Plasticine Mood "Paintings"

This is a gorgeous abstract art lesson inspired by a lesson found on the Studio Sprout website. 

It uses the artist Bernice Bing as a starting point for looking at abstract expressionistic art inspired by emotions. 

I keep my plasticine stored on zip lock bags by colour. 

I pre-cut small squares of cardboard for students to work on. They were asked to think of an emotion relevant to them and try to choose colours that they felt matched that feeling. Then, in a loose and expressive way, they smeared and played with the plasticine and applied it to the cardboard however they pleased. 

Grade 4-6 artworks! I love how expressive they all turned out. 

 

Chalk Pastel Dinosaurs

I haven't taught this lesson since about 2019 and boy, have things gone downhill! My Grade 4-6 class really struggled with both manipulating the chalk, drawing the dinosaur and creating a creative landscape background for their dinosaur. 

For context, our Grade 4 students go on a field trip each year to the famous Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller. Set in the rugged Alberta badlands, the museum displays one of the world's largest collections of dinosaurs. Nearby is also Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park is well-known for being one of the richest dinosaur fossil locales in the world. Fifty-eight dinosaur species have been discovered at the park and more than 500 specimens have been removed and exhibited in museums around the globe. There's also incredible hoodoos you can hike around nearby. 

Our students go for an overnight trip to the museum where they get to sleep in the museum under the dinosaurs! I've been on this field trip and it's incredible!

Drumheller is also a cute town to visit in the summer, as it has loads of cute dinosaur sculptures scattered throughout the downtown. 

Anyway, back to the project! Students first practised drawing a dinosaur and then drew their good copy on 12 x 18" black construction paper. They outlined everything with a black oil pastel. Then they coloured it using chalk pastels. This was the messiest I've ever seen the kids be, with the boys absolutely covering their shirts in pastel. I've never seen anything like it before and will have to re-think how I teach chalk in the future. Overall, he boys maturity has dramatically declined since 2019. 

When it came to the background, there was little imagination and I really had to coax the kids. Honestly, I think this is symptomatic of a generation being raised in front of screens. They want to do everything fast and have little patience for subjects requiring sustained lengths of work and patience, like art. 

I have been reading the book The Anxious Generation, by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and it has been really eye opening and confirms what I have been seeing as a teacher who has taught for over 25 years. 

You can see my kids art from 2019 in my previous post HERE. What do you think?

Some Grade 5,6 results: 

 

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:

 

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!