A Peek at students in Flow Mode

For any of you who have had the opportunity to enter flow mode when you are fully engaged in a project, it is an incredible gift. It is a time period when time seems as if it is suspended as one fully engages in creating. It is like a meditative state, a length of time where one is totally connected to what they are doing. Often the art classroom is a very noisy and busy place, but some projects can draw students into this state I am talking about.

One such project that I enjoy doing with the students is Australian Aboriginal dot paintings. In Australia, the Aboriginal people actually enter into a meditative trance before they begin to paint. It has the same effect on students in the classroom. Here are a few photos where students are very focused on their art. As well there is a copy of a student painting entitled, "Sitka" by Yasmine Boilard.

Sitka by Yasmine Boilard

The year comes to an End

Lots of great things have gone on in Creative Arts classroom this year. Unfortunately, I have not had time to keep up with posting the ongoings of these classes on a day to day basis. I have however, been taking photos of students and thier art all year and will post a description of the projects and a number of successful student samples when I get some time over the summer. I will also post photos from our most recent Art show which was held at the Pearl Ellis Gallery in Comox.
 Hope you take on some creative projects this summer.
Photo: James Ashcroft, Skateboard refurbish project

Week of Feb.18

Since we began a  few weeks ago, students have been dealving into projects with a vengeance. The following is a look at some the projects that are happening at the present time.

Grade 9's: Students are working on their line doodles, and once completed, can move on to the collage assignment, then onto a colour blend/silhouette/stencil assignment.

Intro  Cr. Arts: Students are working on line designs and then are moving on to collage and then finally onto to a Ted Harrison style painting.

Developing Cr. Arts: Students began with a line doodle and have been learning about different mixed media techniques, they will be moving onto an Australian Aboriginal dot painting assignment.

Welcome to a new year in the Creative Arts classroom

This semester, I am teaching Intro to Creative Arts and Grade 9 Creative Arts in term 2. Creative Arts classes focus on a variety of different activities with an emphasis on the elements of design and process based creation. We create in a variety of mediums including: watercolour and acrylic painting,stencil design and spray painting, printmaking, collage, paper mache, various clays including regular and polymer clay, and some multimedia work.

Expressions Art Show

Student art from Vanier, Highland and Isfeld is on display at the Muir Gallery in Courtenay all this month. Special credit to Isfeld's Andrea Murphy whose photograph is the basis for the poster and Hannah Mareck who created the poster for the show.

Welcome to Semester 2 Creative Arts

Throughout this semester, we will focus on the Elements of Design. Our first project is a line doodle.

Criteria for this assignment ( marked out of 10)

• need to fill the entire page
• piece should be balanced
• has a focal point
• varies the kind and thickness of lines

 

2011 Grade 11 Clay Projects

Watercolor demo.

Some watercolor leaf and rock
student samples from Creative Arts.

Watercolor Rocks

Our next project will be painting watercolor rocks. You will be painting as though you're looking down at the rocks on a beach or river. Layering is essential for this project. Take your time to try different techniques such as saran-wrap, splattering, shading, in order to create a multi-textured piece.

Sample:

Leaf Paintings

Assignment #3: You are to find two different leaves and trace them onto separate pieces of watercolour paper with a pencil. Next you should wet your background with water, leaving a space around the leaf and complete a wash. Wait for each background to dry before you go on to painting  details within the leaf.

Welcome to the wonderful world of watercolour

We will have the opportunity to play with watercolours over the next couple of weeks.The first assignment is to teach you to blend colours and put a wash onto the paper.

Assignment #1:
Red, yellow,orange (warm wash)
Blue, green (cool wash)
Remember we are doing a wet on wet wash, so add your water first, blend your colours before putting them onto the page, then drop on the paint. Do not forget to leave some white space.

Assignment #2:
Create a wash,any colour, sprinkle some salt onto the page and see what happens.
The last piece of watercolour paper should be used for you to play and experiment...HAVE FUN!

Zentangles

Here is a great video to help with Zentangle Designs. Zentangle patterns

Colour Theory

The new assignment for this week is to test your colour theory. We will be creating colours to match the colour swatches you cut out of magazines.

Description of Assignment: Cut out six colors that you like. (AVOID: black, white, or pure colors. You should be looking for shades or tints of a colour). Glue colour cutouts to a piece of  tag paper, and then using acrylic paints mix your own color to match. Paint your colour next to the magazine colour swatch. Remember paint dries slightly darker. Have fun.

T-Shirt Demo.

Here is a sample of a brightly colored spray paint shirt.
Artist: Brigitte Cattell

Canvas Patch

The latest project is a mixed media piece on a CD case sized canvas. All of the small canvas pieces will be stitched onto a larger piece of canvas and hung in the school. Each piece MUST include a quote which gives some advice to future generations of students at Isfeld. Remember this should be a mixed media piece.

Multimedia Canvas Samples

Here are some samples of finished multimedia canvas work.

Criteria for this assignment includes:

• many layers and textures
• coordinate your colours (do not choose every colour in the book)
• add some text ( a word or quote)
• make sure you have a focal point VERY IMPORTANT!
• ensure your piece is visually pleasing
• THE PIECE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ON A THEME

Mixed Media Assignment.

Elements required for the mixed media assignment are:
1. Layers/ textures ( gel tranfers, collage, watercolour, stamps, spray paint etc.)
2. Coordinated colors.
3. Text
4. Focal point

Remember, Don't get too attached to your base, layers, layers, layers!

Line Doodles

Some sample artwork from this weeks doodles assignments:

Straight and Curved line design sample student work

Here is some examples from the first project of the year which focuses on the element of LINE.
Students have done a spectaclular job on this assignment, showcasing their originality.

Welcome to Creative Arts 2010/2011

Introduction to Creative Arts 9-11

Welcome back to a new school year at Mark Isfeld, I hope you are looking forward to a creative year ahead! My name is Ms. Chase and I teach Creative Arts 8-11. This class should not be confused with or considered Crafts, there is no such course at Isfeld. Creative Arts focuses primarily on the process of art , elements of design, and exposure and experimentation with a multitude of materials and mediums. Students can be found doing any number of things including: watercolour, ceramics, jewelry making, collage, acrylic painting, paper mache, card making, duct tape wallet construction, and multimedia pieces. In this class, we enjoy making art for arts sake!

Evaluation

Students are evaluated on the products they produce based on meeting the criteria of the assignment, however a significant portion of the grade is based on process. Students are also given a Studio Skills mark based on effort, attention to detail, problem solving, helping out others,proper use of materials and as clean-up.

Assignments: 60%
Studio Skills : 40%

It is my hope to update this site regularly with assignment details and photos of student work and students working.