Tag: curriculum

1st Grade – Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square

1st Grade – Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square

Description of the Unit – Students will explore Josef Albers’ series Homage to the Square, using his artwork and our discussion as a guide to creating their own series of squares, concentrating on contrast and depth.

>Josef Albers with one of his paintings from the series Homage to the Square
Josef Albers with one of his paintings from the series Homage to the Square
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8th Grade – Photography Unit, Lesson 3: Shutter Speed & Motion

8th Grade – Photography Unit, Lesson 3: Shutter Speed & Motion

Description of the Unit – Students learn about shutter speed manipulation, and how it affects motion and light. Students will experiment with using a variety of shutter speeds to capture still motion and motion blur. Our featured photographer this week is Sebastião Salgado.

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8th Grade – Photography Unit, Lesson 1: Composition and Intro to Your Camera Settings

8th Grade – Photography Unit, Lesson 1: Composition and Intro to Your Camera Settings

Description of the Unit – Students will embark on a seven-lesson photography unit, getting to know the way a camera works and how to use their settings, as well as understanding the elements and principles of design to achieve specific shots. Additionally, students will be introduced to formative photographers, both past and present, as inspiration for the subject of each lesson.

My 8th grade photography students & I (teacher Anita Sagastegui), as they learn to navigate their camera settings
My 8th grade photography students & I, as they learn to navigate their camera settings
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7th Grade – Fashion Design

7th Grade – Fashion Design

Description of the Unit – Students will create their own fashion line, featuring at least three different looks that share a unifying theme, be it color, pattern, line or particular article of clothing or accessory.

Photo of a catwalk for men's fashion
Students will attempt to create a fashion line of at least three pieces unified by a theme of some kind
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6th Grade – Chiaroscuro Still Life Drawing and CJ Hendry

6th Grade – Chiaroscuro Still Life Drawing and CJ Hendry

Description of the Unit –

We begin by diving into the fascinating art of CJ Hendry. Hendry expresses having no formal art training and considers herself “not very creative.” Yet she’s a dedicated, innovative artist whose works are primarily hyper-realistic, large scale pencil drawings of (mostly) luxury objects that sometimes take 200 hours to complete. Working with pencil on paper her pieces are achieved through layers of what she refers to as scribbles. Watching her work (you can see some fun videos of her at work here: https://youtu.be/KB8vc9M4QWs and https://youtu.be/KixMpzhMS-o) students become awe-struck by the way her tireless pencil strokes become such lifelike, more-than-photographic representations of real-life objects. They wonder aloud how she does it, exclaiming that they would love to draw like Hendry. I tell them that this unit will give them a foundation for getting there.

two images of artist CJ Hendryy working on her drawings, one of a pair of men's Gucci shoes, another of a boxing glove
CJ Hendry working on her compelling, hyper-realistic drawings
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8th Grade  – Playing with Pedro Linares’ Alebrije

8th Grade – Playing with Pedro Linares’ Alebrije

Description of the Unit –

Students learned about Mexican artist Pedro Linares López and his fantastical, wild Alebrijes, imaginative and colorful papier-mâché creatures that Linares originated. Students created their own Alebrijes out of clay, paint and various objects.

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7th Grade – The Art of Assemblage with Louise Nevelson

7th Grade – The Art of Assemblage with Louise Nevelson

Description of the Unit –  

Students will explore the monochromatic, rhythmic and balanced found-art assemblages of Louise Nevelson, and create their own assemblages both individually and in small groups.

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