Saturday, December 4, 2010

Ruscha-Style Ribbon Word Drawings


I love, love, LOVE the work of American artist Ed Ruscha.  His paintings are sublime and his word ribbon drawings are pure perfection and the perfect starting point for an observational drawing project.

Ed Ruscha, Quit, 1967 , Gunpowder and colored pencil on paper      Image Source


I used the fantastic lesson plan found here on the Incredible Art Department website.
Grade 10 students chose a word(s), in any language, and then constructed them out of strips of heavy white paper.


Then they hot glued them to a sheet of white paper.




Then we lit them with a lamp and the students drew them directly from observation. They had to include a tiny object that somehow subtly related to their chosen word(s).

Ta da!



The shadow figure was collaged on.
  



"vast"
 

"Agape" is Greek for "love"


"Elma"
   

"Strength"











   

at

11 comments:

  1. Mrs. HahnOctober 22, 2011 at 11:12 PM

    This is an amazing lesson!

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  2. MissJanuary 20, 2012 at 1:27 PM

    Thanks Mrs. Hahn!

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  3. NikkiOctober 3, 2012 at 12:34 PM

    Do you have a list of the words you used handy? I'm a first year art teacher and would love to follow your assignments. Also, any advise would be gratefully appreciated.

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  4. MissOctober 3, 2012 at 4:45 PM

    Hi Nikki,

    Thanks for your comment.

    As for the words, each student chose their own word- it was completely up to them and could be in any language.

    The first year being a teacher is always the hardest but it definitely gets easier once you find your own 'voice' and teaching style.

    My biggest advice for a new Art teacher would be to make sure you do each project before you teach it to a class- especially if you teach junior high or higher. Every lesson I've taught I've always created myself beforehand. It does take alot of time, but then I find out if I actually enjoy the project and can fix any pitfalls that occured and have tips I can pass along to my students. Also, obviously, you then have a sample to show and I find that's extremely helpful for visual students. (showing a sample is a contentious issue amongst Art teachers but I'm a big believer in it!)

    Good luck!

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  5. Rina k6art.comOctober 11, 2012 at 11:05 PM

    Hi Miss
    This is a gorgeous project. The paper sculpture would be cool as signage. I definitely need to test it out. Thanks for posting.

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  6. Mrs. HahnFebruary 10, 2013 at 3:36 PM

    I was so impressed by this project I brought it into my classroom. Thanks so much for the inspiration!

    http://minimatisse.blogspot.com/2013/02/shadow-words.html

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  7. MissFebruary 11, 2013 at 6:29 PM

    Thanks Mrs.Hahn! Your kids did a great job!

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  8. claudiaOctober 27, 2013 at 7:01 AM

    fabulous,fabulous,fabulous!

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  9. AnonymousApril 12, 2015 at 10:59 PM

    What a great project - can't wait to try it with my Grade 8 class!

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  10. Mrs. DNovember 12, 2022 at 5:10 PM

    About how long did this lesson take your 10th graders start to finish including discussion around Ed Ruscha! Thank you

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  11. MissNovember 13, 2022 at 6:32 PM

    Hi Mrs. D- I'd guess about a month? I see them once a week for an 80 min period. Depending on the length of the word, though, some take longer or shorter.

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