ANATOMY OF A LESSON

A lot can go into an  art project! At VLM, I strive to include opportunities in each lesson for students to   LOOK (work from observation/ see demonstrations), LEARN (about an artist or artwork), CREATE (draw, collage, print, paint, sculpt, gain skills, explore ideas), and SHARE (by reflecting as a class or school community on work in progress as well as completed work).

This means our projects are generally completed over several art classes. in the older grades, we often work for as many as 5 or 6 on one image! One art project may be the result of discussion, sketch book work and brainstorming, practicing skills, solving problems, and starting over!

For example, VLM 4th graders recently completed their Van Gogh-inspired Virginia Landscape Portraits.  Students had many challenges, spread over many classes including:

• Drawing a face in PROPORTION (Our year long design goal  for 4th is exploring proportion.)

• Using observation to draw a SELF PORTRAIT
• Adding a detailed landscape from a specific REGION OF VIRGINIA (Students learn about Piedmont, Coast plains, Blue Ridge, and more as part of their 4th grade curriculum.)

• Showing depth in a landscape by including FOREGROUND and BACKGROUND areas, as well as  using relative size.

• USING DRY PASTELS , to add texture and shading

I hope as students and families enjoy each others work with an appreciation for all that may have gone into it. And that we can begin to recognize clues and ask questions that reveal the bones of our creations:  all the rich layers that might be buried underneath. 

(Images from top to Bottom:  Will T. selfie self portrait!,  Kamran, Eloise, Katarina, Ari)