Fourth graders began this art project by learning about the brain. We discussed how the left side of our brain is really good at things like math, logic, analyzing and naming things. While the right half of our brain is more visual, creative, random and intuitive. When trying to draw from life, the right side is the way to go. Before drawing our shoes we completed a drawing activity designed to shut down the left half and engage the right side of our brain. We drew a horse by looking at a picture of a horse. BUT, the reference photo was upside down and almost entirely covered by a sheet of dark paper. So we didn't draw the "horse," we looked at little squiggles and bendy lines and drew that we saw and drew those. Then we'd move our dark paper down an bit and add more to our drawing. Before we knew it, we had created beautiful, realistic drawings of a horse! But we had to use our eyes to see, not our brains to think. While our right brains were on a roll, we took off one shoe, and set it in front of us. We tried to forget that it was a shoe, and just observe it as a series of bendy lines and shapes. The results are great! Lastly, we added a rhythm and movement by creating a pattern that followed the contour of our shoe.
2nd graders are just starting a cross-curricular lego project involving Oak Park Education Foundation, the classroom teachers and of course, me, the art teacher. To get us in a lego frame-of-mind, we watched a great video on the history of legos. And then looked at the proportions of a lego mini person. We then all drew a plain lego person together. But then added lego details like clothes, hair and a background that made our lego person look like us. Of course, in typical lego fashion, we are all yellow-skinned.