5/6 Grade: Cultural Symbolism

This class was a combination of 5th and 6th graders.  Since they had been studying ancient civilizations I thought it would be a good time to look at symbolism and stylization in the art of  different cultures around the world.  After a discussion about symbolism we talked about how they could blend modern symbols/stylization with what they saw in traditional art from other cultures to create their own artwork.  They had the choice of focusing on the stylization and pattern or personal symbolism.

The students created one design that they could use to create two different projects.  The first was a watercolor and the second was embossed foil.  The pattern could be adapted to fit the medium.  The first step was to sketch a design.  The starting format was a circle with a square background.  After creating a design they were happy with they transferred the design to watercolor paper and used black sharpies to outline everything. Watercolor pencils were used to add color and then water was used to activate the pencils if they wanted a watercolor effect.

Creating the design

Outlining with sharpie

Activating the watercolor pencils

Coloring with watercolor pencils

Final Watercolor

Students working on their watercolors

Examples of the finished watercolor designs

After finishing their watercolors the students transferred their original design to a piece of cardboard wrapped with several layers of heavy duty aluminum foil.  At this point they could make adjustments to the design by adding or subtracting details. They used a wood stylus to deepen the pattern they traced.

The final step was to sponge the entire surface with thinned down tempera paint.   The paint was then wiped from the surface leaving paint in the recessed lines.

Examples of the final aluminum foil designs

                                                          

Examples of same pattern in both mediums

Kindergarten

The Elements of Art: Color, Line, Shape and Pattern

The kindergarteners learned about the elements of art focusing on color, line and shape.  The first week they learned how to mix colors.  The next week we explored line.  The students discussed different kinds of lines and learned line direction: vertical, horizontal and diagonal.  They learned about cooperation as they worked together to make a collaborative abstract design with colored popsicle sticks. Then they created their own abstract designs gluing colorful strips of paper on black paper.  

Abstract Line Collaboration

Abstract Line Collage

Patriotic Collage 

The unit "Red, White and Blue" worked as the inspiration for our final project.  The class learned about the symbolism and elements of art found in US flag then painted paper with it's colors and patterns. They cut and glued the paper to create imaginative, abstract collages using these elements of art.