Fifth Grade Student Art Projects
Kehinde Wiley Self Portraits
Students created a self portrait in the style of contemporary African American artist Kehinde Wiley. They studied his process and how it relates to the same artistic process used by painters since the Renaissance with the addition of contemporary tools like photography. First students chose a pose they found from images through art history books and photos and had their photo taken in that same pose, then used the photograph to draw and then paint their self portrait. They also had the use of projectors and computers to enlarge Victorian and Rococo patterns which they would then add into the background of their portrait in keeping with the style of Kehinde Wiley.
Students created a self portrait in the style of contemporary African American artist Kehinde Wiley. They studied his process and how it relates to the same artistic process used by painters since the Renaissance with the addition of contemporary tools like photography. First students chose a pose they found from images through art history books and photos and had their photo taken in that same pose, then used the photograph to draw and then paint their self portrait. They also had the use of projectors and computers to enlarge Victorian and Rococo patterns which they would then add into the background of their portrait in keeping with the style of Kehinde Wiley.
Ceramic Shakers
Students created ceramic musical instrument shakers using clay and various impressed textures. Students learned some of the history of shakers and rattles and their relationship to the natural materials that early cultures made them out of. The fifth graders used locally mined white clay to create their ceramic "taco" shapes and the beads contained inside. After learning how clay is fired and the changes it undergoes the students were taught how to burnish crayons into the clay and use their wax to create a resist layer when adding tempera paint over top.