Abstract Air Dry Clay Sculptures

This is a wonderful abstract lesson I saw posted on a high school art teachers Facebook group I belong to. The challenge was to create an abstracted sculpture that represents the students' soul/essence through form and colour. In the original lesson, the teacher used Amaco brand air dry clay. I just used this argile clay I found that the Dollar store and it worked well. Each student got one packet. This was taught to a Grade 8 class.

clay sculpture dried, before paint

They had a double period (80 minutes) to create their sculpture. I started off with a slideshow/discussion about abstract sculptures and we looked at works by Jean Arp.

The next class they painted their sculptures. Students needed to mix and blend acrylics- not just use one colour from the tube- I wanted a variety of shades and tints for more sophistication. We talked about colour and the moods they evoke. Once dry, I sprayed them with a gloss varnish.

This was a tricky project for my students who are definitely used to more realistic lessons from me- a lot really struggled to make an 'abstract' sculpture as opposed to a sculpture that looked like something!

Painting with Bob Ross- Mini Acrylic Paintings

Years ago I had a Grade 9 class of only two students (very small private international school!) For fun at the end of the year, I threw on a Bob Ross episode and we painted along. I was surprised how much the boys enjoyed it and they said it was their favourite project from the whole year! 

So this year, with all the "Paint along with Bob Ross" trending on Youtube, I offered a class to my Grade 10 - 12 students called "Painting with Bob Ross". They love it!

For supplies, I bought a mini easel that came with a small canvas for each student at the Dollar store. We use large Styrofoam plates for our palettes. I also bought sets of palette knives as well as fan brushes. For paint, we used all acrylics. I have a set of really thick acrylics which works really well for creating the mountains.  

I had to pause the video ALOT- Bob mixes his colours so fast and we needed much more time. 

We only had 40 minutes, so it definitely took us two classes to finish one mini painting. 

Here's a Bob Ross mug a fellow teacher bought- starts off black and 

shows a happy little painting once you add hot liquid!

The kids are always surprised how well their paintings turn out!

Here are some of the finished ones from Grade 10 - 12 students:

This student wanted to use really random colours, lol

Hot Chocolate in Oil Pastel

I posted about this lesson previously HERE.

It's inspired by a project I saw on Cassie Stephen's blog HERE.

These were created by Grade 5 students: oil pastels on black construction paper. 

These took about 2 - 40 minute periods to complete. This was the perfect project for right before the winter holidays as it kept the kids focused and students could also make them holiday themed if they wanted to.