Last week, I told students the legend of Bodhidharma or (known as Daruma-Daishi in Japan). He was a monk from the 5th/6th century shown below. The legend says that he meditated for 9 years without moving and in that time, he was so focused that his arms and legs just fell away leaving his focused face. A few centuries later, farmers made the first daruma doll in Japan, based on Bodhidharma, wearing a red robe with no arms or legs. They made it in hopes for a good harvest. From there, the doll became increasingly popular and is now a popular style of toy, even found in the form of hello kitty. I talked to students about how this is a wishing doll (great for the new year!). To use it, you have to think of a wish or goal and paint one eye black. After working hard and your goal or wish is achieved, you can paint in the other eye. I stressed that this doll is not a charm like a four leaf clover, but a symbol of perseverance just like Bodhidharma. This egg shaped doll is weighted so that when you tip it over, it bounces back up! For our first class, students finished up some of their work from ancient Egypt and also thought of their wish or goal, and wrote ways they can work towards it. They also did a sketch of how they want to paint their daruma. We will create them next class!
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I just noticed that I did not post about our project before winter break! To continue learning about Egyptian art, I talked to students about the scarab, a symbol for Kephri, or the sun god, Ra. Like the dung beetle rolls balls of dung more than twice it's size, ancient Egyptians believed that the sun god rolled the sun out every morning. Students spent one class learning and sculpting their scarabs into small amulets. The following class they painted them. Just this past week, they also got string to turn them into necklaces, since scarabs are found in jewelry (not just Egyptian!) as a charm.
The third graders were very busy last week. We opened class by making obersvations about the positioning of figures in Egyptian art. We even had a student try to hold one of the poses and we soon found how unnatrual (and uncomfortable) these poses are. One student noted that 'if they eye is facing forward and the clothes are facing forward, the viewer can see who the person is and notice more details about the inividual- BUT when their arms and legs are sideways, we can see the figures in motion.' (This was a very proud moment for me!) After finshing their cartouches from last week, they then applied these convetions to self portraits- including their name in hieroglyphics in a cartouche as well as symbols of their interests.
Last week, I used a pretty amazing youtube video (link below) called " A Kid Explains History" to give a brief overview of ancient Egypt. From the video, students leared about the beginning of farming and how it allowed Ancient Egyptians to have leisure time on off seasons, and thus a great opportunity to create art. Students observed hieroglyphics in the video, and I explained that hieroglyphics is a system like our alphabet that uses imagery instead of letters to symbolize meaning. I also introduced students to a cartouche, the symbolic frame that surrounds the name of royalty. This class, students practiced writing their name in hieroglyphics in their sketchbook, then began to copy it onto yellow paper for their cartouche.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEMbPLR1vrA Now that they've reflected on their own culture, it's time to explore art traditions from other cultures. We started with something quick and simple, and made use of the hands they painted a few weeks back when they matched their skin color using primary colors. For the past two weeks, the third graders have been discussing and practicing Mehndi designs, also known as henna Students learned where henna originated from, as well as some common themes and symbols. They discussed the types of lines, shape and balance in the designs as well, and spent the first week practicing drawing Mehndi designs in their sketchbook. Yesterday, they copied their sketches onto their painted hands and inked them in using thin sharpies. I can't wait to see these hands displayed together!
Sorry my posts have been delayed a week, we had a choppy schedule lately! But lets just look at how beautiful the third graders portraits turned out! They added their artist statements, describing the cultural symbols in their picture. Some of them are on display at school now, they look amazing together.
These students have been building these silhouette portraits of themselves for the past few weeks, and they are suddenly coming together. The third graders began class by writing an artist statement describing the symbols they drew in their artwork. Students then set off to assemble all of the elements. Some students are still working, but I am so excited to have everyone share the hard work the've done!
Last Monday, the third graders worked diligently to finish their cultural symbols, and most students were able to move on to their silhouettes. I talked to them about how these were originally created using light and shadow, but students skipped a few steps and traced each other's heads to get an approximate shape. These turned out great!
Last week the third graders took their list of cultural aspects and turned them into symbols. Students final project will be a silhouette of them thinking about their culture. They began their project by illustrating a thought bubble, and then used colored pencils and sharpies to illustrate their ideas. Students were eager to share out their hard work at the end of class.
Last week the third graders were very busy. On the first page of their newly sewn sketchbooks, they answered the question "what is culture?" Sharing their responses, we talked about just some of the aspects that are unique to every culture, like their food, clothing, religion, values language and so on. Thank you so much parents for helping them complete their worksheet. They used those answers to help them brainstorm ideas for their culture. These ideas will then turn into symbols and placed into their artwork. I can't wait to see their final projects!
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