Architecture Drawing

When looking at European art, you can't ignore the beautiful churches, palaces, and other interesting architecture. It is also good to look at art that is made from many different types of media, not just drawings and paintings. After studying this churches and the different types of towers and domes it has, students created their own versions of the "Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood" in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Students first designed their buildings by drawing them with pencil, outlining the lines with a Sharpie marker, then painting them with watercolor paints and gold acrylic paint. 

Mixed Media Stained Glass

While looking at art in Europe, we looked at stained glass and how it is common especially in churches in Europe (and even America today). We looked at how the stained glass is made by coming up with a design, cutting glass that has been colored into specific shapes, then attaching the pieces with metal (which is what looks black). Today, stained glass is not only used for windows, but also for decorative items and lamps - like in Tiffany lamps. 

To make their own "stained glass", students used paper. They were given 1 inch tissue paper squares in any color they wanted, and used the squares to come up with a design by cutting them into shapes if they wanted. They brushed Mod Podge on a piece of paper, placed the tissue paper squares on top, then brushed Mod Podge on top of that again. The tissue paper and Mod Podge together have a translucent effect that, when it is dry, looks similar to stained glass. The final step was to add the "solder", which looks black. For us, I mixed some black acrylic paint with glue. This was easy to squirt out of a glue bottle, and when it is dry looks black and leaves a slightly raised texture. 

Dreamcatcher

While looking at Native American art, we studied how not all Native American tribes are the same and not all of them have the same art. Dream catchers come from the Ojibwa tribe which originates from northern Wisconsin and Canada-area. A dream catcher is originally made out of a willow hoop and decorated with beads and feathers. The strings going across the middle are like a spiders web that catches bad dreams at night and allows the good dreams to come down the feathers. 

Students made a dream catcher by making a metal hoop, wrapping pipe-cleaners around it, then making a design across the hoop with the pipe-cleaners (and adding beads if they wanted). They then used the pipe-cleaners to attach feathers at the end. After that, they could paint any parts they wanted with acrylic paint. 

Metal Tooling

Metal tooling is an old art form where soft metal is worked with a rounded tool on the back side in order to raise the metal on the front. Mexican and South American artists call this repajado. 

To make their own tooled metal artwork, students came up with an idea of their own, and many were inspired by Mexican art and imagery (sun, "Day of the Dead" skull, Spanish tile patterns). They drew their pattern on a 6 x 6 inch piece of paper. After that, they placed the paper on a 6 x 6 inch piece of thin metal. They traced all of their lines with a pencil, making an indentation in the metal and transferring the picture. After that they could add more details to the metal by making marks on it with a pencil or by raising it on the back with a popsicle stick. Some students also outlined details with a Sharpie marker. We also made a border to add to the metal by making a stamp out of cardboard and foam, painting that with black paint, then stamping that onto paper. Once all of these were glued together, the students had their finished work of art.