Asian art unit : watercolor koi

When students were done with their paper cuts they learned how to draw a koi from a step by step guided drawing lesson. After drawing one, two or three koi students went over their lines with black crayon or oil pastel. Finally students used watercolor to make vibrant works of art. Some students dug the salt out of the student supply cabinet to give a special effect to their water.

Asian art unit : Paper cuts

Paper cutting is an art from in Japan and China. We looked at a power point of traditional and modern paper cut artwork then choose a paper cut design to work on from a Dover book I have. The designs ranged from small and simple to large and very complex. Students who really struggled with this project were asked to use a stencil to write their name and then cut out their name.

Students choose their paper cut design. They put their paper design on top of black construction paper and taped it down at the edges. They put the papers on top of a magazine and then listened to me give a long boring lecture about using exacto knives safely. Then they cut and cut and cut. Many had to start over several times and switch to simpler patterns. When everything was cut out each student choose a bright color to put behind the black paper and I laminated the finished product. These took about two weeks but the end results were amazing! (P.S. I had another project, the watercolor koi, for students who did simpler paper cuts and were done early)

Asian art unit : Sumi-e Pandas

Now for some photos from the 6-8th grade Asian art unit from right before spring break. I posted photos of the clay kimonos about a month ago but they were also part of this unit.
So the kids wanted to learn how to do brush painting which meant I needed to learn how to do brush painting. In the end we did three mini paintings. 1. a straw blown cherry tree, 2. our version of Mt. Fuji (Mt. Hood here in Oregon) and 3. a panda.
These samples are from a talented 8th grade student. She is a far better artist naturally then I will ever be, but a modest and eager student. I will really miss her next year.


We looked at a power point of brush painting from China, Japan and Korea to compare and contrast common themes and styles. We then did the Mt. Fuji painting because it was a pretty simple perspective watercolor. Next we did the straw blown cherry tree. If students added a bird to the tree they got bonus points. Last came the pandas. Argg the pandas. I watched a lot of videos on You-tube to learn how to paint those pandas. I was shaking under the document camera when I first showed the kids. This was a good chance for me to point out that I am constantly learning and growing in MY art skills along with them. I showed them some of my less then perfect panda paintings that I did while learning how to show them how to paint the pandas.

Part of my job this year is to teach persistence. I think there is no better way to teach persistence than to model persistence. I try to do this by showing my students my learning process and how I have to start over and over again and my "mess up" projects. it is easier to ask them to try again when I have shown I am willing to try again and again.

Our practice pandas put into class collages: