3rd, 4th, and 5th Japan- Kimonos and Cherry Blossoms

Our first trip this school year was to the beautiful Japan. We studied the intricate patterns and folding on Japanese kimonos. To make our own kimonos, we used origami. Our trees were made with several types of line. We used ink and blew through straws to create the black lines. Our landscapes were then completed with a clothing line and tissue paper for our cherry blossoms.

1st and 2nd India- Peacocks

Our first travels this year took us all the way from Florida to India! We talked about how peacocks are the national bird of India and that they create many beautiful works of art dedicated to them. While creating our peacock tails, we talked about how line can break up a composition. We used horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines in our tails. To make our tails we used tissue paper bleeds then decorated them with pattern.

3rd, 4th and 5th Art Noveau- Tiffany Lamps

We critiqued several examples of decorative lamps from the Art Noveau period, known as Tiffany lamps. Several of the lamps repeated similar shapes and imagery to creative beautiful patterns. We talked about how artists designed these pieces to decorate homes and so they must be pleasing to the eye and something the customer would like to buy. Then watched how Tiffany lamps were made, with tiny fitting pieces cut apart and held together with soldered copper. We knew that our designs had to fit together like a puzzle. We drew our designs on, added color, hung them, and put them up for customers to see!

1st and 2nd Art Noveau- Patterned Jewelry

For our decorative jewelry project, we studied broaches, hair clips, and necklaces from the Art Noveau period. We discovered that one way the artists created such beautiful jewelry was to repeat patterns throughout the pieces. We made a list of the several different ways pattern can be made: numbers, shapes, letters, sizes, colors, objects. Then, we designed our own jewelry to include at least three different types of patterning. Our necklace pendants were cut from clay using cookie cutters. Then we painted the clay with our base color and added our patterns with marker. We looked quite flashy once we finished our pieces and could wear them!

4th and 5th Pop Art- POPular Food Tiles

Each class voted on which foods were most popular to that particular class. Then they could pick one food item from their classes' list to design their popular food tile after. Critiquing several examples of pop art helped us come to the conclusion that our tiles needed to include bright and solid colors, a background that would make the food item pop, and perhaps some patterning within negative spaces.