Family Portraits
Principle: Unity
Mixed Media
Elements of Space & Form
Plain and simple, this lesson began as a way for me to meet
a state goal. I had to come up
with a way for my students to turn a two-dimensional drawing into a three
dimensional work of art. As the
lesson developed, however, greater goals were achieved and a more successful
work of art was accomplished.
I am always trying to make a connection with my
students. Like most elementary art
teachers, I only get to see my students for one small morsel per week. Unlike a
classroom teacher trying to get to know only one class, we are trying to get to
know several classes. When you are
new to a district, or a student is new, it may take a few semesters before you
can forge a meaningful bond with a student. You also have so many students that finding something in
common, or sharing a funny story with each one is hard to do. This was something that unexpectedly
occurred with this project.
At the beginning of this lesson, we looked at examples of
family portraits that are prevalent throughout art history. We explore
bas-relief from ancient Greece, to the moody serene depictions of Rembrant’s
own family, and to more current translations by Jacob Lawrence. As a class we discussed the artist’s
relationships in the paintings, as well as how they are similar and different
to our own. This opened up the
door to sharing about our own families.
I did want to learn more about my students and their lives and
families. I shared about my life
and family as well. They learned
about my husband and daughters and dog, and they learned that when I was their
age I lived with my mom, brother, and sister because my parents were divorced. I remembered thinking when I was in
school that I was the only kid who had a family like that, so I knew some of my
students must of felt that way too.
I didn’t want to draw attention to that, but instead show that I can
relate. The conversations about
our families led to a lot of fun anecdotes and art class bonding.
Next, we discussed the principle of design unity before we
began our sketch, and how important it is to keep our family members in
proportion to one another. I would
draw examples on the board of a gigantic mom next to a puny four year old, or
an eleven year old with a giant head next to a dog bigger then them. We also discussed the element of space
and how important our backgrounds are.
Where should our horizon line be? Are the people inside or outside? Is this a place the family really goes
or is it from your imagination? We
brainstormed out loud and drew different combinations. No one is allowed to draw a straight
horizon line with a corner sun, tree with a squirrel hole, and “m” birds. My class knows that has been drawn way
too many times before! The
compositions of family members the students came up with were fantastic. I have seen all sorts of pets included
too from iguanas to goldfish and families spanning several generations. The
sketch was very important and we spent a lot of time on it.
When a final sketch was complete and colored, our next
problem was to translate that sketch into a mixed media bas-relief
sculpture. The students make their
people out of soft air dry clay. We keep the clay in one sausage like piece,
and pull the head, arms and legs out of the clay. This keeps the clay from breaking so easily once it
dries. They paint the pieces and
use fabric and yarn scraps to dress their family. The backgrounds are sturdy pieces of matte board. The
students are given free reign over a variety of supplies to complete an
environment for their family. I
demonstrate and give ideas on how they could complete the backgrounds, but it
is really up to the students to be as creative as possible in how they complete
the task and assemble their sculpture.
Another delightful turn of events with this project was the
time and effort it took to assemble the sculptures and the creativity the
students put forth in their creations.
It made me realize I had been hung up on “meeting goals,” I had
forgotten how important the process was.
Objectives
Students will:
- Demonstrate
the same idea in 2D and 3D media.
- Create,
color, dress, and assemble their family in an imaginative way.
- Do
quality work.
Materials
- 9” x
9” white drawing paper
- pencils
and erasers,
- extra
fine point permanent markers
- colored
pencils, markers
- 9” x
9” matte board
- soft
air dry clay
- glue
- tempera
paints & brushes
- fabric
& yarn scraps
- textured
paper scraps
- found
objects
National Visual Art Standard
Students use different media, techniques, and processes to
communicate ideas experiences, and stories
