Tingatinga Tall "Tails"

Tingatinga Giraffes

First Grade is learning about the art of Kenya and Tanzania.  They have been looking at Tingatinga paintings for inspiration. These colorful paintings, full of patterns and playful African animals, were primarily created by Edward Said Tingatinga.  He sold them to tourists who came to Tanzania to see animals on safari.  Many artists emulate his style today, creating this new art movement in the area.  We decided to focus on giraffe paintings, so we started off by watching a tall tale video with animation done with Tingatinga colors and patterns.  Watch here!  I had them watch it while I passed out supplies. They loved it and were singing the theme song for days.  We then painted the giraffes in black, waited for them to dry overnight, and then added outlines and polka-dots.  I tried to focus on brush techniques to get the various lines we needed for the work.  Here are some action shots and some finished work!

Brenna, Grade 1, Outlining and Adding a Pattern

Ava, Grade 1

Lila F.  Grade 1

Yalexi, Grade 1

Lila M., Grade 1

Blending Values and Creating Contrast

Brian, Grade 7

Danny, Grade 7

The 6-7th grade class used acrylic paint on canvas this week as they practiced blending colors into a gradient.  They created concentric circles of various values, and they practiced blending the colors without losing the multiple values.  I gave them freedom to choose what they wanted to add in the front of their picture.  I used a snow scene in my example, so many chose that, but we had an underwater scene, some city skylines, and a tropical sunset.  All were painted in black to show silhouettes created by backlighting.

Gabe, Grade 7

Quin, Grade 6

Lily, Grade 6

Daniel, Grade 6

Birds of a Feather

Birds by Charley Harper (click on link below to see more)

Charley Harper is the artist who inspired this week's Kindergarten lesson.  His stylized paintings simplify forms with shapes and lines.  The students created a collage scene using paper and some splatter paint, and then they built various birds from cut paper shapes.  I have been trying to find ways to give them more practice with scissors, and cutting these shapes was a fun way to do that.  Most of the birds could be made from circles and triangles.  Here are a few samples from the two classes.

Sophia, Kindergarten

Xander, Kindergarten

Eli, Kindergarten

Aiden, Kindergarten