Grade three has been learning about sound in their science class. My son also happens to be in grade three so I wanted a fun lesson that would support this theme and connect to art at the same time. Expressionism … Continue reading
Gustav Klimt is a wonderful artist to introduce to your students. The shapes, shiny metallic colors, patterns and swirls Klimt used are very appealing to me and his art is sure to connect with your students too.
Bahrain is where I call home right now and it is also home to an apparently 400 years old tree named the Tree of Life. What makes this tree so special is that it not only lives in the middle of the desert, it also still remains a mystery where the tree gets it’s water source. Since all of my students have visited the tree at some point, it was the perfect subject matter to draw and paint a la Klimt mode!
After talking about Klimt and looking at his famous artwork, we concentrated on his painting of the Tree of Life, which I absolutely adore by the way! The kids loved the swirls and patterns and since I had some metallic acrylic paint available, we were in business!
Everyone got 12×18 paper and designed their own interpretation and vision of the tree of life. My only requirement was that the tree should fill up most of the paper space, the tree trunk could be any shape but relatively thick and there could be no visible leaves, just branches. This encouraged the students to be creative with the way they drew the branches and how they spread them out on the paper.
The trees were outlined with black markers.
Next, the students divided sections in the tree trunk and filled each section with different lines and patterns with a dark pencil. These were not outlined with a black marker. Thick branches were also filled with pencil lines and patterns.
Finally, geometric and organic shapes were designed under the tree, between the branches and open spaces around the tree. These were painted with the metallic paints and it certainly was a nice contrast with the black and white lines of their artwork.
I loved how these turned out and now my students love Gustav Klimt almost as much as I do! What do you think?
Get ready for an exciting lesson you can try with your students the next time you talk about texture.
Give your students a piece of paper and tell them to choose two different colored crayons. Use old crayons that have no wrappers on them.
After asking your students what the word ‘texture‘ might mean, ask them how can we ‘see‘ texture. Kids will come up with all sorts of ideas but you basically want them to say that you can see texture by rubbing it onto paper with pencils or crayons.
Go outside for a texture hunt and remind kids to rub their crayons in a ‘sleeping‘ position and encourage them to try two colors.
Back in the classroom, give out different colored 9×12 construction paper and hand out texture plates and sheets which have a wide range of textures on it and the kids love them. I got our classroom set from Dick Blick. Encourage your students to fill up the papers with all sorts of texture and to use all different colors.
Next, everyone gets a piece of white 12×18 paper and they draw a road or two with maybe a round-a-bout which was popular here because we have so many of them in Bahrain! The rest of the paper is for glueing buildings, restaurants, cafe’s, malls, etc. that are cut out from the textured paper. Details such as restaurant names, people, bikes, etc can be done at the end with markers.
Aren’t these texture cities so adorable?
Can you see the cute stand up statue in the round-a-about?
Psst…
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ART LESSONS FOR KIDS 