Plains People Painted Buffalo Hides

In Canada, June is designated as National Indigenous History Month, a time to celebrate and recognize the rich history, heritage, and contributions of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. Additionally, June 21st is recognized as National Indigenous Peoples Day, a specific day to highlight Indigenous cultures and achievements. 

Why do non-Indigenous Canadians need to learn about Indigenous history?

For many Canadians, the history of Indigenous Peoples and Canada was, until recently, unknown. Generations of Canadians have gone through their lives without knowing about residential schools, the historic and ongoing impacts of the Indian Act, the significance of treaties, or the contributions of Indigenous Peoples to the mosaic of Canada. 

Canada is often recognized as a leader in reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples, due to its commitment to recognizing Indigenous rights, addressing historical injustices, and engaging in nation-to-nation relationships. While significant progress has been made, the journey towards reconciliation is ongoing and faces ongoing challenges. 

So in art class, my Grade 4-6 students learned about and made their own versions of painted buffalo hides of the Plains Peoples. We looked at photos and watched videos. 

You can find many buffalo hide templates online. We painted them with brown liquid watercolours first and let dry. Then they sketched on their designs using pencils. Once students finished drawing and colouring their designs using pencil crayons, they cut them out and glued them onto brown construction paper. 

 

Dali Inspired Surrealist Animals

Here's a popular Dali inspired lesson based on his painting "The Elephants" from 1948. Students chose any animal they wanted and stretcheeeeed the legs nice and long. I always love how funny these turn out! See the steps previously posted HERE.

Work from Grade 4-6 students:

 

Ruscha-Style Ribbon Word Drawings

I love, love, LOVE the work of Pop artist 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.

I found the original lesson idea years and years ago on the Incredible Art Department website. I can no longer find it unfortunately and the website is defunct. I used it so much in my early years of teaching!!

Grade 10-12 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. Finally, they drew the word directly from observation. They had to include a full range of values. 

I always love how these turn out!!

 

Polaroid Style Watercolor Travel Paintings

This is a cool retro style watercolour project using Polaroid compositional format.

There are tons of inspiration on Instagram, where I saw this idea. If you are the originator of the lesson, please comment so I can give credit!!

Grade 10-12 students had to brainstorm ideas of places they've visited that made them feel safe, comfortable, happy, or has good memories of. Of course we always have lots of Rocky Mountains in ours! 

I gave them a planning worksheet on which to sketch their ideas. I encourage them to use their own original photos as well. 

Once planned, they measured out the correct dimensions on a sheet of watercolour paper. Some love to tape off their paper. For watercolour media, they could use either pan watercolour or watercolour pencils. 

I always love how these turn out!

Grade 10-12 artworks