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Giraffe - by Isabel, Age 7
The Giraffe Project "Stick Your Neck Out" Brier Elementary School 2009
Funding provided by Edmonds School District Artist in Education grant and Edmonds Community College with additional funds from the Brier Elementary PTA. This visual arts project involved all the students of Brier Elementary; Kindergarten through 6th grade, and Intensive Support classes. It was designed to support the Giraffe Project curriculum adopted by Brier Elementary School. The Giraffe Project stresses community service and as part of this program the school held a food drive. Kindergarten through 2nd grade students and Intensive Support students made a giraffe figure representing “sticking our necks out” to make the world a better place. Third and 4th graders made a bowl to represent awareness of hunger around the world. Fifth and 6th graders made a giraffe/self portrait mask to represent the student and their vision of their place in the world. The artist visited primary students three times. The initial classroom session provided an introduction to the project including a discussion on the appearance of a giraffe and a step-by-step drawing exercise. Basic art skills included discussion on the personal nature of creativity, close observation of an object to be drawn, and breaking a complex shape into a series of simple shapes. The students created the clay giraffe during the second artist visit. Basic clay skills mastered included pinch pots and the need for clay to be thin enough to dry and fire successfully; slipping and scoring to attach two pieces of clay, slipping and scoring two pinch pots together to make a hollow spherical shape, rolling clay into a coil of a given thickness, and adding detail to an artwork by both adding clay and making marks or impressions in clay. In the last visit the students glazed their artwork starting with painting the background color with a large brush then working to fine detail. The 3rd and 4th grade students also received three artist visits. In the first visit the project was introduced and the bowl was tied into the food drive and community service aspect of the Giraffe Project with a brief discussion on world hunger. The students were introduced to the concept of representational and non-representational art. In the second visit the students learned to make a pinch pot, roll a coil of clay, and to adhere the coil to the pinch pot rim and foot by slipping and scoring. Students created a pattern or representational art by additive or subtractive methods. They glazed their artwork with a limited palette of earth tones, yellow, orange and black. Fifth and 6th grade students were introduced to self portraits and drawing a face. They then had a choice of drawing a self portrait, using that as the basis for the clay project or using a full page image of a giraffe face. Students were encouraged to modify the image to represent their individual vision of themselves and their place in the world. During the second artist session, the students rolled a large slab of clay, cut out the prepared shape and modified the mask by adding clay elements by slipping and scoring and subtractive methods including cutting shapes from the clay. Students glazed their artwork with a limited palette of earth tones, yellow, orange, red and pink. All students learned about glazes, kilns and the firing process. The finished pieces were displayed and then taken home by the students to serve as a visual reminder of the values of the Giraffe Project. This project was completed with the generous help of numerous PTA, art docent, and classroom volunteers. A special thanks to Debbie Dunne and Jill Brocksmith.
Contact Information Jane Steele-Meagher 17308 59th Place West - Lynnwood, WA 98037 Phone: (206) 409-6976 Email: jane@steele-meagherartist.com Visit My Web Log: ProjectArt All images © Jane Steele- Meagher 2003. Reproduction of images explicitly denied without permission of Jane Steele-Meagher.
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