Fruit in complementary colors

You need:

1. white sheets 20 by 20 cm
2. pencil
3. ruler
4. oilpastels
5. watercolor paint
6. brushes
7. jar with water

This lesson is originally from Miriam Paternoster's fantastic art lesson website: Arteascuola. 
Follow the link for a description of this lesson and be sure to look around there for more great art lessons!

By students of grade 4

Birdies on a branch

Made by a student of grade 1

You need:

1. liquid water color paint
2. brushes
3. crayons
4. white sheet
5. feathers
6. glue

Draw a branch with some birdies on it. Their eyes should be big and white! Color the birds with crayons using bright colors. Paint the branch and background with water color paint. Let dry. Draw feet and paste feathers. 

Funny houses like James Rizzi

Made by Kalen, grade 4

You need:

1. white drawing sheet
2. crayons 
3. liquid watercolor paint
4. brushes
5. jars with water 

James Rizzi was born in 1950 in Brooklyn. He studied art in Florida, where he started experimenting with printing, painting and sculpting. Rizzi’s work often shows his birthplace New York. His paintings look sometimes childishly naive, with the bright colors and brilliant gaiety. In the art press Rizzi is often described as "Urban Primitive Artist '. Rizzi himself says he is influenced by Picasso, Klee and Dubuffet.

Made bij Jade, grade 4

Show some paintings of Rizzi and discuss the characteristics:

• bright colours
• no gradations within colours
• evertything is outlined with black
• houses have human faces/characteristics
• the artwork is full and busy
• background is full too

Students use a dark color crayon to draw a house in Rizzi style, a house with human characteristics like hair, mouth, eyes etc. 
Paint with liquid water color paint.

The sky is the limit

Golden Gate Bridge, made by Elize, grade 6

You need:

1. grey paper A4 size
2. white and black pencils
3. pictures of famous skylines

During a visit to the Museum in The Hague, I saw an artwork that Escher had made on gray paper. The only colours he had used were black and white. Together with the gray, you do have a lot of colours at your disposal. The Escher drawing I saw then, was the inspiration for this lesson.

Show photos of some famous skylines. Discuss skylines, skyscrapers and remarkable buildings. Ask children to search a skyline on the internet. Print this in black and white and then copy it so you can see the shadows of the buildings (settings light - dark on copyer). Students draw with just white and black pencil on the grey sheet.

Sydney skyline by Adnan, grade 6

Printing African animals

You need:

1. styrofoam
2. pencil
3. block printing ink
4. paint roller
5. flat piece of plexiglass
6. coloured paper

Explain the principle of printing. Why is it that people started to print texts and pictures?

Draw an African animal with a pencil on the styrofoam. Press to get a print in the foam. Squeeze out “toothpaste” amount of ink on plexiglass. Roll ink out. The ink is ready when lines appear. Ink should look wet.
Put the styrofoam on a newspaper. Roll one colour ink onto the foam, working quickly to cover all areas. Lay a sheet on top of foam and press with a flat hand. Take away the sheet and your print is ready. Let dry and cut it with about 1 cm around. Paste one or more prints on a white sheet. 

 

All artworks made by students of grade 6

Bogolan - African mudcloths

Made by two students of grade 6

You need:

1. black construction paper
2. tempera paint in brown, white and gold
3. brushes

Bogolan means: made from mud. A bogolan is a handmade Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed with mud. It has an important place in traditional Malian culture. The cloths is nowadays being exported wordwide for use in fashion, fine art and decoration. 

Show this educational movie about bogolans. After this, show some pictures of bogolans and discuss colours, patterns and symbols. 

Students have to word in pairs this lesson. Two students get their own black sheet, but have to make one bogolan together - the sheets will be stuck together when finished. So they have to come to agreeements about colours, patterns and symbols. 

Valentine - like Robert Indiana

Made by a student of grade 2

You need:

1. drawing sheet 20 by 20 cm
2. water colour paint
3. brushes
4. fine black marker

A lesson about the famous LOVE sculpture of Robert Indiana. I used the Dutch word LIEF (meaning Nice, or I like you) 

Fold the sheet in four squares. Draw hearts in each part. Draw fat letters on the foreground. Fill letters and hearts with patterns and paint with water colour paint. Outline with fine black marker. 

Blogwriter in NY!