5th graders spent several weeks working on these two-point perspectived drawings. And we learned alot along the way. We learned about the Renaissance and the invention of perspective. We looked at artwork before the Renaissance that featured goofy looking and unrealistic attempts at portraying depth. Then we looked at artwork by DaVinci, Rafael and others that used vanishing points and perspective to create a realistic illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface.
Second grade artists learned about Senufo mud cloths. This tribe in Africa creates stylized paintings of animals and also incorporates geometric patterns. They are called "mud cloths" because they are literally painted with a special kind of mud and created to bring the hunters luck as they search for food for their families. The glow around the animals represents the animals spirit and energy. 
4th graders learned about creating the illusion of depth and distance on their two-dimensional papers. We learned about shapes and forms and we learned all about the Renaissance. We looked at video games from the 1980's and compared them to today's games. The older video games lacked perspective or depth. Then we looked at artwork from before the Renaissance and in much the same way as the video games, these paintings are lacking in the accurate portrayl of depth as well. We finished our drawings in "plastipastels"--these are like a cool combination of crayons and colored pencils. We also used texturized rubbing plates to give our buildings a variety of textures.
2nd and 3rd grade artists learned about the life of St. Patrick. Born in 387 AD in Scotland, Patricius was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland. He spent six years working as a slave and finally escaped. He ended up in France where he studied hard and became a bishop in the catholic church. He returned to Ireland and spent thirty years teaching and preaching while building schools and churches throughout the country. He used the shamrock when teaching and it has become a symbol for Ireland as have lucky leprechauns. Our leprechauns are 3-D paper sculptures. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Kindergarteners are celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Art class this week. We are reading Fiona's Luck by Teresa Bateman. In this neatly illustrated book, the leprechauns take all the luck from the "big people" and hide it in a chest. Fiona goes on an adventure into the leprechaun's world and uses her wits to get the luck back.
4th grade artists studied the life of St. Patrick as St. Patrick's day approaches. As a child he was taken into captivity. Upon his escape he began teaching, preaching and building schools and churches throughout Ireland. St. Patrick used the Trinity knot and the shamrock in his preaching. We used a protractor to draw our endless knot and used a technique called stippling to add texture and depth to our work.
