Presidential and influential portraits in Lego!

Third grade is one of those transition years and one I find the most difficult to teach.  In my district, third graders start at a new school. We have k-2 in one building, and 3-5 at a second.  It is great for me as far as travel and planning.  I even see the same kids k-5th grade.  But still, third grade is a challenge.

Each year it seems I hit a point where I need to completely reinvent the wheel.  Other projects maybe haven't been as successful, or I am seeing more and more boredom and restlessness in the art room.  I try to really think of something that the kids are into so they will be excited and stay engaged.   Last year I tried Mine Craft  perspective pictures... All I heard about in art class constantly was Mine Craft, Mine Craft, Mine Craft... but it bombed.  This year, I've been hearing about Legos for weeks.  I've even had to confiscate Legos, so I figured it was having a surge in popularity.  I decided Lego Portraits might be the way to go... and it worked!!

It was right around Presidents Day.  We began this lesson by going through a slideshow that discussed the holiday.  I also included this great video presented by The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.  My students got way into it.  They wanted to keep talking about the people who were featured in the video and the stories they knew about them.  We also attempted a tour of the National Portrait Gallery via Google Art Project.  This is sooooooo coool but sooooo not conducive to the classroom.  Has anyone had luck with this?  It was still kind of neato and gave the kids the general idea.

As the slideshow continues, it asks why some of those people were included in the Portrait Gallery.  This got students thinking about why they were important.  Coincidentally, It is also Black History Month and much of what they were learning about in class meshed with some of the people featured in the video.

Next, I passed out the Lego Portrait Worksheet.  Students filled out the top portion independently.  Even though the worksheet is pretty general, I asked my third graders to think of a Lego Mini Figure they might see in the National Portrait Gallery.  The second part of the slideshow focuses on artist who created historical minifigures and shows some famous portraits in Lego form.  Their portrait didn't have to be someone like Rosa Parks, it could be someone else who is heroic, or famous,  real or not.  (I used the images on the worksheet after a Google search, so I am not exactly sure of the origin of the blank mini-figure.  I would like to have a better photo of the formal mini-figures too that included recognizable females.)

After students practiced, we drew as large as we could on a yellow 9 x 12 piece of paper.  We outlined with Sharpie and colored with crayons.

Wee made our portraits look a little more presidential by adding a frame that decorated in a radial pattern.  They used this worksheet to guide them.

History of Photography: A great intro for our 19th century portraits and a great website find!

My fourth grade is stuck in the 19th century for the first couple of art class units.  We just finished a unit on 19th century architecture.  Our next project is learning about facial proportions and drawing and painting self-portraits in the style of 19th century photography.

I put together a terrible slide show to help my class understand the history of the camera, and to gain some knowledge about 19th century photography's unique look.

It was a terrible slide show.

I put way too much unnecessary information in it, and I'm pretty sure the kids ended up more confused than before.  I knew it was heading south when I kept trying to compare film and digital, but explaining that the 19th century pictures weren't film... Ugh.  You get the idea.

After class I immediately searched for "History of Photography for Kids" and stumbled upon this fantastic website! I found a slideshow with exactly the information I wanted to share with my class.  We are going to pretend like this morning never happened, and we will have a new show to watch next week!

Illinois Art Education Association Student Art Show Lesson Plan

I am honored to have one of my (now former) student's art appear in the Illinois Art Education Association's Student Show this Fall.  I just want to share her awesome piece and the lesson plan.  Way to go Catherine!  I am so proud to have been your art teacher the last six years!

Elementary Visual Arts Lesson Plan

Forest Park School District #91

Author:  Heather Kostal

Activity Title:              Monochromatic Identity            Grade Level:  Fifth Grade

Objectives:

Students will learn about the artist/designer Shepard Fairey.

Students will understand the concept of identity in art.

Students will know how to create rhythmic patterns.

Students will know how to paint monochromatic color schemes.

Materials:

Mirrors

Pencils

Heavyweight tag board

Colored permanent markers

Digital Camera

Computer & Printer

PhotoShop or similar photo manipulation software

Tempera paint (Color spectrum colors and black & white)

Construction Paper

Brushes

Paint palettes

Procedure:

There are many parts to a students’ identity. Their physical characteristics, their personality, and their environment are just a few. Throughout history artists have brought forth their identity through vivid self-portraits, collage, and photography.  There is no right or wrong way to show who you are through your art, but how you show it can tell the viewer a lot about you. 

For this project, students will focus on parts of their identity and list what is important to them and what makes their identity unique.  Using mirrors, students will practice how they can portray their identity physically.

The art teacher will take a photograph of the student in their practiced pose.  It can be of their head neck and shoulders, just their face, or more.  It depends on how the student wishes their identity to be portrayed. 

Next, the photographs will be digitally enhanced in PhotoShop.  Each photo can be resized if necessary to fit to 8 ½ x 11.  The image will have the filter >artistic> cutout applied.  One copy should be printed for each student in black and white.

In recent art history the manipulation of photographic images has become brought to the forefront of our visual culture.  The street artist/graphic designer Shepard Fairey gained notoriety during President Obama’s presidential campaign for altering an Associated Press photograph for the now infamous Obama HOPE poster.  Students will enjoy hearing about the life and art of Shepard Fairey.  This poster had an impact on the identity of then presidential hopeful Barack Obama and is now part of the National Gallery.  The rise of a 21^st century artist and the similarities in the artwork they will be producing will give this project a connection to the outside world for the students.

Students will next learn about monochromatic color schemes and rhythmic patterns in art.  There are several different types of rhythm found in art like one-beat patterns, flowing, jazzy patterns, just like in music!  What kind of pattern matches their identity?  Students will come up with a rhythmic pattern background for their photograph on a 9 x 12” piece of tag board.  The pattern will be traced in their choice of colored permanent marker.  This will be the color they paint it monochromatically.

Students will paint their portrait with a different monochromatic color scheme from their background.  If they would like to trace the shadowy shapes first that were created by the computer manipulation, it might be helpful.  The lightest gray tones will be their lightest tints.  Their darkest blacks will be the darkest shades.

The painted photographs will be cut out and glued to construction paper, then cut out again and glued to the painted backgrounds.

Assessment / Evaluation:

Students will fill out a self-assessment for this lesson.

Did I show my PERSONALITY in this portrait

Do I know how to describe RHYTHM in art?  Do I know what RHYTHM I used in the background of my portrait?

Can I describe what a MONOCHROMATIC color scheme is?

Do I know who the artist Shepard Fairey is?  What is his contribution to Art History?

Does my final product look unique and original?

Did I do QUALITY work?

Portrait of a Friend Handout and art class substitute lesson

Here is another Ande Cook Handout from SchoolArts.  The Portrait of a Friend handout is a good lesson for substitute teachers!  I even wrote up a lesson with super easy to follow steps.  Print them out and leave them with your sub binder.