Recently, I was thinking about some of my favorite art lessons that I have used in the classroom and found these pictures from a basic sculpture class that I taught. The class consisted of students in grades 9-12. The assignment was based on an art history lesson that focused on the art of Claes Oldenburg/Coosje Van Bruggen. After viewing examples of, discussing and writing about their work, the students began to create their own versions of  "Pop Art" shoes using railroad board, markers, paint, pencils,  glue and any other decorative  details, they wanted to include. The students were excited about the finished products.

Whenever I have the opportunity to teach a basic high school drawing class, I like to find new methods for teaching traditional drawing lessons /techniques . For this particular lesson,  I set up a still life composed of objects that are black and white and lit them with a studio lamp to provide a variety of tones and shadows. The students began this lesson begins by dividing the paper into 4-5 parts. Next, they focused on filling each part with a specific object from the still life. They were encouraged to add more objects and/or zoom in on certain parts of the still life. Finally, the objects were shaded. It took about (2) 45 minute class periods for the students to finish the project. The finished products were more unique than traditional still life drawings and the students enjoyed completing them. 

Materials Used
1. 18"x24" Gray Drawing Paper 
2. Black Charcoal Pencil (HB)
3. White Charcoal Pencil
4. Kneaded Eraser

Vocabulary
1. Shadow
2. Still Life
3. Tones
4. Values

Student Art