Monday, May 31, 2021

Wolf Sculptures

How will you remember being a Prescott Wolf?  This week, create a wolf sculpture to commemorate your time here at Prescott.  I have researched some ideas below, or you can choose some other fun method.  Use any materials, but make a 3-D wolf.  








Saturday, May 22, 2021

Past, Present and Future

 Eighth Graders, 

You have made it!  You are approaching the end of your last year at Prescott School.  Many of you were in Kindergarten when I started teaching here.  We have learned about art together for nine years.  I am proud of you, and I am also so excited for you as you move on to high school and college.  


You are in a unique place in your life.  I have noticed many conversations in class have been centered on memories and looking back at your school years together.  At the same time, I hear you talking about high schools and comparing experiences of school tours, applications and first impressions of where you are heading.  In honor of this memorable time, you will be working on an art project that you will call Past, Present, Future.  



What will this look like?

What materials will you use?

What stories will you focus on?  

These things are all up to you!  You have free choice with this project to imagine how you can visually represent this theme.  We will begin class each day with activities that will help guide you as you work on the project.  I will give you some suggestions, but I also encourage you to think outside the box and to do your own version of the project.  

Let's begin by looking at some famous art.  Your challenge is to figure out how each of these paintings ties in with our theme.  

What do you notice?

What do you think?

What do you wonder?

Paul Gauguin


Alvin Albright

Audrey Flack

Titian

Titian

Frida Kahlo

Gustav Klimt


  • Monday:  Begin by deciding the following:
  1. What type of picture will you create:  Landscape, Portrait, Still-Life, Other
  2. What art materials will you use?  Watercolors, Markers, Color Pencils, Other
  3. Free-Write for 3 minutes on each of the following:  Past, Present and Future
  4. Use these ideas to create a rough sketch of what your composition will look like, and describe it by labeling the parts and describing it briefly in a few sentences.

  • Tuesday:  Research source material and create a rough sketch on a quality paper or canvas.
  • Wednesday and Thursday:  Focused work time to add color and shading to your work.
  • Friday:  Add final touches, photograph your work, and turn it in with an artist's statement.

To turn in work, copy this code:  WCCP-WSTF


Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Banksy Through the Shredder


In the early 1990s, an artist named Banksy began working as a freehand graffiti artist with the DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ) in his hometown of Bristol, England. 


Like many street artists, he started repeating images that became his style. Apes, policemen, soldiers, rioters, children, and the elderly became his characters, which quickly began to be recognized and gain fans. He rapidly gained the attention of the street art community and the general public.

Banksy painted on walls, making his work visible to anyone, anytime, for FREE.  He did not like how some art is expensive to buy or even to see.  He lets us know this through a famous stunt with a painting of a girl with a red balloon.



This is a one-day project that will challenge you to re-create Banksy's Girl With Balloon.  This painting was famously shredded by a device hidden in the picture's frame at the time of it's auction.  
                                                 
                                              Want to see the stunt?  Watch HERE!

Most people think that Banksy was making a statement about the over-priced art market and that he wanted to show the artist in control of their own work rather than a buyer.  What do you think?  Why would he do this?

Just for fun, you will draw Banksy's picture, and you will create a frame from cardboard.  See if you can glue the frame so that the picture is hanging out the bottom, and cut the picture into strips below the frame.  This will make yours look like it has been shredded by Banksy as well.


Create your work along with this video from Youtube  OR Use my video below. 


 
To turn in work, copy this code:  WCCP-WSTF

Sunday, May 2, 2021

Street Art Battle

Street art has had a big year.  The global pandemic and the presidential election and the Black Lives Matter movement have inspired creative responses from artists.  The city has become a big canvas as windows are boarded up for protection during marches and even riots.  When I returned to Chicago after quarantining in NC for several months, the plywood-covered windows had become a free art gallery on the streets of the city.  

                                    



Let's discuss these questions:

Have you seen any new street art in your neighborhood this year?  

What does it look like?  

What message does it communicate? 


This week's and next week's lessons are about street art.  Begin with a class discussion: 

  • What is graffiti?  What is street art?  Is there a difference?
  • What street artists do you know?
  • What messages do street artists try to communicate?
  • What are the types of art they make?
Your challenge will be to create a street art campaign of your own.  This means you will be "marketing" your art by making it usable, wearable and shareable!  Show us your art, but then design custom merchandise.  
Shepard Fairey Art and Gear
Student-Designed Shoes and Skateboard

There are 5 parts to this project!

1.  Read about these famous street artists, and choose 1-3 who inspire you.  You are also free to choose an artist not listed below if you know of any others!  

Cornbread

Keith Haring

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Eduardo Kobra

Banksy

Shepard Fairey

JC Rivera

You Are Beautiful

Rand Borden/ Kaiju Big Battel

Hebru Brantley

Swoon


2.  Choose a MESSAGE to communicate.  Examples from Banksy.  Think of what is important to you.  What change you hope to make through your art?  

3.  Design a personal TAG.  A tag is a custom signature.  How will you sign your name artistically so that the public recognizes it is your work?  Will you use your real name or a nickname?  What font will you use?  Click here for help.
Here are a few famous tags:



4.  Design a STICKER:  Did you know stickers are a form of street art?  Read about it here.  Street artists can spread the word about their art through distributing stickers.  

Here are some examples of famous artists' or art campaigns' stickers:

                                 
        



5.  The SHOE:  Don't you think you need a custom shoe to go with your art campaign?  Design a shoe that shows the colors and features of your art.  Get help HERE.  Here are some examples from the art world:  
Takashi Murakami for Nike
Shepard Fairey for Vans
READ ABOUT IT!  

Hebru Brantley for Adidas

6.  Design a MURAL:  Begin with a drawing of a wall or space, and fill it with a design that communicates your style and your message!  Refer to the Hebru Brantley project we did, but also think creatively about how yours will look.  Here is some inspiration from murals around Chicago!  Click Here

JC Rivera
Kobra
Hebru Brantley

7.  Design a SKATEBOARD!  This should be closely tied to the shoe.  Make them look like they will be sold together.  Get help here.

We will go over all of this together in class, and the videos below will help us.  Have fun with it by making it your own.  You have plenty of time to work hard and do your best.  Use your BEST art skills!  We will present the individual parts to this project together as a snapshot of your campaign.  Turn in each part as a photo, and we will create a template to showcase the photos in one slide or doc.  

To turn in work, copy this code:  WCCP-WSTF

Stormy Seas Ahead

Rembrandt's Stolen Work, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee  My favorite new project this year was one I came up with when I was...