This is an art activity adding oil to watercolor paint to reinforce the concept that oil and water don't mix. Students will be shown that no matter how hard they try these two liquids will avoid each other at all costs. The oil will either float on top or through the watercolors or, if applied to the paper first, prevent the watercolors from absorbing into the paper. Students will be able to make real-world connections between this art activity and what happens during a real oil spill.
This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.
Students will analyze Edmund Teske's photographs that use montages and double exposures. Using a 35mm camera, students will create double exposure photographs. Students will take pictures of landscapes, the teacher will rewind the film, and students will then take classmates' pictures on the same roll of film. Students will cut printed photographs in half and draw the other half of their faces using colored pencils. They will compose a diamonte poem based on their artwork.
Students will review 19th Century American Landscape Styles and the Hudson River Painters. They will identify the use of light and shadows. They will draw a basic sketch of a landscape, begin with a light wash with tempera cakes, fill in darker colors with watercolor crayons, and add details with acrylic paint.
Students will identify why rainsticks are used, how they are made, and who made them. They will make and decorate an imitation rainstick.
Students will listen to Ludwig van Beethoven's 6th Symphony. They will identify the imagery portrayed by the music. They will use oil pastel crayons to create a visual representation of the music.
Students will listen to and analyze Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. They will make connections between the music and the Russian folktale, The Firebird. They will create pictures and write a poem about a firebird.
Students will listen to Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th Symphony and write a descriptive essay about how the music influenced them. They will create watercolor artwork while listening to the music.
Students will analyze a photograph and photo collage of the Pearblossom Highway. They will define and identify linear perspective, horizon line, and vanishing point. They will draw a road through a desert landscape using one-point perspective. They will complete the landscape using colored pencils.
Students will analyze A Storm on the Mediterranean Coast and A Calm at a Mediterranean Port by Claude-Joseph Vernet. They will choose to paint a stormy or calm landscape. They will use colored pencils to draw objects in the foreground and middle ground. They will use watercolors to paint the sky.
Students will analyze Jacques-Louis David's painting The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte. They will compose a fairy tale based on the painting. They will illustrate a scene from their original fairy tale.
Students will analyze paintings of landscapes, focusing on texture. They will sketch an imagined landscape. They will create textures using rubbings and write a letter to a friend or family member describing their landscape. The drawing will be glued to the front of a postcard with the letter on the back.
Students will analyze two beds, Lit à Polonaise and Lit à Turque. They will draw a bed using three-dimensional drawing techniques. They will build and paint a three-dimensional model of the bed.
Students will discuss fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. They will sketch a character from one of the fairy tales. They will create a portrait using colored pencils, crayons, pastels, or watercolors.
Students will explore the history and art of masks. They will decorate their own mask using a variety of materials. They will display their mask and discuss art elements included in the design.
Students will collect mementos and pictures that are meaningful to them. They will use these pictures, magazine pictures, and/or scrap pieces of paper to create a collage.
Students will analyze resist paintings. They will use oil pastels to draw a vase, stems, and flowers. They will use watercolors to create the resist wash filling all empty space with color.
Students will observe art landscapes and the use of scale to represent distance. They will use oil pastels to create a landscape with repeated objects of different sizes to show distance. Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.
Students will draw a human form using a head to body ratio of 7:1. They will use found materials to create a three-dimensional replication of the drawing. Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.
Students will compare and contrast guls from Arabatchi and Salor tribes. They will create a quartered medallion for a group they belong to - family, sport, club. Once complete, students will analyze the medallions and form groups based on similarities.
Students will sketch geometric, organic, and abstract shapes. They will choose a medium to create a visual mystery. They may choose to paint, collage, or draw. Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.
Students will use metaphors and similes to express emotions. They will use watercolors to paint lines and colors to express a chosen emotion. Assessment rubric, letter to parents, examples of artwork, and lesson plan included in PDF.
This lesson is not about markers over pencils; it is about developing a relationship between students and media and how such nurtured connections can support students' ideas in what they write and how they write it. Through in-class discussions about writing/drawing materials and carefully observing how an illustrator uses media to communicate ideas, students will see how materials can extend knowledge. This lesson provides opportunities for students to explore and experience the meaning potential of everyday writing and drawing tools in their own writing. The lesson can (and should be) adapted for older students.