One common theme in my art projects is the idea that artists recreate, over and over again, objects we all know and love. Arguably, this is more effective than making paintings, as it turns an idea on its head. When you stand in front of a painting, you’re expecting to see a painting. Obviously, it has to be done well. But if a student has recreated a skateboard, playing card, covid mask, soap dispenser, or scroll, it involves an element of surprise and surprise often comes with the emotion of joy. Once you go down this path, you often start seeing objects as art pieces all over the place. It’s a legitimate paradigm shift. There’s also an aspect of problem solving in this, which is essential to great art lessons. Art classes should teach students to be great problem solvers, after all. Below are some examples.
Skateboards created by some IB art students.
Covid masks with year 9 students. They were printed and given to the students, some of the best ones were displayed in frames.
Soap dispensers with year 10 students. Just buy the pumps, trim the straws, and epoxy them to the ceramic piece when finished!
Playing Cards with year 10 students. Hand drawn, scanned, duplicated and flipped, then colored using Photoshop.
Scrolls with IB art students (this could also be a great AP 2D project). I posted this before but it fits them theme, so here it is again.
These kites were painted by year 7 students. It was a study of Henri Matisse and looking for ways to express school virtues through symbolism.
My own work in an exhibition of art on Frisbees. I haven’t investigated how to do this yet with my students, but I thought I should include it as it fits the blog post.
Draw, Paint, Think 