Name Towers by 6th grade

These are some fun name towers made by my 6th grade students. They were given the task of drawing the letters in their name to resemble a tall pile of letters. We discussed how the pile should have a wide base and the letters should appear to grow smaller as the move toward to top of the pile. I then asked them to fill in the pile with areas of solid color and line design. I think they did a nice job!

Van gogh Inspired Winter Trees by Seventh Grade

First of all, my original inspiration for this lesson came from a wonderful blog, http://marymaking.blogspot.com/2011/12/winter-landscapes-with-van-gogh.html. If you are looking for some great art lessons, check out Mary's blog!!!!

I love the way these turned out. The 7th grade students were asked to create a winter sky inspired by Van gogh's Starry Night. They worked on getting color, texture, and movement into their skies. I tried not to over explain or over instruct. I rally wanted they to come up with their own unique perspective of what the sky should look like. The next week, they added the bare winter trees and snowflakes. They are just so beautiful. Here are some finished ones...