker colored piece of construction paper to represent a nighttime setting. Next, we used colored tissue paper to make a design. We were instructed to create a background inspired by van Gogh's Starry Night; therefore, we focused on curvy, swirly lines. Next, we painted a gloss medium over the top to set the tissue paper and to add to the nighttime effect. After the paper was completely dried, we used light colored pastels to draw more lines on top of our design. The last step was to create a silhouette to place in front of the tissue paper. I chose to make a silhouette of a city and colored in lit windows.  An extension activity for this could be to make a background such as a forest or ocean then make a silhouette of an animal that would live in that habitat to place in front. This way, two subjects would be integrated together: science and art.  

Before making this project, we listened to the book, The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. In the book, the main character makes several dots, each one of them with different designs, colors, and sizes. After listening to the book, we had the chance to make our own dots. First, we placed coffee filters on a white sheet of paper. The next step was to draw a design on each of the dots using crayons, markers, etc. After creating the design, we used watercolor paint on top. This lesson allowed us to use different mediums and work with complementary colors. If we used opposite colors on the dots, the design stood out more. I thought of two extension activities that could be used in the classroom. First, the students could create butterflies and learn about the butterfly life cycle. Second, the students could make different planets out of the coffee filters to learn about the solar system.

This project allowed us to experiment with many different aspects of art such as cool colors, warm colors, patterns, and contour drawing. To begin, we made "ruby red glasses" with construction paper and cellophane. Next, we took a blank piece of paper and drew an animal upside down in blue colored pencil. Finally, we used warm colors (yellow, orange, and red) to create patterns over the blue image. I decided to make a lion surrounded by trees. We hung up the project with an index card giving three clues as to what the object is. This is a really neat project and my pictures don't do it justice. An extension activity for this project is write short phrases or math equations under the patterns. This activity reminded me of the board game, "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader." The answer to each question was written in blue while a red pattern covered it. We had to put a red sheet on top of the card to read the answer. Something like that could be ...