Welcome! In this section, kindly enjoy a collection of our classroom ART themes before the year 2020!

Medieval- Middle Ages

“There’s never a new fashion, but it’s old.” Geoffrey Chaucer.

Students explored the daily life of people in the Middle Ages. They portrayed small towns built around castles and manors ruled by lords and barons. Some chose to include dragons, fictional beasts from the medieval period. They learned about Map Mundi, the largest remaining map from the Middle Ages, and created a map of their school.

We learned about the fascinating concept of the “Coat of Armors” during the middle ages. Today, many schools and clubs still use the same tradition to create a recognizable symbol for their institution.

Gothic Architecture

Students became familiar with Gothic art and magnificent works of architecture, such as Notre Dame Cathedral. Their work in watercolor represented a simplified version of a rose window. Students learned about mathematical concepts of geometry, division of space, symmetry, etc.

Students explored Byzantine art and created their own Byzantine Coinage.

We covered Illuminated Manuscripts, handmade books made originally by monks with access to Christian doctrines during the Middle Ages. Many families commissioned the monks and later bookmakers to create customized Illuminated Manuscripts for the family. Their production gradually died after the invention of the printing press. Students worked on their own "Illuminated Manuscripts."

Finally, a " medieval dragon!"

Contour Line Drawing - Self Portraits

Using continuous Contour Lines, students created their self-portraits. They experimented with color combinations, such as warm/cool, etc.

Microorganisms

Microorganisms matter because they affect every aspect of our lives – in and around us. Microbiology studies all living organisms that are too small to be visible with a naked eye. My students learned about microorganisms, their systems, the benefits/harm they may cause, how they reproduce, and their relationship with humans.

Fungi are among the most widely distributed organisms on Earth and are of significant environmental and medical importance. Many fungi are free-living in soil or water; others form parasitic or symbiotic relationships with plants or animals.

Bacteria, a singular bacterium, is any of a group of microscopic single-celled organisms that live in enormous numbers in every environment on Earth. Bacteria rank among the Prokaryotes, the dominant living creatures on Earth, having been present for perhaps three-quarters of Earth's history and having adapted to almost all available ecological habitats.

Viruses are infectious agents of small size and composition that can multiply only in living cells of animals, plants, or bacteria. They cannot reproduce and carry on metabolic processes without a host cell.

Native American Tradition

Each November, educators teach their students about the First Thanksgiving, a quintessentially American holiday. Unfortunately, many teaching materials give an incomplete and inaccurate portrayal of the First Thanksgiving, particularly of the event’s Native American participants.

we take a look at just a few Native communities through the prism of three main themes (Environment, Community, Encounters) that are central to understanding both American Indians and the deeper meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday.

https://americanindian.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/thanksgiving_poster.pdf

Story-Teller

Storytelling is the oldest form of teaching. The “Storyteller,” inspired by the oral tradition of Navajo, represents an elder of a tribe (mother, teacher, spiritual leader) surrounded by children. Stories define us, shape us, control us, and make us. Not every human culture in the world is literate, but every culture tells stories.

“A Navajo is considered very rich if he knows his legends, folktales, and ceremonies.”

Black History and Quilting

The Underground Railroad is an essential part of American history—yet it is difficult for children to understand its nature as it functioned. It is narrated as a folktale that everyday quilts were used to communicate a message, helping runaway slaves escape to the north. Students explored the traditional designs and created their abstract quilt designs using paint.

Quilts of Gee's Bend

We studied Gee's bend Quilts and created abstract paintings of quilt designs. The women of Gee's bend—a small, remote, black community in Alabama—have created hundreds of quilt masterpieces dating from the early twentieth century to the present. Enlivened by a visual imagination that extends the expressive boundaries of the quilt genre, these astounding creations constitute a crucial chapter in the history of African American art.

https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers

Harlem Renaissance

Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, performance, and art. We studied the following artists from the Harlem Renaissance era.

Christmas in Space

Space stations, especially the most recent ISS, were designed to keep the astronauts as comfortable as possible. Despite the amenities provided, life in space requires considerable acclimation. Once on board a space station, novice astronauts' first order of business is to become accustomed to the weightless environment, adjust to living in close quarters, and master new technologies necessary for carrying out routine daily activities. These three conditions, unique to all space stations, mean that the most basic and commonplace daily activities require rigorous attention, patience, and coordination.

Students design and portray themselves living and celebrating Christmas in space. While reviewing the basic knowledge of Space, students are exposed to the problems of living in space. While designing their work of art, students will think of ways to access needed Energy sources, water, food, protection from radiation, and other harmful situations in space.

Vintage Charcoal Drawing

The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum provides a fascinating ambiance of vintage apothecary tools, objects, and lifestyles in a beautiful historic building located in the historic French Quarter. Our field trip to the museum offered our students a vibrant cross-curriculum opportunity, allowing them to experience the life and practice of medicine in the 1800s. Aside from art and architecture, the historic setting conveys rich narratives, local history, scientific exploration, mathematical engagement, and much more.

Following this visit, students grades made charcoal drawings of objects that captured their interest. In ELA, they wrote an essay comparing old and modern medicine and pharmaceutical practices.

Keith Haring Public Art

Students learned about Keith’s life story through the book “Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing” by Kay Haring.

“The drawings I do have very little to do with classical, post-renaissance drawings, where you try to imitate life or make it appear to be life-like. My drawings don’t try to imitate life; they try to create life, to invent life. That’s a much more so-called primitive idea, which is the reason that my drawings look like they could be Aztec or Egyptian, or Aboriginal... http://www.haring.com

"Rube Goldberg" Machine

A Rube Goldberg machine is intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and overcomplicated fashion. Often, these machines consist of a series of simple devices linked together to produce a domino effect, in which each device triggers the next one. The original goal is achieved only after many steps.

POP Art

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s in America and Britain, drawing inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture. Different cultures and countries contributed to the movement during the 1960s and 70s. Students used bright colors and stylish fonts to create advertising/comic-style art to educate others about drugs and other harmful substances.

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