Elements and Principles of Art Scavenger Hunt

Line

Shutters at the Red Rooster Coffee House

Color

Donut from Tim Horton's

Contrast

My dog J.J.

Emphasis

Flower on hiking trail

Sioux City, IA

Texture

Close up of a ball of yarn



Totem Poles

In this lesson, we were taught the role that totem poles play in the Native American Culture.  We were given multiple pages of picture of animals that are often used on totem poles.  We were given small pieces of paper to practice drawing the animal we wanted to create. They had us incorporate the same colors that we may want to use in the final product.  I decided to make a moose and I made him blue because blue is my favorite color. Something that we had to include in our totem pole was a 3D aspect.  Although you can't tell much in the picture, I have pieces of paper folded accordion style to make his antlers stick out. Once finished, each table backed their animal with the same color paper so that they could be assembled together to make a totem pole. We then each filled out a note card that stated the animal we made, why we chose the colors we did, and what the animal stands for.  

As an extension activity, I think it would be cool to have the students come up with their own legends for their favorite animal or an animal that interests them.  They could first hear about Native American legends and why certain animals mean what they do.     

Buffalo Hide Stories

For this lesson, I got to co-teach this to the class with a classmate.  We started out the lesson by having the students listen/watch a recording of the Tommy dePaola's book The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. We discussed with the students the kind of things that Little Gopher saw and painted in the story.  The students were shown four different watercolor techniques and had a chance to practice them.  They then chose one of the techniques to use to paint their sunset as the background of the project.  Before applying the watercolor, the students were to draw stilts or something to hold up their buffalo hide with brown crayon.  While their paint was drying, the students were to come up with Native American symbols to represent something that has happened in their life.  This would be similar to the stories that were painted onto buffalo and deer hides by the Native Americans. Before the class period, we cut up, wet, and crumped paper bags that the students later used as their buffalo hide. On the paper bag, the students were to write their story using at least six symbols. Once all parts were glued together, the students were to write a summary of their story on the back of their rubric before handing it in.  

As an extension activity, I would have the students complete a full story about their symbols.  They could share these with their classmates and work on their composition and storytelling.  The students could even be assigned an important event in history and have them represent it using the Native American symbols.  

Our bulletin board

Ceramic Leaf Bowls

Pottery and the use of clay was the focus of this lesson.  Each student was given the choice of multiple different leaf patterns to use for their leaf bowl.   After smoothing out the clay, we were then instructed to trace our chosen pattern into the clay and cut it out.  Once the leaf is cut out, we were shown how to smooth the edges using water and our fingers.






Unlike some clay, this clay did not need to be fired in a kiln so we were able to paint our clay immediately. While we painted them, the leaves were put into styrofoam bowls so that the clay would keep the shape of a bowl. 

Because of the use of leaves, this could be used for younger children to talk about the different seasons.  For slightly older children, you could talk about the uses of clay in the past.  The clay we used was clay from the earth so you could also talk about the parts of nature that might be in the clay.

Cobra Knots

For this lesson, we got to create our own Cobra Knot keychains. We were told about the important role that different knots have played in the past and our everyday life to this day.  Rather than just hopping right in with the craft lace, we practiced how to make the knot using yarn.  Once we had that under control, we chose on of the two color triads (primary or secondary) and tied our knoting using craft lace. It's not seen much in the picture, but the red craft lace was the middle color that the other two were knotted around. 

I think that it would be cool to have the students research different types of knots that may have been used in different time periods.  The students could then teach their peers how to tie them.  They could also compare knots that we use on a daily basis to those used in the past. 

Scratch Art

For this lesson, we got to create our own scratch art sheets and then scratch a scene into them.  Although there are already made scratch art sheets you can buy, we learned how to make them ourselves. We were all given a square piece of cardstock and instructed to color a pattern on it using either primary or secondary colors, pressing quite hard so that it is plenty dark.





 Once that is done, we painted over our pattern with black tempera paint.  We created a scene on a separate sheet of paper using dark pencil lines, then transferring that to our painted piece of cardstock.  Lastly, we used a small wooden stick to scratch along the lines of our scene.  Two different patterns needed to be included in our scene, which is seen in waves and sand. 

This project would be interesting to incorporate into history.  Scratch art could be compared to forms on storytelling and communicating that was used in the past.  Students could come up with things that they think are similar to scratch art (ex. hieroglyphics, cave art, etc).

Dream Vacation

For this lesson, we were to reflect on our favorite vacation or a vacation we would want to go on. The basis of this project was making a three dimensional scene with a background, middle ground, and foreground. Our scene needed to include something in each of those places.  We also needed to include two different 3D objects (ex. tissue paper, popsicle sticks).





My scene was a boat going down a canal in Italy and the sidewalk and building that you would see.  I will be going to Italy next summer so this is a dream vacation of mine. 

This could be easily tied in with geography. The students could choose a place to research and create a three-dimensional scene depicting it.  The project could include important landmarks and aspects of the city. 

Personal Mandalas

For this lesson, we learned that mandalas are spiritual symbols used in Buddhism and Hinduism.  We were instructed to come up with symbols (5) that represent things that are important to us or things in our life. One of the focuses of the project was radial symmetry.


Because of this, we folded our circle of paper into fourths, drawing one section at a time and copying it so they are all identical. 

The radial symmetry aspect of this lesson could be carried over to a math lesson.  It could be compared to the rotations and reflections that are done in graphing. 

Mosaics

This project not only incorporated an art medium, but we also had to work as a team. Each group was given a black and white picture of an object.  We were then to divide the picture into fourths so that each person in the group had a part of the mosaic to create. The use of either cool or warm colors was something we had to decide as well.  Once each person was finished, the fourths were put together to create our finished mosaic. Ours matched our black and white picture that were given of a flower. (seen above)

This project could segway into discussion in science class about different species of animals and different kinds of plants (flowers, like the one above). They could do research on whatever their original picture was and come up with facts to display alongside their mosaic. 

Monsters

The focus of this art project was primary colors.  We were instructed to choose one of the pans that contained different combinations of two of the three primary colors mixed with shaving cream.  I chose to do red and yellow. We then dipped our large sheet of white construction paper into the shaving cream and paint.

Once we pulled our sheets off of the paint, we then used rulers to scrape the excess paint and shaving cream off. The papers were allowed to dry.  We then were told to create and cut out a monster out of our paper. 

I think that this would be a good project to go with practicing storytelling skills in language arts.  After they create this in art, they could come up with a story or background information about their monster.  They could then tell their classmates about their monster to work on their storytelling. 

Printmaking

For this project, we used styrofoam and paint to print symbols of our own creation onto another sheet of paper.  We were to carve symbols that represent things in our life into the piece of styrofoam. Then, paint was added to the styrofoam and then pressed onto a sheet of construction paper. We did this with two different colors to create the print.  

This could easily be integrated into either language arts or social studies.  The history of the press could be discussed and compared to other methods of printmaking that exist. 

Hidden Safari

When it comes to art, different effects can be made when using the warm and cool colors. In this project, we were instructed create different symbols using warm colors.  These symbols covered a drawing of an elephant done in a light blue color.  When this end product is looked at with through a red tinted plastic sheet, the warm colors disappear and you can see the animal hidden behind the safari. 

For an extension activity, I think that this could go hand in hand with talking about different animals that you would see on a safari.  Each student could be assigned an animal and have to look up information on their habitat and surroundings. 

Van Gogh Painting

Vincent Van Gogh was one of the most popular and well-known artists of all time. During class, we got that chance to create our own Van Gogh inspired paintings that resemble his Starry Night. Using tissue paper, we were told make some sort of background, whether it be clouds, water, etc. I chose to make fireworks. From there, we were instructed to choose and create a landscape using black construction paper. For this, I chose to make a hill and a couple of trees. Lastly, we added white lines that look like the brush strokes on Van Gogh's original painting. 

For an extension activity, I think that this could be worked in with history.  Van Gogh could be talked about in the classroom and the children could learn about the country he came from. Each student could find facts about Van Gogh and his other paintings.