Kluender- Art 8

Art 8 students have completed their second OBSERVATIONAL DRAWING! We discussed SYMBOLISM in artwork. Students were asked to bring a small personal item from home to draw from. The object was to represent something about themselves or hold personal meaning: a symbol to represent a part of themselves. 

Then, we discussed color symbolism. They got a handout with different personality traits as they refer to color symbolism. Students chose a colored paper that fit them: another symbolic representation.

We learned how to mix and blend HUES, TINTS and SHADES using Prismacolor pencils. This helps to create VALUE when shading.

Then, students had to choose between a MONOCHROMATIC or COMPLEMENTARY color scheme to complete their drawing. 

A monochromatic color scheme uses tints and shades of one color. For example, if a student chose blue paper, their drawing would be done in all values of blues.

A complementary color scheme is two colors across from each other on the color wheel (opposites). For this example, students who chose a blue paper, would complete their drawing in all values of oranges.

When turning this project in for a grade, students were asked as part of their self assessment, to explain how they used symbolism to represent themselves in their artwork. Hopefully, this process will begin to have them think about using symbolism when planning future artwork. 

Here are some student examples. See if you can determine which color scheme was chosen in each piece. 

Kluender Art 8 Hands

Art 8 is finally done with their Symbolic Hand Drawings! They did SUCH A GREAT JOB! As part of our pre-assessment for the year, students were asked to do a study of their hand. A lot of students traced their hand and/or struggled with drawing hands. I thought tackling a difficult task would be a great way to boost these young artists self-esteem! Once they realized they could do it, and compared the before and after, I think they realized that there is a lot to learn this year in Art, and that they will all benefit from improving their observational drawing skills!

Just check out these amazing drawings! Students drew their hands holding a personal object they brought from home. By drawing something personal, they have included some information about themselves and are challenging the viewer to engage in a visual conversation with their artwork. 

Students also had the option to create a digital version by scanning their drawings into Adobe Photoshop CS2. We got some pretty creative results!