Dali's Mustache Bulletin Board

 I kept overthinking an idea for a Youth Art Month bulletin board at my intermediate school. I had decided to have students write questions where the answers were things they learned about art, but I didn't have any class time to devote to it and the only volunteer question I got was "what are the colors on the color wheel?" I decided to keep it really simple and play off of the current mustache fad. My 6th grade students, in particular, are really into mustaches, wearing shirts and jewelry with giant mustaches on them. So, how do you tie mustaches into art class? With an artist who was almost as famous for his mustache as he was for his paintings- Salvador Dali!

To the side of the giant mustache and "I mustache you a question", I put a little collection of Dali's mustaches collected online and a sign asking if anyone can identify him. I added a picture of "The Persistence of Memory" as an additional clue. I only wish I had realized I used the word "famous" twice and changed one of them. Nobody has told me they figured out the artist yet but it's only been a couple days so I'm hoping someone will remember!

P.S. I can't publish this post without a shout out to a fun Art Ed blog, Dali's Moustache!

Sand Surrealism and Artist Statements

I wrote about my Surrealistic Sand lesson that I teach to 3rd grade last summer but I just had to share some results from this year. This project can be a challenge for students but it is such a different way of working than they are used to that I love teaching it. The students learn about Surrealism and Masson's Battle of Fishes then use the automatic process of drizzling glue and sprinkling sand on it as the stimulus for their idea.

This student remembered Dali's Swans Reflecting Elephants from my Surrealism PowerPoint and was so excited to show me that his project is a stingray from one direction and an elephant from the other.

Swans Reflecting Elephants via WikiPaintings

Here are a few others:

This year my SMART goal was focused on improving 3rd graders' ability to express ideas in Artist Statements. When my students write Artist Statements, I ask them to answer "What, How, Why, How"- What did you make? How did you make it? Why did you make it (what were we learning about)? and, How do you think it turned out? While I didn't meet my goal, I did see big improvements from the "pre-test" Artist Statements at the beginning of the year that were mostly something like "This is a fish. It's pretty."

I thought it was funny that this student made her project because "number one I did not want to get in trouble"

2nd Grade Surreal Paintings

Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory from 1921 stands out to me as a dominant painting from the Surrealist movement.  I have always found the clocks really interesting and thought it would be a perfect way to introduce my 2nd grade students to Surrealism.  I started with a PowerPoint with images of Dali's painting and information about the movement before introducing the assignment.  We discussed the paintings, especially the Persistence of Memory.  I pointed out that parts of the painting are realistic and parts don't make sense (the best way I could put Surrealism in 2nd grade terms!)  

For the assignment, I asked students to think of something they could draw that had a circular shape in it.  The whole object could be shaped like a circle or just part of it, like the iris/pupil in your eye or the center of a flower.  I explained that they would draw everything realistically, except replace the circular shape with a drawing of a clock to make the artwork surreal and pay homage to Dali.  This was a two class project.  The first day was about art history, discussion, and drawing.  I had a variety of cardboard tubes and rings for students to trace if they wanted help making a circle.  The second class was spent painting the artwork with tempera.

The most confusing part about the assignment for the students was giving enough visual information to tell what the clock was really supposed to be.  For example, if they said a tennis ball is shaped like a circle, they needed to give clues so we KNEW it was supposed to be a tennis ball and not just a clock.  I tried to get the students to visualize the circular shape they were going to draw before I mentioned the clock- obviously since the shape was being replaced with a clock, a clock would not be a good choice!

Clock= Tennis Ball

Clock= Face

Clock= Candy?

Clock= Nostril, haha!

Clock= Apple

Clock= Mouse face

Clock= Hole in a key