Contour Drawings and Finger Puppets
Posted by daz1246 on February 8, 2008
In art class today we completed a number of drawing exercises that we could use in our classrooms. In our first assignment we were asked to draw a map illustrating ‘a day in the life of me’ and each map was unique in a sense that everyone has different routines throughout the day, and a different route of transportation to and from school. It was interesting to see the diversity in our classroom, especially with the everyone getting out of bed in the mornings.
We then were introduced to contour drawing. Contour drawing is a drawing, drawn in pencil, that shows the visible border of an object with as much detail to give the drawing dimension. We first drew a blind contour drawing of an object and then added definition to our drawings; I chose to draw my water bottle and it turned out quiet nice. A technique that we have been learning is cross-hatching to create shadow, dimension, and definition.
We also experimented with plaster making finger puppets; when working with plaster one needs water and plaster sheets cut into thin strips. Water transforms the hard plaster into a soft sticky like substance that is used to create scultpures. The key to making sculptures out of plaster is to make sure the plaster is dry before you move your object or paint your object. We were making finger puppets and some of the people at our table learned that if you apply plaster to your finger when it is bent, you will not be able to take it off when it is dry. The lesson here is to make a sculpture that can be left in same shape dry as it is wet. Another fun activity to do with older grades is making masks out of paper mache; this activity is interactive in a different way and it requires the students to be comfortable with using the material on their faces.
I think this activity would be great for students, starting at a grade 3 level. In organizing a messy activity like this with enough class time so students can think of an idea, cut the plaster, create their object (it drys very quickly), and clean up, I would allow 45 minutes. The teacher would have to talk to the students about safety around plaster: do not touch your eyes or face with plaster on your hands. In this session there is not enough time to paint the scultpures but that can be done in the next session.
Paper mache caricature finger puppet of a grey cat
Paper mache caricature artifact brought back from Greece. I couldn’t live without it!!!!!!!!
My favorite book from my childhood was Angelina Ballerina; my mom made me a framed model of this storybook character that I still have on my wall.
Lesson plans for primary grades:
plaster of paris:
http://www.kinderart.com/littles/little14.shtml
http://www.art-rageous.net/Papier-MacheBowl-LP.html
contour drawings:
http://www.kinderart.com/drawing/blind.shtml
http://www.teachartathome.com/Shape.html
Artists:
