Claes Oldenburg is best known for his larger than life sculptures but he also makes prints of everyday items. So, second and third grade students are looking to his two-dimensional renderings and practicing observational drawing. First we sketch.

Next we make print a landscape for our object to be pasted in as a monument. We are adding detail with a variety of materials. 

Welcome back to school! Instead of "hitting the books" we begin the year making sketchbooks, using the accordion fold and simple stitch techniques. We are also growing visual literacy skills through storytelling in art. Looking at works by Faith Rinngold, students engage in Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to think deeply and discuss as a group, how an artist effectively shares a message. Then, we fill the pages of our sketchbooks, using various materials to render the elements of art and draw stories from memory and imagination. The best part is sharing our work at the end of class, everyone eagerly displays their picture and tells their story! 

Sketchbooks are a great place to practice art so I encourage students to utilize their new bookmaking techniques at home! Paper of any shape or size may be used to form a book; the sky is the limit, so be creative!

Look at Church Picnic Story Quilt by Faith Ringgold.
Read more about Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS).