Alberto Giacometti Recycled Sculptures

5th and 6th graders learned about the artists Alberto Giacometti through their recycled sculptures. Students used pipe cleaners, recycled cardboard and aluminum foil to create these sculptures. Students analyzed "The Walking Man" and got inspired to create their own version. The first week my students looked at art history and completed gesture drawings to warm up their imaginations with different poses for their sculptures.

Observational Drawings

My students in Earle had never been asked to draw from real life before. This was the first time they had ever drawn from observation and I am super proud of their hard work and drive to "draw what you see and not what you know". This was a huge challenge for my students and they certainly failed in many ways. Failure is important to the creative process because every work of art is not always successful the first time. The beauty was that my students never gave up even when they failed the first time. I had many students coming in during recess to try and try and try. I love and admire my students for never giving up. Here is some of their work.



4th grade

5th grade

6th grade

Knee Mask

6th graders studied an Israel artist named Boris Katz. He make super funky characters which the kids enjoyed critiquing. They used a slab of clay that get molded to their knee to create the mask shape. Students then used the scratch and attach to add features. Students were allowed to make any character and paint their character however they wanted.

Pop Art Prints

5th and 6th graders learned about printmaking and pop art while studying Andy Warhol. My students had never seen any work by Warhol before and they really enjoyed thinking about everyday objects as art. Students were asked to make 4 prints on 4 different colored papers and asked to make borders using a contrasting color using their knowledge of color combinations (complimentary, monochromatic, warm/cool, etc.).


5th Grade

6th Grade

The Evil Toxic Monster

My background is in new media art. I made a lot of video, video installation, animation, etc. in college. My students got interested in making a stop motion animation after I showed them some of my artwork. This is the Evil Toxic Monster created by some amazing talented 6th grade boys!

Bad Hair Day

5th and 6th graders studied line and patterns for this unit. They also studied cartoons and characters. We discussed the proportions of the human face and they utilized their knowledge of lines to give their characters a "bad hair day". I love how each one is completely unique to the students who made them!