Chuck Close

The first project of the 3rd trimester is one of my favorite projects. The students will be introduced to the American artist Chuck Close. Chuck Close is a photographer and painter that has gained world wide recognition for his amazing massive-scaled portraits. Even though he was left severely paralyzed from a spinal artery collapse in 1988, he has continued to create beautiful and stunning paintings.

 

Batik Project

A Batik or Batiking is an ancient art form that has been handed down for thousands of years from generation to generation. Batiks can be found in the Middle East, Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Philippines, India and more!

The students were instructed to choose a book that they have either read in their Language Arts Class or one that they are currently reading to use as inspiration for their Batik project.  Students were then instructed to use Corel PhotoPaint to illustrate a scene from that book and add the title for their batik design.  This project was was a great way to make a connection between their Language Arts class and their Visual Arts class.

 

The students were excited to create their own 20 X 20 Batik.  This art process is the method of dying fabric and then applying wax to those areas so that the fabric will remain that dyed color.  Once the fabric has visited a variety of dye baths, and waxed after each, the wax will be removed to uncover the design.  Once the plan was printed,  students had to trace their plan onto the fabric.

 

Students tracing their 'Batik Plan' onto their 20 X 20 Fabric

 

Once the design was traced on their fabrics, the students began to wax over the areas that they wanted to remain the white fabric color.

 

 

Students continued to dye and wax their fabric to achieve the design that was planned.

 

The students have enjoyed the Batik project so far and are will very excited to uncover the wax and see the art that they have created.

African Masks - Congo Region

The latest project in Mr. Benham's Art Class had the students researching tribes from the Congo region of Africa.  Each student was required to choose 2 different tribes and design their own masks combining characteristics from the original tribal masks and their own imagination. Colors and shapes weren't the only qualities that had to be taken into consideration when creating their own mask.  The students had to also keep in mind what their mask was created for.

Once the students had completed their masks, they were glazed and fired.

The final component of this project was for the students to stand in front of the class and present their mask to their peers.  The students were required to creatively write a 3-5 paragraph paper describing the following:

• What tribes were used as inspiration?
• What characteristics were 'borrowed' for their mask?
• What is their new original mask going to be used for?
• Who is required to wear the mask?

Short Video

(Used for ideas / brainstorming)

AFRICAN MASKS

Students working on their Clay masks:

Trimester 2 - Metals Project / Bookmarks

Metals Project / Bookmark

The first project of the 2nd trimester for the 8th grade students was a Metals Project.  Students pierced, cut, filed and sanded negative spaces in their metal to created the desired design. The idea for this project was for the students to determine how they could use negative and positive space to help create details for their Metals Bookmark project.

Student began the project by creating 6 different 3 X 3 ideas using the photo manipulation program, Corel Photo-Paint.  They then had to decide where negative shapes would be in order to create detail within their specific design.  Next each student was given 8 jeweler's saw blades and a saw frame to begin their project.

Finally, the students used files to 'clean up' any over-cuts and rough spots that were created from their sawing.  Students were also instructed to sand their project when the filing was completed.

Here are a couple examples of the 8th grade work this year:

Cowgirl Boots - Bookmark

Cowboy - Bookmark

Trimester 1 - Printmaking, "The Christmas Angles Program"

Mr. Benham's Class Contributes to "The Christmas Angels Program"

The purpose of the program is to help supplement the St. Vincent De Paul Adopt-A-Family program. The Christmas Angels Program is designed to give less fortunate parents an opportunity to select two new Christmas gifts for each of their children. This program is especially designed to give parents a sense of dignity and pride in making the Christmas season more joyous and fulfilling for their family. 

Families are invited to our Outreach Center in the West End on a Saturday in December. While the parents select two gifts for their children, volunteers help the children make an arts  and crafts gift for their parents and receive a bag of candy from Santa. Parents take the gifts home to give to their children on Christmas morning.

Students from Mr. Beham's 8th grade art class created handmade name tags for each of the children's presents this year. Mr. Benham heard about the program and asked his students how they thought they could help. The students were more than excited to create tags for the presents, so Mr. Benham decided to change his typical printmaking project into a project where others could benefit. Mr. Benham said, "The students really enjoyed this project. The best part was that they started to talk about what was really important and started some great dialog in the classroom about giving back to those in need. I was really happy to be a part of this program this year, but I hope that we can do more next year."

The Students used their printmaking skills to create a variety of tags to be used for the children's presents. Each student created 30 tags in different colors, designs and even languages for the program.

You can become a Christmas Angel by donating new toys or a monetary gift to purchase toys for children who would otherwise be forgotten during the holidays. For more information, please contact Maura Carpinello at (513) 562-8841 x 211. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Cincinnati is a non-profit organization providing a unique style of personal assistance with food, clothing, medicine, rent, utilities, transportation and companionship to people facing economic, emotional or spiritual crises.

Trimester 1 - Watercolor

Watercolor Painting (Relief Project)

Students chose a background, middle ground, foreground and a subject for their project.  Their source was created using the Photo manipulation program, Corel Photo-Paint.

Students traced the different layers on watercolor paper and then decided which techniques they would use for each layer.

Once their painting was completed the students used foam board to 'pop' each layer out so that they were on a variety of levels.

Below are 2 examples of student work:

Trimester 1 - Wire Sculpture

Students started the 1^st trimester by talking about contour line drawings.  We worked on shadows and silhouettes for our drawings.  The students were also introduced to blind contour drawings to help their eyes, brain and hands work together while drawing. 

Once the students had a grasp on the concept of contour line drawings, they began to come up with a few plans for a wire sculpture.

Below are a few examples of their work:

"Flying Pig"

"Ballet Dancer"

"Elephant"