Middle School Studio Lesson
PROJECT8TAGS
Michele Ramos-Burrows
8Tags is a project that I used with my eighth-grade studio art students to encourage them to come up with original
and creative solutions to an assignment. I also wanted to incorporate
their knowledge of the elements of art
and principles of design.
I loosely based the project on the
format of a reality show. Students
would be given the same basic materials and would work with them in a
fixed time frame. Their pieces would
then be displayed and judged by our
school staff on how well their finished
pieces met the challenge.
The Challenge
Students were challenged to create an
original two-dimensional or three-dimensional artwork that included
the use of eight
cardboard luggage
tags. The tags
could be altered in
any way.
tag to take home over the weekend to
help them generate ideas. They were
instructed to sketch out all their ideas
in their sketchbooks.
Constructing
Students were given
one week to com-
plete their projects
in class. They were
allowed to bring
in any additional
materials they saw
fit. The atmosphere
of the room was competitive, but sup-
portive. Students offered helpful sug-
gestions to one another.
Students were challenged
to create a finished two-
dimensional or three-
dimensional artwork that
included the use of eight
cardboard luggage tags.
Sketching Ideas
We started the
project by discussing different
concepts such as themes, stories, symbolism, students’ interests, and their
passions. Students were given one
Objectives
Students will:
•;develop;a;creative;solution
to the challenge.
•;creatively;use;all;eight;tags.
•;use;materials;effectively.
•;demonstrate;quality;artistry.
Materials
cardboard luggage tags, •
eight per student
paint •
glue •
scissors •
collage materials •
found objects •
embellishments•
markers •
colored pencils •
