Yayoi Kusama Polka-Dot Pumpkins

 

       

Begin this week's project by watching this short video about Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.  She is sometimes called "The Princess of Polka Dots" because of her love of all things spotted.  She has become famous for polka dots!  She thinks of herself as one dot in a universe of dots, so a dotted pattern can make her "disappear" among lots of dots.  It's kind of like one person disappearing in a huge crowd.  She calls this obliteration.  That's a big word that means to make something go away.  

Watch here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUoDUhsWJL8
Read here:  https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-yayoi-kusama

Another way to make things disappear is to camouflage them against a similar background.  If you put a spotted object in front of a spotted background, it is hard to see.  

We would say it is camouflaged.    

Kusama would say the object has been obliterated.  

Look at this picture of Kusama with one of her pumpkin sculptures.  Her dress, the pumpkin, and the wall look similar.  They all blend together!

This week's art project challenge is to make a polka dot pumpkin and then to obliterate it!  You will create a little sculpture and then design a background to make it camouflaged.  Look at these examples by Prescott students, and then watch the video for directions. 

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Project for Thursday and Friday:  Kusama-Inspired SERIES showing REPETITION and PATTERN

Fall Forests

 In this project, you will practice using the primary colors to mix the secondary colors.  

You will use different types of lines.

You will create art that shows the changing season by focusing on fall colors. 

 Watch this video to do the project with Ms. Ammons!

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Falling Leaves

Do you remember which colors are warm and which colors are cool?  Warm colors make us think of the sun.  They are:  red, yellow and orange.  Cool colors remind us of the cool water in the ocean:  green, blue and purple.  

In this project, we will create a cool, breezy sky with cool colors.  We will make fall leaves with warm colors.  

Sample by Ms. Ammons

Watch this video to do the project with Ms. Ammons!

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3-D Paper Portraits

In this lesson, you will learn to draw a face with realistic proportions.  Then, you will be challenged to build a face from paper, using only scissors and glue.  

Sample Projects by Prescott Students

We have been studying Renaissance artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci.  You know that Renaissance artists studied the human body so that they could draw in a more realistic way.  They learned the proportions of the face by studying and measuring the distance between different parts of the face like the eyes, nose and mouth.  Look at this example of one of Leonardo's drawings:

Let's learn some of the proportions, and we will test them out on a magazine page.  Find a picture of a head from a magazine, or use the one provided.  Begin by drawing a line of symmetry down the middle of the face, dividing it into two sides.

Next, make a line to mark the top of the head, and make a line under the chin.  If you measure the distance between these two lines, and find the half-way point, it should line up with the eyes.  Your EYES are in the middle!  

When you draw the eyes, make sure that you leave a little space on each side of your head, and then leave space between they eyes that is about as wide as one eye. 

Now, find the half-way point between the eyes and the bottom of the chin.  Draw a small, horizontal line there to show where the bottom of the nose should be.  Also draw lines straight down from the corners of the eyes.  This should make a little box where your nose will go.

Finally, the mouth should go right below the nose, leaving just a small bit of space.  The corners of the mouth line up with the center of the eye.  The ears line up with the eyes and the nose. 

Practice finding these lines on your magazine page, and practice drawing a face using these proportions.  This video might also help:  VIDEO  

For this week's project, you will SCULPT a face using paper.  We will build, using cut paper shapes, but I want you to remember to use the proportions you just practiced!  Watch this video, and create your 3-D paper portrait.

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Hiroshige and the Japanese Landscape

This week, we will learn about Ando Hiroshige.  He is one of the most famous Japanese artists of all time, and he was the last master artist who made a special kind of art called ukiyo-e.  He travelled all over Japan to find inspiration for his paintings and prints, and he used his artwork to show people the beauty of Japan.

Most of his prints and paintings were landscapes.  Landscapes are paintings about a place.  They can show how a place looked at an exact moment:  in a rain storm, at sunrise, or during a special holiday or event.  Artists can make many pictures of one place, but still could have each one look different.  

We will begin with a scavenger hunt.  We will look at Hiroshige's work, and we will find some things that are commonly seen in photos and paintings of Japan.  As you watch the video, look for these things:

• Mount Fuji:  A tall mountain that used to be an active volcano.
• Japanese Bridge:  These bridges arc like a rainbow over the water.
• Blossoms:  Flowers that grow on trees like almond or cherry trees.
  
• Pagodas:  Buildings with a many-layered roof, curled at the sides.
• Koi or Carp:  Fish common to Japanese gardens
• Kimonos:  Traditional Japanese clothing

Student Samples

Your challenge this week is to make a picture with all of these things in the scene!  We will use crayons and watercolors, and we will fold an origami kimono.  Watch these videos to do the  project with Ms. Ammons.  The first one will lead you through making the background.  The second one shows how to make your kimono and figure.

Scavenger Hunt and Background

Kimono and Figure

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Secondary Color Pumpkin Patch

 

This week, we will practice mixing the secondary colors and using the secondary colors to make art.  The secondary colors are purple, green and orange.  

You can make each these colors by mixing two primary colors!

Can you think of things that are secondary colors?  I am going to challenge you to practice mixing these colors with your paint. We will be painting two papers, and we will use those painted papers to make a fall picture with orange pumpkins in green grass under a purple sky.  Watch this video to follow Ms. Ammons as she makes her secondary colors project.  

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Frida Kahlo Portraits

 Frida Kahlo is an iconic Mexican painter who paints stories of her life.  Many of her paintings are self-portraits that give us clues about what has happened in these life stories.  This week, you will create your own Frida portrait with crayon, fill in color with watercolors, and finish it off with some collage work.  

Sample by Ms. Ammons

Follow along with the video to make your own Frida Portrait!

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Primary Color Collages

Ms. Ammons's Sample Project

 This week, we will practice using the primary colors to make art.  The primary colors are red, blue and yellow.  If you have these colors, you can mix them to make lots of other colors!  

Can you think of things that are primary colors?  I am going to challenge you to practice cutting with your scissors and to find pictures of things that are red, yellow and blue in magazines.  We will be arranging them on a paper to make a cool collage from all of the pictures.  Collages are pictures made from many different pieces.  Watch this video to follow Ms. Ammons as she makes her primary colors project.  

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Michelangelo: Painter or Sculptor?

Michelangelo di Ludovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni, A.K.A. Michelangelo, was one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance.  His father owned a marble quarry, and Michelangelo spent a lot of time living with his nanny and her husband, who was a stone cutter.  It is no wonder he knew how to work with stone!  He was also a master painter, painting the entire ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  

Detail of the Sistine Chapel

Detail of David
In this lesson you will try carving, and you will try creating art on a paper on a "ceiling".  You will be deciding which one of these art-making techniques is most challenging.  This will help you decide whether you think Michelangelo should be more famous for his paintings or his sculptures.  

We will vote as a class to see what we decide!

To get started, watch this video to learn more about Michelangelo's life and learn how to turn a bar of soap into a sculpture!  

Ms. Ammons's Sample Carving

For PART 2:   Use tape to tape a paper on the UNDER side of a table or desk in your home.  Use art materials of your choice to make a picture on the paper.  You will have to reach and look up as you draw, just like Michelangelo did when he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel!

Turn in a photo of your CARVING by Friday.  

It is best to put it on a solid background and take a photo with the camera close to the sculpture so we can see it.  Notice how I photographed my sample.  As your Artist's Statement, you will answer our big question:  Should Michelangelo be more famous as a sculptor or a painter?  Give us your opinion and then tell us why you think what you do!

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Practice Persistence in Art

I want to share a video with you.  Click HERE to watch!

Think about the characters.  What do they have in common?  What challenge do they face together?  How do they react to failure?  What do they learn?  

Artists amaze me.  Making art is something we all do, but there are artists out there who have shown they will make art no matter what happens.  

Chuck Close became paralyzed, but he kept making art by adapting his process.  

Frida Kahlo made her difficult life, full of set-backs, her subject for hundreds of paintings.  

Some artists, like Yayoi Kusama, make art almost as though it was a habit, continuously producing paintings no matter what it meant for how her life looked to others.

Artists like Jacob Lawrence made art while working full-time in many jobs including military service (notice the Navy uniform in the photo.) , and while living in a time when people who looked like him did not get credit for what they did.   

So what does that mean for us?  

I hope that art class can be a place where you work hard on your projects because you want to.  I dream that my students will make art that is important to them so that they naturally show persistence and resilience as they try new things and fail, or as they experiment and find their way.  You will make mistakes, and sometimes you will have to review, revise, and even restart.  The important thing is that you try your best and that you keep going.

Your art projects require TIME and PERSISTENCE.   

Look back at your "finished work".  Does it work the way it should?  Ask a friend for feedback.  What can be better?  Be proud of your work.  You are an artist!

Pac-Man vs. Mondrian

We have been looking at the artwork of Mondrian and Kandinsky.  We have compared the two artists to each other, and today we will compare one of them to something completely different... PAC-MAN!

What do you see in these two images that are similar?

What is different?

Your challenge in this project will be to combine these two themes in one picture!  You can use collage and crayon to make your game board and characters, and you can arrange you pieces artistically.  Who will stand out more in your work?  Mondrian or Pac-Man?  Watch this video to do the project with Ms. Ammons!  

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Warm Fish, Cool Ocean

 Some colors are warm.  Colors like red, yellow and orange make us think of warm things like the sun. 

 Some colors are cool.  Colors like blue, green and purple make us think of a cool ocean.  

Watch a VIDEO

In this week's lesson, we will make a picture using warm colors, cool colors and many types of lines.  Do you know some different types of lines?  Here are a few of my favorite!

You will make a picture of a WARM fish in a COOL ocean with many different lines decorating your art.  Here is a sample!  Watch the video, and Ms. Ammons will show you how to make your own.

Don't forget to turn in your work!  

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Paste it here, and follow the directions to upload.

ARTSONIA

Mona Lisa Parodies

What is it about Leonardo's DaVinci's Mona Lisa that has made it so famous?  

It is one of the best known paintings in the world!  Is it her smile?  Is it her gaze?  Your challenge is to give her a makeover.  You can make her modern, funny, scary, bizarre, or just unique.  Use your imagination, and make it fun, but be careful!  If you change too many things, no one will recognize her.  The tricky part is that you need to change some things, but leave enough the same so that everyone knows who she is.  

Watch this video to see the project goals and to learn how to use carbon paper to make your project look its best!

Before you turn in your work, be sure to check the goals:

1.  Transfer the image carefully, and keep parts of the original painting the same.

2.  Change the picture in a unique way.

3.  Meet all goals for coloring:  even coloring, blended colors, value

4.  Add perspective somewhere in the background.

4=A, 3=B, 2=C, 1=D, 0=F

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Turn your work in here:  Artsonia

Stepping Into Abstract Art

Lesson Information 

In this week's project, we will look at some artwork that is ABSTRACT.  That means that it is not a picture of anything you will recognize.  You will not see people, places or objects.  Instead, you will see lines, shapes and colors.  

Look at these paintings.  What do you notice? How would you describe each painting?

Watch this video message from Ms. Ammons:

Just in case the video doesn't work, here are some written directions!

          

Step 1:  On one piece of your WATERCOLOR paper, draw 7 lines.  They can be wavy, bumpy, swirly, straight, criss-crossed or any other line you imagine!

Step 2:  Choose 3 colorful crayons.  Add 2 shapes with each crayon, and color in the shapes.  They can be big shapes, small shapes, shapes inside of shapes or any other shape you imagine!  

Step 3:  Decide if you want your background to be COOL or WARM.  With your watercolor paints, add either WARM colors or COOL colors to your background.  Remember that watercolors should be mostly WATER.  Add a small amount of paint and lots of water so your paint stays thin and watery.  Sticky, thick paint will cover up your lines and shapes.

Step 4:  Let it DRY, upload it to Artsonia, and write your artist's statement!  

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