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| Self-Portrait before being attached to trapeze... |
First grade students began their year by studying self-portraits. After looking at the work of Frieda Khalo, they set out to create their own. students were given a precut shape of a person that included everything but the head. Each student drew in their own head, trying to represent themselves in their drawing. once the drawing was complete we returned to the smart board where we studied a very different portrait by Picasso titled The Acrobat. We learned how Picasso was very inspired by the circus and painted many pictures of harlequins. After looking at Picassos work we also viewed work by other artists of circus performers and acrobats. students then returned to their portraits adding patterns of lines or shapes in order to create a costume like a harlequin or circus performer. students colored their work with colored pencils. lastly, students watched videos of real circus performers on the trapeze to give them ideas of how they might want to attach their own self portraits to their trapeze
Second Grade students studied the work of Alexander Calder. We learned how Calder was very inspired by animals and their movements. In fact, he often visited the zoo to sketch the live animals. Calder also enjoyed the animals and movements he saw when visiting the circus and it gave him an idea for his art...Calder's circus! (video above). Students also decided to draw inspiration from the circus. Each student drew their own circus animal based on a photograph they were given. We learned how to draw an animal by looking at it shape by shape. Once the drawing was complete their images were cut up and we attached them together to make it look like a circus train. On the top of the train studets designed a shape that has symmetry.
