Animals ~ Dean Russo style- Yr 4

In teaching two Year 4 classes, I opted for a varied approach to our art activity. While both classes were engaged in researching animals for a classroom project, I assigned each class a different artistic style. One class created a Tracey Keller style animal, while the other tackled the Dean Russo style.

Dean Russo, a mixed media artist from Brooklyn, New York, draws inspiration from the graffiti art prevalent in his childhood neighborhood. His eclectic portfolio encompasses portraits of both people and pets.

To kick off the activity, students were tasked with finding a suitable photo of their chosen animal, either cropped or in its entirety. They uploaded these photos to Seesaw, the platform I use for student submissions. To facilitate the tracing process, I edited the photos into line drawings using Photopea, an online editing website. This step ensured that the lines were clear and easily traceable. Using carbon paper, students transferred the outlines and features of their chosen animals onto A3-sized cartridge paper.

Liquid watercolors were utilized to paint the animal and, optionally, the background. The background was then painted over with acrylic paint in a chosen colour, allowing some of the watercolors to show through if they were used there. The artwork was then left to dry.

In the following lesson, students added stenciled patterns to the animal using a contrasting colour, and a few also to the background. Finally, they completed the project by outlining and highlighting.

Art lesson aligned to Victorian Curriculum, with learning intentions and success criteria, step by step process with photos, useful video links, including a process video of the project, artist response sheet, student evaluation sheet, slides to view artist’s work, student examples.

‘STRIPE’ and Paypal are used to process payment. Please check you type in the correct email for link to be sent automatically. The link will also be on the Confirmation page after you pay to download immediately. Any problems contact me at primaryschoolart1@gmail.com

Animals- Tracey Keller style~Year 4

In the classroom, students in Year 4 chose an animal on which to do a research project, so in the art room they did an artwork of that same animal in the style of Australian artist based in Queensland, Tracey Keller. Her animal artworks are full of life, colour and texture. The class even had a Skype session with Tracey where the students were able to ask questions, and she shared a bit about herself, her work and really encouraged the kids to be positive with their creative endeavors.

We began by viewing and discussing Tracey’s artworks and completed an artist response sheet. The students task then was to find a google photo of their animal (not necessarily the whole animal) Which they posted on Seesaw (the platform we use) so I could print them out for the next lesson. I actually edited the pictures into a line drawing so it was easier to trace.

Carbon paper was attached behind the print out so the students could trace the shape, contour lines and markings, transferring it to a piece of cartridge paper. Once it was traced they used poster colour palette paints to paint the animal’s natural colours.

Next they used a flat brush to paint a short stroke to create small squares, starting with one colour here and there, then following with other colours. (They also added a small square or two of hessian for added texture). Optional to do the “square daubs” outside the animal- for some it really gives a sense of movement.

Lesson plan aligned to the Victorian Curriculum, learning intentions, success criteria, description and photos of lesson steps, links to useful videos and website, artist response sheet, self evaluation sheet, student examples of completed artwork.

Maps of Local area inspired by Indigenous art ~Year 4

Aboriginal /Indigenous art was used as inspiration to make an artwork of the local area using Google Maps for the structural lines and shapes. Australian Aboriginal people have a strong connection with the land, sky and waterways, creation and dreaming stories. The history of their ancestors and creator spirits are passed down through song, dance and art of the Dreamtime. ‘Songlines’ are maps of the land where ancestors have journeyed the country during the Dreamtime – creating parts of the land, singing of places where food sources were hunted and gathered and sharing knowledge of sacred places, as they moved through the country. Many Aboriginal artworks map the land of the artist (or artist’s mother or father) with lines and symbols that tell stories of the country.

We looked at two collaborative Aboriginal artworks that represent a map of the country, each artist creating a section showing the landscape where seasons, plants, animals, hunting and fire, water and collective histories and dreaming stories form a map. After discussing the lines, colours, shapes etc, students looked at Google Earth images of our local area and transferred the structural lines to create a map of area using elements of line, colour, shape, texture etc. of the streets, paths, buildings, gardens and a body of water inspired by the Aboriginal artworks we viewed and discussed.

Lesson plan aligned to Victorian Curriculum, learning intentions, success criteria, lesson steps, resources and materials, links to artwork images, useful videos and a “how to” transfer the map lines demonstration video, discussion questions, student evaluation sheet, student examples. PDF download.

Reflected Landscapes ~ inspired by Belynda Henry – Year 3 art lesson

Belynda Henry is an Australian artist from NSW who lives on a country property surrounded by a National Park which gives her plenty of inspiration for her abstract landscapes. She uses paints and pastels, brushes and palette knives to create shapes and textures of the natural environment.

Belynda Henry did a series of works in 2019 with reflections of the landscape in water. They were inspiration for our artworks.

Students used organic shapes in their landscape, painting and folding to create the mirror image reflection in the water. They mostly used muted colours and mixed some of their own hues.

Lesson plan aligned to Victorian Curriculum, learning intentions, success criteria, lesson steps, links to images and videos, including a video demonstration of the whole activity, discussion questions, student evaluation sheet, student examples. PDF download.

Gorgeous Geodes~ Year 3

These gorgeous geodes use a mix of mediums: coloured paper, liquid watercolours, glitter, markers and paint sticks. This lesson was adapted from an activity on the Artful Parent website.

We watched a couple of videos about geodes: Types of Geodes & Where to Find Them and
What’s Inside These Rocks? – #sciencegoals for an understanding of how they are formed and discussed the natural shapes and colours, etc. Our artwork used the elements of shape, line, colour and value in an abstract representation of a geode.

Students began by choosing two pieces of coloured card in a light and dark tone of one colour. A shape was torn (best option to get a realistic organic shape) or cut from the darker tone which was then glued onto the lighter tone and torn or cut around. This was glued onto a large piece of white paper (we used A3 cartridge).

Using the lighter tone of the colour (for example, light blue) students drew concentric lines around the card shape, following the contours, repeating three times. The darker shade ( dark green for example) was then traced once around.

Next, watercolours (cake palettes or liquid) were painted around the marker lines, light and dark of the colour (watercolours can be watered down for lighter tone).

For the “glitter ring” I demonstrated to the students how to ‘draw’ with the nozzle of the PVA glue bottle and only squeeze very gently as they move it around while keeping it in contact with the paper whilst ‘drawing’ the ring of glue. They smeared it with on finger and then sprinkled on the colour glitter to match (or metallic gold or silver)

After that, some more thin marker lines were drawn and finally using paint sticks- two rings of the lighter tone using the edge to get a thinner line and the last dark line drawn thickly.

The geode shape was cut out and glued onto brown craft paper (we used packing paper) and cut around with around a 1cm border to represent to outer rock that the beautiful geodes are hidden in.

The geodes make a lovely display with all the different sizes and colour combinations!

Opulent Opals! Year 4

Year 4 were learning about the earth’s crust, so I thought we’d look at what comes from under the earth’s surface. We looked at Jenny Kee’s opal artworks from the1980’s that have been printed onto silk scarves and her Black Opal print that was used by Karl Lagerfeld in his first prêt-a-porter collection for Chanel in 1983 on shirt dresses and suit lining. We then compared these artworks with another Australian artist, Dianne Delandro from Sydney who has made a number of artworks featuring opals.

Students began their artwork by putting down small blobs of paint (mainly cool colours) and then scraping in various directions, then adding some warm colours into the gaps (not too much red, as it’s the rarest colour you’ll find in opals) and scraping some more.

Next lesson, the students drew organic shapes with a black marker and used black paint sticks to colour the negative space. White pencils were used to add outlines and highlights to make the opals a look a little 3D.

Lesson plan aligned to the Victorian curriculum, with learning intentions, success criteria, focus artists and artworks, discussion questions, lesson steps, materials and resources, and photo examples.

Flower sculptures inspired by Yayoi Kusama ~ Year 6

Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama has always had a passion for flowers, nature and the cosmos and has been creating paintings, sculptures, installations, fashion and photography for decades. I presented images of her large flower sculptures from various exhibitions and installations around the world, including ‘Flowers that Bloom in the Cosmos’ at the NSW Art Gallery and ‘Kusama: Cosmic Nature’ at the New York Botanical Gardens in 2021.

We discussed her sculptures and explored the ideas, materials and elements of art used.

To make our sculptures, students needed to make a wire base and stem for the flower that would stand firmly and hold the weight of the flower. They covered the wire with plaster bandage with several layers at the base to make it weightier and therefore stand. The flower was made using paper clay: Zart Magiclay which has a fabulous range of colours, and also Model Magic by Crayola, which you can get from Officeworks, Spotlight, and other craft stores.

Year 6 Yayoi Kusama inspired flower sculptures

Lesson plan with learning intentions & success criteria (including full page to display for the lesson with example photos), lesson steps with photo examples and resource materials, an artwork response sheet to use after discussion and a page for descriptive poem reflection after completion.

‘STRIPE’ and Paypal are used to process payment. Please check you type in the correct email for link to be sent automatically. The link will also be on the CONFIRMATION page after you pay to download immediately. Any problems contact me at primaryschoolart1@gmail.com

Beautiful Botanicals ~ Yr 5-6

For this art project Year 5 looked at the art of Bernadette Twomey based in Brisbane, Australia. Her artworks feature bold colours and abstract botanical shapes in different colour palettes. Students could choose their own colour scheme from cool to warm to earthy to a combination.

They viewed a selection of Bernadette Twomey’s artwork to identify varied colour combinations and shapes used. We discussed the elements of art used and then students used a word list to describe each one and draw the botanical shapes they noticed in B.Twomey’s work.

They began by painting a background in chosen colours and the next lesson they drew botanical shapes and painted them in.

The final lesson was to add dots lines and outlining to their shapes as well as the negative space.

Lesson plan with learning intentions, success criteria, activity step by step, photo examples, artwork response sheet, elements of art word list, botanical shapes reference sheet, reflection checklist for self and peer assessment.

Colour and Pattern Snail~Clare Youngs inspired: Year 1-2

I introduced the students to some collages of snails by Clare Youngs, a designer and illustrator from the UK. We discussed how she might have made her artworks and the colours and shapes used.

For our activity, students chose a colour scheme of three colours: warm, cool, primary or secondary colours. They used those colours to made painted papers. The following lesson they cut out the shapes and added patterns to some of them. They then assembled the pieces.

On the back of a larger piece of painted paper I drew/ traced a spiral shape for the children to cut out, along with a ‘foot’ and ‘head’ in the other colour.

To make the lesson more streamlined, I have made templates with the shapes needed to be printed out then painted on the reverse. There is also a demonstration video to show the steps in the lesson plan below. It will help make the lesson run smoothly and the process easy to follow.

This lesson plan includes discussion questions with a display page, success criteria for each lesson step, templates to print and paint on reverse, ready for cutting out the pieces needed to make the snail, link to a video demonstrating the process of painting and putting the snail together, a pattern ideas sheet, and a reflection sheet for students to identify colours, shapes and patterns used.

Dotty Flowers~ Yayoi Kusama inspired – Year 5-6

I introduced Year 6 to Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and her prolific art and obsession with dots. She grew up on her parent’s seed nursery surrounded by flowers, plants and even pumpkins. I shared this video about how Kusama became an artist and expressed herself through her drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations, fashion, performance art and ‘infinity’ rooms.

We looked at some of her flower paintings that have a ‘net’ background and flowers. Students used A4 paper to draw their own flowers- realistic or abstract, outlined with a fine liner, then coloured with markers or watercolours.

Next they chose a coloured piece of cover paper that would contrast with their flower and began to draw their net design: drawing short lines in different directions but connected.

The flower shapes were then cut out (a little tedious for some!) and glued onto their net background.