Since September, my Grade 5/6 students have been learning about the elements and principles of art. So far, we've focused on colour theory and value. For this assignment, the students were first given a piece of black construction paper and asked to divide it into thirds. They were to fill in the top third using a combination of chalk pastel colours. Once they were happy with these, I took them and applied a Krylon spray to help keep the chalk from flying and smudging.
After this, they were asked to design 3 different city scape silhouettes on paper. I explained to them that larger shapes would work a little better than small details, and then they went to town. Once all 3 were designed, they cut them out so they had a stencil of their city scape.
Next, they were given a piece of dark denim and asked to trace their first city scape onto the back of it. Once this was done, they cut out the cityscape and set aside the first denim piece. Then, they were given 2 more pieces of denim (in decreasing colour value) and were asked to do the same thing with their other 2 city scapes.
Once all was cut out, they used white glue to glue the city scapes onto their black construction paper just above the chalk line. Once this was done, they glued the whole thing onto a piece of foam core board (to give their piece of work more structure).
Finally, once all was dry, they were given two little pots of paint (I just used the bottoms of styrofoam cups)...one white, and one heavily tinted yellow...and asked to provide detail to their art. The white was intended for the sky (moon and stars), while the yellow was intended to be used to create the looks of lights in some of the buildings. Before they completed this step I did a sample to show them what I was looking for. The tools they were given to complete this step included tooth picks, and small pointed paint brushes.
All in all, they turned out pretty well. It took a lot for me to resist the urge to rush in and "correct" the kids on their painting style - the inspiration for this project had tiny stars that looked like constellations and varied shapes for the windows, and that was what I was expecting when I started the project. But, in the end, I reminded myself that art is art, and there is no right or wrong. The kids should enjoy the process of creating and shouldn't have me breathing down their necks to conform to some idea that I had.
I'm pretty happy with this project, and I'm definitely looking forward to starting our next one in the coming week!
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