What's Going on in the Classroom: Charcoal, what a mess!

We have ventured into the messy world of charcoal! All our drawing projects so far have been using graphite. However to finish up our quarter on drawing we are using charcoal and also doing a pen and ink project (more on that later!)

Part of our curriculum asks us to deal with the idea that artists are always toeing the line between 2D and 3D. We either trying to create a 3D image on a 2D surface, or we are taking a 2D design and attempting to create a 3D piece of art. Sometimes the switch between these two ways of thinking is difficult for students. While working with charcoal, students also investigated the difference between 2D and 3D.

To start off, all students had to pick on object and do three realistic drawings of that object from different viewpoints. Realistic meaning making them look as 3D as possible. Then they had to translate those drawings into 2D designs using only shapes and positive and negative space. Here are images of those six drawings.

The next step was for students to choose their most successful 2D design of the three and draw it larger. Then the positive space was shaded in using white charcoal and the negative space was colored in using compressed black charcoal. This color scheme provides awesome contrast for a really graphic image. It was also very messy! 

Pipenburg Studio Visit and Positive and Negative Space

Remember last post I said that we had Monday and Tuesday off of school for our 'mid winter break'? Well that wasn't quite true. We actually only had Monday off. Tuesday was a professional development day. Luckily the art teachers of the district banded together and decided that instead of sitting through some meetings that usually don't apply to our subject area, we were going to head to an artist's studio for a day of relaxation and rejuvenation centered around making art and being inspired. It was great! We went to Gail and Robert Piepenburg's studio. If you haven't checked them out yet, you should right here. They have some amazing pieces.

We did a small workshop of naked raku firing, which is an interesting process where the slip and glaze that is applied to your piece of art work is called 'sacrificial'. Meaning that it's only there to provide a shield for those areas that you don't want to be blackened by the smoke. Once cooled, the slip and the glaze are chipped off to reveal a white and black finish. It was an interesting technique and we got varied results, unfortunately I don't have pictures of them, but it you check out the Piepenburg's website, you will for sure see some expert examples.

 

 

 

In the art room, third grade students are working on positive and negative space. This is a tricky concept to grasp. So we're breaking it down and just talking about how all the spaces in a piece of artwork are important, even the 'empty' ones. In order to illustrate this concept, we're constructing Notan pieces. We used this video here to introduce the concept. Then we made ours a little bit differently by putting the smaller paper to the side instead of in the middle. We used scissors and... Exacto knives.... gasp! There were strict rules but the kids were great and we only had minor mishaps.