Hey! I'm a photographer!

The history of photography is a very interesting one, and today we'll learn all about it!  starting with the first photos every taken with the first cameras, to famous photographers, and then we'll learn some tricks to take some of great photos of our own! 

Now its your turn to be the photographer! Each of you will pair up and take a turn being the photographer and then the model for the portrait.  

moms- this is what you'll need,  digital cameras, white sheets for backdrops, clip or tape on wall, tripods- they may also just want to hold the cameras.  I also have them bring in their favorite stuffed animal for one of the photos.  The photos I upload, crop, change to black and white and pick the best 4 expressions of each child.  The frames are from the dollar store.  Tada! the best Christmas present ever!  Don't forget the labels on the back with the date, class, etc.

Here the link to the slideshow on photography!

Remember- 

1. Make sure the camera is focused and still
2. Make your subject feel comfortable,
    tell them nicely how you want them to pose.
3. You want to get 4 different looks from them, make sure 1 is a nice smiling one.       How about happy, thoughtful, goofy, sad, sleepy, dreamy, excited or cuddly!
4. Take about 3 photos per expression. Take your time !
HAVE FUN!

RAZZLE DAZZLE THEM!

Razzle Dazzle Camouflage

Finished dazzle dazzle project for 5th grade. Sailboat and ship were pre-cut out of card stock and drawn with sharpies

Dazzle camouflage, also known as razzle dazzle or dazzle painting, was a family of ship camouflage used extensively in World War I and to a lesser extent in World War II. Credited to artist Norman Wilkinson, it consisted of complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other.

Unlike some other forms of camouflage, dazzle works not by offering concealment but by making it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed and heading. Norman Wilkinson explained in 1919 that dazzle was intended more to mislead the enemy as to the correct position to take up than actually to miss his shot when firing.

Dazzle was adopted by the British Admiralty and the U.S. Navy with little evaluation. Each ship's dazzle pattern was unique to avoid making classes of ships instantly recognisable to the enemy. The result was that a profusion of dazzle schemes was tried, and the evidence for their success was at best mixed. So many factors were involved that it was impossible to determine which were important, and whether any of the colour schemes were effective.

Dazzle attracted the notice of artists, with Picasso notably claiming cubists had invented it. The vorticist artist Edward Wadsworth, who supervised the camouflaging of over 2,000 ships during the First World War, painted a series of canvases of dazzle ships after the war, based on his wartime work.

Link to Slidetalk

steps for watercolor backgrounds.
and project continued.....

Student examples they did...... Love them!!

We're visiting the Phoenix Art Museum

Our field trip is tomorrow,  if you want to watch some really great videos by some of the artists that are at the special exhibition that we will see tomorrow here they are!

Below shows the amazing process and meaning behind the Black Cloud of
butterflies that we will see, they will be gone May 5!
this one is a favorite of mine, visually, and symbolically,
It is called Rafter: Hell Act II

Salvador Dali Surrealism Dream Boxes

Salvador Dali-(1904–89), Spanish painter. A surrealist, he portrayed dream images with almost photographic realism against backgrounds of arid Catalan landscapes. Notable works: The Persistence of Memory (1931) and Christ of St. John of the Cross (1951).

We traveled to Cadeques Spain when our son Devon was little to view Salvador Dali's amazing quirky house.  I was so surprised that this world renowned amazing artist, grew up and resided in this small seaside village in the south of Spain.

His house was as colorful and imaginative as he
was,  I bet he has some great parties there!!

I wrote this art project with my son Devon's 5th grade class in mind,  I want them to go out in a bang this year, loving art!  They're going to create Dream Boxes, after they learn all about Dali and Surrealism.  

Materials:
boxes- we bought flat top wooden one's or similar from the craft store.
sky blue paint, brushes for background
white paint and cotton balls for clouds
pencils to sketch
miscellaneous paints, small brushes, colored sharpies or even oil pastels.
for the inside I was going to have them cut out quirky objects or designs they liked 
   out of magazines, mod podge it to the inside of the box and 
hot glue gun a small toy to the bottom.  I don't know why I added the little toy part,
   but it sounded cute and an additional way to purge my kids junk drawers!

Here's the link to the Salvador Dali Slideshow

Let me know if you do something different with your dream boxes, and I'lll show you mine when they're done!

Turner and Romanticism

5th grade art project

Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Although Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, he is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting.



This is a artist who is known for his beautiful Romanticism paintings,  the kids do a great watercolor and learn about the artist and Romanticism.

Link to Turner and Romanticism Slideshow

Ideas for this project came from Usborne Art Treasury!