More paper relief photography

Inspired by Miro

First and second grade artists looked at the work of Spanish artist Joan Miro.  Miro's art is characterized by simple black lines, dots and organic shapes and a limited color palette.  They worked with partners or in small groups to create large scale pieces in the style of Joan Miro.  

Here are examples of Miro's art that we looked at for inspiration:

"The Nightingale's Song at Midnight and the Morning Rain" 

(Could this piece have a more beautiful title?)

"Ciphers and Constellations"

Artwork by first and second grade artists:  

Totem pole animals by grades 3 & 4

As third and fourth graders continue their study of the United States, we travel to the Pacific Northwest region to look at totem poles made by Native American groups.  We learned that totem poles can tell stories or have animals that represent the artist or the family who owns the totem poles.  We talked about how the animals on totem poles art stylized, with lots of details and creativity, rather than realistic. We put our cut paper totem pole animals together into four class totem poles.  

Paper Relief and Photography

This project truly took on a life of its own!  After looking at several examples of paper relief online on Pinterest, I set out cardboard squares, glue and piles of white paper, but I gave very few instructions about how to proceed.  Artists experimented with rolling, folding and wrinkling the paper to create these magnificent sculptures. Then we set up a photography station using black paper, an overhead projector and the iPad. Students used basic photo filters to emphasize the way the light hit their creations. So beautiful!