1,000 Paper Cranes

Tuesday's class time was spent learning about the 1,000 Paper Cranes project and the story of Sadako, as well as learning to make origami paper cranes. After watching a brief video on the Sadako Story found online, students watched a step-by-step tutorial video showing each fold in making a paper crane. Along with my demonstration, students were able to feel comfortable with the steps and technique by the second crane they made.

Students must make 10 cranes each by Friday (regardless of absences, field trips, etc). Five origami cranes can be plain white paper, but AT LEAST five must be colored paper (watercolored, colored w/ pencils, etc).

As part of our 1,000 Paper Cranes project, a few students will be volunteering to teach visitors to our i-Fest celebration how to fold cranes and help us in our pursuit of making 1,000.

Wiki work

Students used Monday's class time in the computer lab adding new wiki pages to the site. Based on their work from Friday on the Voting for Public Art at the Hunter Museum Website, students transferred their ideas from their sketchbooks to finished wiki pages. All students created their own new pages in their class folder to present their work.

Check out the wiki page here to see the work they did in the Student Responses folders.

Voting on Public Art

Students participated in the voting for Public Art in Chattanooga today. We spent the class in the computer lab looking at the Hunter Museum's Website. The site has a section on the art now under review for the public to choose for placement in Miller Plaza downtown. That link is here. Chattanooga has a great history of supporting Public Art, and this opportunity to participate in choosing the work is a fantastic learning opportunity for students.


After researching a little about each piece of art and the three artists, students wrote a paragraph about each piece of art being proposed. Students then wrote a fourth paragraph describing their choice and why it's the best piece of art for that spot.


One of the proposed works of art above:
LET'S GIVE CHATTANOOGA A BIG HAND, A COMMISSION BY DONALD LIPSKI
Stainless steel, 36 feet high x 12 feet wide x 6 inches deep

Finishing Self Portraits

Students spent their class time finishing the realistic self portraits they began yesterday. Students worked quietly throughout the period, allowing them to focus more clearly on observation and detail and excercise their right brains a bit more. Students continued applying their new knowledge of facial proportions to guide them in creating these drawings.

The students' work from today was quite impressive. I know these portraits will be a source of pride for many of the students. It is easy to tell the effort and skills students applied to their work by the outcome and beauty of these drawings!

Self Portrait by Nathan L.

Applying our knowledge

Today students finished their guided instruction on facial proportions and drawing the human face. I was really amazed with the quality of drawings the students created on their first attempt this quarter at this tight, realistic drawing style. Students finished up their drawings by adding ears and necks to their faces and learning to draw hair. Students noted that the neck is usually the width from outside of the eye straight down, and that the hair line generally starts half way from the eyebrow to the top of the head.

Students also began a self portrait today based on their new knowledge of facial proportions. Students were challenged to adapt their knowledge of general placement of features while observing and recording the specifics of their own faces. Students, although very wary, are beginning the best self portraits most of them will have ever drawn!


(Shout out to the student who is making me an Oreo Ball dessert; here is a recipe!)

Drawing the Face

Students learned the general proportions of the human face today. Following a step-by-step video, students analyzed features and their relationships in creating their own realistic drawings. Students learned that the head is generally an upside-down egg shape, and that the "Eye line" is half way down the head. Students also learned the placement of the "mouth line" at 1/3 up from the chin, and the "nose line" 1/3 up from the mouth line. Students learned the general max width of a nose is the width from tear duct to tear duct, and that the mouth is generally as wide as the distance from pupil to pupil.






Although difficult, students were encouraged to erase and correct at all times in order to prefect their drawings. We noted that many features on the face can be created by shading to look more 3-D rather than drawing harsh outlines. Students got through the features of the face today and will move on to adding ears and hair to their portraits tomorrow. The drawings are going to be great, even if they are just practice!

Printing blocks

Students spent Thursday and Monday making prints of their personal logos from the carved blocks the created. Students turned in both a single black print on small paper and a large sheet with a series of 5 prints in color. We plan on mounting the strips into a large collaborative piece of art!

PROGRESS REPORTS went home today! Please sign and return the report by Wed (4/15) to earn an extra credit!