Emotional Self-Portrait Yarn Drawings inspired by Edvard Munch

In fourth grade, students studied emotions and facial expressions, specifically the physical changes in the face when someone feels sad, happy, excited, surprised, angry, etc. We looked at how colors play an important role with emotions, and how you can often associate a feeling with a color. Students explored drawing different expressions and connecting them to related colors. Then, we looked at the art movement, Expressionism. In class, we discussed how artists use brush strokes and color to express their feelings at the time that they are creating their artwork. In particular, we looked at Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” and how he uses active lines and dull colors to reveal his emotion. Students chose a final emotion to express in a self-portrait, and studied the intricacies of their own face when making an expression. Finally, students drew with yarn to mimic the active lines that Munch used in “The Scream,” paying close attention to choosing the right colors to express their emotion. This is a personal favorite, as the results are always so unique! 

"Angry"

"Questioning"

"Thoughtful"

"Excited"

"Annoyed"

Glazed Coil Vessels

After bisque firing, fifth grade students applied colored glaze and gloss glaze to create a finished look.

It’s a Paper Sculpture Jungle!

I love to teach Alexander Calder. In second grade, we looked closely into the life of Calder and his humorous personality. His stabile sculptures were a source of inspiration for this project. Prior to this project, one class period was devoted to the “Paper Construction Challenge,” in which students rotated through stations that had a variety of paper sculptures at them (cones, cylinders, spirals, rectangular prisms, etc.). Students were given about 5 minutes at each station to attempt to construct what was in front of them. This was a fun way to get gears churning, and students engaged and ready for the stabile sculptures. After going over how to construct the paper sculptures, and how to use paper tabs to hold pieces together, each student made an abstract sculpture combining constructions.