The 60's, African and Agam Kinetic Art

African Art

6th Grade

Sixth graders studied different symbols and their meanings within the African culture. This was our starting point to this multi-layered art project. Students selected an animal of their choice and drew it in a stylized form on 9x12" (22.9 x 30.5 cm) white tagboard giving themselves a 1" (2.5 cm) border with symbols all around. Mrs. Kramer then took each inked drawing and ran it off on the copy machine using 8 ½x11" (21.6 x 28 cm) Card Stock (which also cut off part of the border). Students cut off the remaining border of the copied drawing. Now each student had two drawings of the same design (one only with a border).

Students colored both drawings in different colors with markers. Slits were cut in the border design and strips were cut out of the copied design and both were interwoven.

The finished paper weavings were glued onto an 11x14" (28 x 35.5 cm) piece of colored const. paper which had already been printed earlier with another border done by engraving gum erasers into stamps. Our 6th graders were quite proud of their finished products and enjoyed working in different mediums. [Before she died, we asked Bunki for the images on this section and she was unable to find them. We have included her text without the images]

Art of the 60's

7th and 8th Grade

This picture is of a library hallway display celebrating the era of the 60's style of art. Fun-loving, free-spirited, flowing shapes and bright colors, words and symbols depict the times of the 1960's. These years are also the times of Kennedy, civil rights, Woodstock, and Vietnam.

Students were asked to make cover art on their folders depicting these "wonder years" using the themes discussed in class. On their covers they were to include their name and the title "Year Art." Above you will see four of these covers as well as classroom visuals used for this display.

Agam Kinetic Art

7th/8th Grades

KENETIC ART... Art that moves OR changes when the viewer moves.

Students viewed examples of kinetic artwork done by Yaacov Agam. Intriqued by the process of viewer movement being an important component of the art itself, the students were ready to try one of their own. We used three different sheets of white Drawing Paper 9x12" (22.9 x 30.5 cm) and two long strips of white 9" (22.9 cm) drawing paper to accommodate the folding needed. We folded in a 1_1_1_1_1_1 technique.

The three 9x12" (22.9 x 30.5 cm) sheets were painted in three different color combinations; 1. All values of white and black; 2. All primaries; and 3. Tints and shades of a color. After painting all three compositions, each painting was cut into 1" (2.5 cm) strips to match the folded long strip and glued into place. Here is a view of a finished project.

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