Jim Dine 4 Hearts Art Project

Here's another fast and easy Valentine's art project with an art history component. 

I saw this on an Instagram reel from @scholtenart. I altered the last time a bit.

This was the first project I did with a new set of Grade 4-6 students. Honestly, it was easy for alot of the older kids, but the boys, especially, needed help and reminders with cutting and gluing and all those fine motor skills that boys sadly seem to lack compared to girls. This took my classes one 40 minute period to complete. 

This is the first year I've tries tempera paint sticks and they are fantastic! It's like drawing with a really slick, smooth, colorful glue stick!

I pre-cut heavy white paper into squares (9" x 9") and then pre-cut coloured photocopy paper into squares that would fit onto that in 4th (I can't really explain math, lol)

Students covered the white paper with patterns using paint sticks.

Then they chose two squares of a colour, stacked them and cut out a heart shape. 

Review positive and negative space.

Glue stick these onto the background like so. Then we used black and white pencil crayons to add some shading and highlights to the hearts. 

I love how fun and colourful these turned out!

 

Maud Lewis Inspired Flower Painting

Maud Lewis (1903-1970) was a Canadian folk artist known for her vibrant, naive paintings of Nova Scotia landscapes and everyday life, despite facing significant physical challenges due to juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Maud Lewis was born with a condition that resulted in physical deformities and later developed into juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which caused her significant pain and limited mobility, especially in her hands. Maud's mother introduced her to painting by teaching her to make and sell Christmas cards. She married Everett Lewis, a fish peddler, and they lived in a small, one-room house in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, where Maud continued to paint and sell her art. 

Maud was uniquely creative, self-taught, specialized in painting everyday rural life, loved animals and appreciated the beauty of nature. I've seen her work when I visited Halifax- you can also visit her original house which is now housed within the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. It's so adorable and charming with almost every surface painted in flowers!

Grade 4-6 students started off by looking at her flower still life paintings and discussing the colours and composition.

Flowers in Red Pot, 1967

I started by doing a demonstration. Students then sketched out their bouquet on 

brown kraft paper.

Then they practiced using tempera paint sticks on scrap paper- it was our first time using them. The kids enjoyed them but realized pretty quickly that they aren't ideal for colouring small details.

I love the wide variety of artworks created- we are holding onto these for Mother's Day!