Spring Hill Middle School Art

Art and the New School Year

6^th Grade: 

Art class is a new experience for our 6^th graders!  This fast paced class opens up new adventures for our budding artists.  A variety of projects allow us to focus on the Elements of Design (line, shape, value, texture, color, form).  Artists create museums by organizing work from the masters like Van Gogh, DaVinci, and O’Keeffe.  No art appreciation would be complete without actually recreating one of those “master’s drawings” to study the techniques used in create the breath taking works of art.  We study value using tool like pencils, colored pencils and charcoal.  Painting is a favorite of many of these artists so we don’t disappoint!  A study of landscapes, still life, and portraits gives us lots of material to paint from!  My hope is that each student will gain a greater appreciation for the visual arts as well as find their inner artist!

 7^th Grade Art:

          7^th grade art classes take a bit of a formal approach to various drawing methods.  1- and 2-point perspective may be challenging at first!  The artists fear it is too difficult.  After working through the lessons, they discover how easy – and useful – these methods are when trying to create the illusion of depth!  Another challenging unit is proportioning the human face.  Bringing it to an easy-to-understand level allows for great success!  Art history is a vital part of any art experience!  Artists are introduced to a few well-known artists along the way!  Finally, the psychology of color is explored as we delve into our color unit.  Again, painting is very popular among our middle school students so there’s a lot of energy that goes into this project!

 8^th Grade Art:

          Now seasoned artists, our 8^th grade art students focus on drawing!  Drawing is a skill that must be nurtured!  We start with warm ups and move to a variety of different line-types to draw simple objects.  Believe me, the first time we do a “blind continuous line” drawing, there’s plenty of laughter!  The skills learned in the drawing unit are combined with the lessons from 6^th and 7^th grade to create a final drawing complete with perspective, shading and personal flare!  As an 8^th grade artist we combine line and color to design a kaleidoscope painting as original as each of the students.  We wrap up the experience with a pen and ink study!  Artists tackle a variety of ink applications and even get a chance to work on scratchboard (the opposite of ink drawing because instead of applying the ink, students remove it!) 

 Elective Art:

           Elective Art meets everyday for a full semester.  Students work with a wide variety of art tools to create both 2- and 3-dimensional works of art.  7^th and 8^th grade artists construct a drawing book that is handed in twice a month.  Developing a broader understanding of the elements and principles of design starts early and continues through out the semester.  Master’s of art both past and present are introduced through projects such as batiking, mask making, pottery, collage, weaving, and painting.  Pottery lasts for 7 weeks, allowing artists to work on hand building and the potter’s wheel.  Each unit allows our students to work on different problem-solving techniques and is designed to give our SHMS artists a positive art experience!