I am currently a full-time art educator at MSK, teaching five curriculums in both fine art and digital art. Units include painting, drawing, ceramics, watercolor, sculpture, upcycling, graphic design and Adobe software. Please explore student work below:
After learning about value, 6th graders created these portraits by cutting shapes of paper in four shades of gray. Using posterized photos of themselves or celebrities as their references, they traced, cut, and carefully pasted shapes to achieve a three-dimensional look. This was a challenging project that required students to think differently and summon a lot of patience.
“I loved that I got to make art differently than I usually do.”
”I had to think in layers instead of lines.”
”I can’t believe it worked with only four shades of paper.”
Using selection tools, layer masks, clone stamp, patch tool and more, seventh graders realistically combined two animals to appear as a single creature. Their Photoshop skills make us question whether these beasts really exists!
“I loved this assignment because we could choose what we wanted to make.”
”So much fun!”
In this real-world digital design project, students created cereal boxes with brands they invented. This fun Photoshop assignment tapped into students’ senses of humor and creativity, and provided an understanding of marketing and package design.
“I liked that I had a ton of freedom with this assignment.”
It was cool that we got to be funny.”
After learning about the proportions of the human body, 7th graders created these lively sculptures of humans in action. Each student created their own character, and some worked in teams to create their environments. This was a chance to develop skills with wire, paper maché, painting, and fabric.
“It was fun to collaborate with friends.”
”You could be really creative with this. The guidelines were wide open.”
In this clay unit, eighth graders made original and amusing bobbleheads. They created the classic wiggly “bobblehead” motion by making custom springs out of wire.
“I really enjoyed doing this project.”
”It was so creative!”
SHADOW BOXES
After learning about foreground, middle ground and background, sixth graders created these 3-dimensional compositions inside a box. Each student was required to tell a story and convey depth using several kinds of media.
“I loved the scene I chose to portray.”
”Fun to use different materials.”
”I’m proud of the optical illusion [my shadow box] creates.”
REDESIGNED BOOK COVERS
The Art + Tech students redesigned the book covers of some of their favorite stories. This project reinforced their Photoshop skills in selections and layers masks, and introduced them to the type tool. Students needed to consider a number of things, including composition, hierarchy, how to convey a story in a single image, and how to entice an audience. The student-created works are on the left side and the original covers are on the right.
“I felt excited because you could experiment and be creative at the same time.”
”My design is COMPLETELY different and I think it is better [than the original].”
