Grid Ink Portraits

One of the first projects I have my upper level drawing and painting class do is grid portrait drawing. I let them choose absolutely anybody as long as it's a portrait image. They learn to use a grid along with different shading styles in pen. These are a few from last year, as well as this year. They usually turn out pretty amazing and helps build confidence in their drawing abilities. 

Misha Collins by Cheyenne

Tupac by Coelina

Jimi Hendrix by Kaycee

G Eazy by Nina

Ice Cube by Chuck

Mr. North Korea by Jake

Frankenstein's monster by Mariam 

Environmental Awareness

A couple projects stand out from last year that I'd like to recognize. I gave my recycled art class a choice based project to show awareness toward the environment. There were many good ones, but these two from a few seniors stood out the most. Sea turtles and plastic aren't the biggest environmental a concern in Northern Minnesota, but for some reasons it's what students think about first when it comes to environmental harm.

Maggie and Ali created a three panel painting showing the evils of plastic on sea turtles. It still hangs above the front dest area. 

This may just be a still image, but Nathan also made a great stop motion movie of this pac-man replica using a clay turtle and colored plastic bags as the bad guys. 

Scratchboard Art

When I was in high school we had an assignment to create art from scratchboard. I've only ever done it the one time. I thought it would be fun to introduce it to the intro class this year while learning about line and texture quality.

This is my own project from high school. It was based off an image of my pug/chihuahua dog. I'll be honest, I have no idea how I accomplished this back then. It's amazing to me. 

I think I ordered some poor quality scratchboard for my class this year because it was actually quite difficult for the students to scratch and work with. We couldn't use the wooden sticks provided so we used paper clips. It worked for the most part. 

Here are some fun works of art produced from the ERATS intro class. I love when their little practice piece matches their larger one. 

Alyssa's beautifully textured rose. 

Alayna's majestic eagle.

John's very textured face icon.

Wyatt's whimsical dinosaur.

Spray Paint Stencils

My art students have been creating some amazing projects in the last two months since school began. We're doing projects I've never even tried, but have been having so much fun exploring.

My lovely 2D (Drawing/Painting) students created some great spray paint art. We don't get to use spray paint very much, but I figured it'd be fun, and it was! They had to create art on the back of some drawing boards using multi-layered stencils and spray paint. I've got a pretty talented class.

We did most of it outside so it didn't stink up the place. Good thing this is the last class of the day because the room still smelled of spray paint fumes.

Mariam's album cover inspired stencils

Jake's space and planets #1

Jake's space and planets #2

Chuck's crazy all seeing eye 

Natasha's love-ly t-shirt designs

Nail Art

Sometimes I like to teach things that I've never done before. It keeps me on my toes and makes me learn a new skill as well. In the Mixed Media class we learned the practical skill of hammering nails into wood. I had all the students start by doing small 2x4 Minnesota art. Then they made their lager project on 12x12" panels. The theme was "Responsibility" or "What makes you feel 'tied down' in your life." I thought it was kind of punny. Tied down... string... you get it? Now you do. 

Small practices of Minnesota

Aerhais F.

Josie M. 

Kaleigh L.

Stormy B. (The end result was amazing!)

Coffee Painting

In the mixed media class we explore different art media that may or may not be traditional. Here the students tried out their painting skills using coffee. The theme for this project was "What do you wake up for in the morning?"

**Tip - Use instant coffee that dissolves in the water. Last year the paintings had coffee grounds all over them.

Ashton O.

Kaleigh L.

Montana B.

Josie M.

Value Portraits

I've seen this project done before, so I finally gave it a try with my Mixed Media class and it was awesome! Everyone came away with a successfully painted portrait whether it was of their friend, a celebrity, or themselves. It's been very amazing to see them displayed in the school. 

Montana B. - Self Portrait

Josie M. - Jonny Depp

Ramana F. - Portrait of Lita

Alex B. - Morgan Freeman