Bush Medicine Leaves~ Year 1-2

Students in Year 1/2 were learning about Aboriginal traditions and their use of leaves as medicine from ‘nature’s pharmacy’. We watched a YouTube video explaining various leaves from the bush and their use to treat different ailments. The lesson project is from Japingka Aboriginal Art website which has some wonderful art lesson plans. Check it out!

The lesson looks at the Bush Medicine art of Rosemary Petyarre, and we also looked at an artwork I own, also titled Bush Medicine Leaves by Rosemary Pitjara. We compared the artworks and discussed the movement in each.

We used liquid watercolours to paint a piece of paper in stripes or bands blending the edges, and also a spray of water to further add interest.

The black background paper has texture added with paint sponged, scraped and dabbed to create a sense of the bush or forest floor.

Students traced a gum leaf onto card, cut it out and used as a template to trace as many shapes as they could on the back of their watercolour paper. They then arranged these onto the background paper in a way that shows ‘movement’.

Students then used Zart white Perma Pens as a quicker method of dotting around the leaf shapes to highlight them.

“The Cow Jumped over the Moon!” Prep Art lesson

The Prep students made a mixed media artwork of the cow jumping over the moon from the nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle, the cow jumped over the Moon”. The foil moon idea came from @monpetitsoukdidees and it worked really well.

They used SHAPE to help them draw parts of a cow using a rectangle for the body and a smaller one for the head, with long rectangle legs which they then arranged in a jumping action.

Two videos to watch as an introduction about the rhyme: Hey Diddle Diddle Nursery Rhyme and the story The Cow Tripped Over the Moon.

Victorian Curriculum Foundation Lesson Plan with learning intention, success criteria & lesson activities.

AUD$1.50 for email download of this lesson

Abstract Expressionism Portraits: Year 4 art lesson. Marten Jansen inspired

Chalk Pastel Portraits- Marten Jansen inspired

Students view and describe portraits made by Jansen, discussing use of colour ,line, shape. View more info: https://prezi.com/huxyezp6dcjl/marten-jansen/

LEARNING INTENTIONS:

To learn about the Dutch artist Marten Jansen and his style of portraits

To explore using colour, shape and line to make an abstract Jansen style portrait.

SUCCEESS CRITERIA:

I can use describe the elements of art in a Marten Jansen portrait.

I can describe the artwork of Marten Jansen – colour, style, line, shape, mood.

I can use colour, line and shape to make a portrait in the style of Marten Jansen .

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

Students view portraits by Marten Jansen. I just used “head shots”; some of his pieces are not suitable to use in primary school, eg. ‘Street walker’, ‘Solicitation’ for obvious reasons (Check out his work here: http://paintings.name/paintings.php)

Discuss different colour combinations to show emotion or create a mood. List and describe the elements of art used. Talk about various lines used (thick, thin, long, short), shapes (circle, triangles, organic shapes) and colour.

They could annotate one of his pictures individually, in a small group, or as a class.

Students work from a photo of themselves to make a line drawing. (I took photos of the students, edited them on Photoscape (like Photoshop) to change it into a line drawing, and then printed them on A3 cartridge paper. They then use colours, lines and shapes to fill it in using chalk pastels, (we used square blocks) using the edge, tip, side to produce various thickness and intensity of line. Blocks of colour can be used too, especially in the background.

Students reflect on their completed artworks.

WWW EBI (What Went Well / Even Better If ) Reflection Questions:

Did I fill the paper, leaving only a little or no empty/white space?

Did I use a variety of line thickness?

Did I use some shapes- geometric / organic?

Are the colours generally sharp, only blended or smudged in areas for an effect?

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