Self Portrait Pinch Pots

This is one of those grade one projects that nearly made me die of cuteness! As a twist on the usual introduction to ceramics, I was inspired by this adorable project from 'Handmade Charlotte'. After students learned to create a pinch pot, I had them make a lid for their pot by rolling out a small slab of clay and tracing the top of their pot to cut a circle to fit as a lid. They rolled and stuck on a small ball of clay to act as a handle for the lid/nose for their face. 

 

After discussing portraiture and self portraits, students were asked to use ceramic glazes to paint their skin colour, hair colour and facial features in very basic detail using a very small brush. 

Monkey Portraits

My grade 2 students recently celebrated Chinese New Year with these monkey portraits for Year of the Monkey. These were inspired by the Pop Art Chimp paintings over at MaryMaking. 

After discussing portraiture and viewing some examples of famous portraits, students were given photos of many types of monkeys, chimps and apes and we discussed how to build up our drawings using basic shapes (e.g oval head, semi-circle ears, triangle nose etc).

Once the drawings were complete, students outlined them in permanent marker before adding wildly colourful painting using tempera paints. Some also worked back into their paintings with oil pastel once dry. 

I never stop being amazed at my very young students abilities to create faces full of such personality and use colour so fearlessly and expertly.

More Swimming Self Portraits!

 I first created this lesson around five years ago and it ended up becoming my most popular blog post!

 It's been a great project for exploring and experimenting with a variety of materials and techniques as well as getting students to create artworks based on familiar personal experiences, sensory expression and concepts of self.

I rarely repeat the same art projects over the years as I am always keen to try something new but after 5 years I had to revive this one for a batch of grade ones who were excited about swimming lessons. 

I also had to repost the project as I think that this time the kid's drawings are even cuter - I nearly died of cuteness.

You can see the original project HERE which also has details of the process.