SchoolArts - August/September 2010

Each year I start school with a theme that ties all classes together. This year our theme was architecture and communities, and my sixth-grade classes created imaginary villages. We started by looking at various architectural styles and then looked at the different ways contemporary artists portray communities or architecture focusing on village scenes. Pam Kuharic

Inviting the Muse

The inspiration for this project came from a vacation to Amelia Island in Florida. While visiting galleries there, I noticed that quite a few artists depicted quaint seaside cottages in various ways, using color in a bright “fauvist” style giving the cottages a happy, carefree, tropical feel.

Elementary

Hallie Vlahos, grade six.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

We looked at these pictures before students drew ideas into their sketchbooks. Attention to detail was extremely important, and whimsical, unrealistic details were encouraged.

Creating a Community Once a perfect cottage was designed, students drew their cottages on 6 x 9" ( 15 x 23 cm) paper using only line. The lines were traced with thin black permanent markers and then the community spirit really kicked in.

We reviewed perspective guidelines: distance can be shown by placing smaller objects in back, placing objects higher or closer to the horizon line, and overlapping.

Each student was given 18 x 24" ( 46 x

61 cm) color diffusion paper, which is more transparent then regular drawing paper.

They had to plan
their village so that
larger cottages were closer
to the bottom and smaller
cottages were higher on the
page.

Students traced each
of their own cottages, and
then traded cottages with
other classmates so each
time they drew a cottage it
was different. They filled
the large paper with differ-
ent styles of cottages until
the paper was full and some
of the larger cottages over-
lapped smaller ones. Land-
scaping details were added,
including paths, trees,
bushes, flowers, etc. The horizon line
was added last.

Pam Kuharic is an art teacher at Spring Avenue Elementary School in Lagrange, Illinois. pkuharic@d105.net, kuharicpj@ hotmail.com

NATIONAL STANDARD Students use subjects, themes, and symbols that demonstrate knowledge of contexts, values, and aesthetics that communicate intended meaning in artworks.