Starry Night Challenge

Vincent Van Gogh - Starry Night

This week, our professor modeled a lesson on Vincent van Gogh that we could one day use in our own K-8 classroom.  Our professor, Mrs, Preszler, gave us a short presentation on the history of Van Gogh and then gave us two art projects that went along with the lesson.

The first project we attempted was a tissue paper collage that was supposed to be a re-creation of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" but with our own twist to it.

Katelynn Lovrien - Oh Holy Night

I decided to create a dreary, blizzarding, night where the only trace of light is coming from one big bright star shining through the darkness.  In the story of Jesus' birth, a bright star led shepherds and wise men to the place where their savior was born.  I wanted my creation to tell a similar story, where one star shines in the darkness to show the way to rest, peace, and forgiveness.

The second project we did was very messy but very fun.  For the second project, Mrs. Preszler asked a room full of college students to roll up their sleeves and do some finger painting.  

Our second creation gave us an opportunity to try to create the same type of strokes and movement with our paint that Van Gogh created with his paint in Starry Nights. 

I decided to create a lovely sunset scene.  This creation required a foreground, middle ground, and background.

Lovely Sunset- Katelynn Lovrien

I would totally use a lesson like this in my classroom because it was educational and fun.  You could really do this with any artist and have the students re-create famous works of art with their own spin on it.  You could also display a piece of art and ask the students to write a story of what happen before the "image" was captured in the piece of art.  For example, I would display Starry Night and ask the students to write a story about the Starry Night village before the sun set and the sky filled with stars.  

The Principals and Elements of Art

Fingal Beach in Australia- This photo is an example of COLOR.  

This was taken here in Aberdeen.  It is an example of MOVEMENT

London Donuts are an example of GEOMETRIC SHAPES

This is a church on the island of Patmos, Greece and illustrates TEXTURE

This is a garden at Hampton Court Palace in London.  This photograph is an examples of LINES.  The lines in the garden create shapes and define spaces.  

Dot Day Project

This week we focused on "Dot Day." After reading a story about a little girl who turned into an artist after she discovered that even her simple little dot was art, we dedicated one whole class period experimenting with different art supplies to create our own dots.  I really enjoyed "playing" in the art room that day but I do wish I had given my end display more thought.  Each project turned out really cool, but I do not like how they all look together.   This was a good lesson for me because now I will always remember to think the project through before even starting.

Overall, this weeks project was a blast.  I would totally use "DOT DAY" in my classroom to give students an opportunity to experiment with lots of different tools and show their creativity in a variety of ways.  You could even have "dots" be the theme in all content areas!  Math with dots, science with dots, language arts with dots, everything with dots!  I am excited to try this in the future!

Welcome to my blog!

Art class as a 26 year old is an interesting thing.  At first I thought, "Agh, I am too old for this!" but now I find myself looking forward to Friday so I can paint, color, cut, and create.  Art is a fabulously therapeutic activity and I think it is the perfect form of therapy to adopt into my life.

This week, we had to trace our foot on construction paper, cut it out, and then decorate it in a way that captures our personality and life journey.  This was a great activity to start class with, but I found myself wishing I had a bigger foot so I could put more on it.  

My Foot

Allow me to explain in more detail:

Background-The left side background on my foot is a picture of a heavily stamped passport to represent my love of traveling.  I have been to 7 different countries in the past 4 years and I cannot imagine my life without travel.  The right side background is a map of the London tube because London is my favorite city to visit.  This past summer I took a trip to London and stayed at a palace for the week.  It was a dream trip and I had the time of my life!

The right side of the foot has a pair of sunglasses, a flower and an airplane ticket.  Those items are there to demonstrate my love of travel.  Next, there is a blue castle to represent the 6 years I spent as a Walt Disney World cast member at the Magic Kingdom.   Next to the castle is a set of hands to represent the years I have spent as a nanny to many families across the country.  The hands also represent my love for children and my choice to become a teacher.  On the other side of my name is an oven mitt and measuring spoons because I love to bake! Finally, along the bottom of my foot is an ocean lined with a beach and an umbrella to represent the fact the I love the ocean!  The ocean was originally made of shaving cream and paint but when that wouldn't dry I decided to try glue, salt, and watercolor painting and it turned out great!

This activity was great because it gave my classmates some insight into who I am and it also helped me get to know them.  In addition to using this project as a way to introduce students to each other, I would also use it for other projects.  If I were doing a unit on the underground railroad, I would focus on individual slaves and the journey they had to take to escape slavery.  I would assign each student a slave and have them do research on the slave and decorate their foot to represent their persons story/journey.