Visual Journals - Every Wednesday
Self Expression through Visual Journals
A Semester/Year Long Activity
ALL Art Student MUST have a (preferred: hard cover): Book to create into their Visual Journal.
Make sure that the book brought in is one that EVERYONE (student and parents/guardian) are ok with it being "ARTED" all over.
If you do not have an old book at home, that your child can bring in, a book from Goodwill will be just fine.
If you wait till they have their 50% off Saturday Sale, you can get a book for as little as $0.50.
Any size will do.
Make sure that the book brought in is one that EVERYONE (student and parents/guardian) are ok with it being "ARTED" all over.
If you do not have an old book at home, that your child can bring in, a book from Goodwill will be just fine.
If you wait till they have their 50% off Saturday Sale, you can get a book for as little as $0.50.
Any size will do.
BIG IDEA:
Middle School:
ART:
SUPPLIES: This project is created as a weekly assignment for an entire semester or yearlong course. Supplies will vary depending on the assignment. Below are supplies that can be used during this project)
PRODUCT:
VOCABULARY:
- Self Expression
- How can you express yourself through your visual journal?
- How can you experiment with a range of materials in your visual journal?
- How can you balance text and imagery in your visual journal designs?
- Consider how to express themselves through their visual journal.
- Create pages that reflect their goals, daily life, and interests.
- Use a variety of art making techniques in their visual journal.
Middle School:
ART:
- Visual Art/ Creating, Grade 6, VA:Cr1.2.6: Formulate an artistic investigation of personally relevant content for creating art.
- Visual Art/ Creating, Grade 7, VA:Cr1.2.7: Develop criteria to guide making a work of art or design to meet an identified goal.
- Cambridge IGCSE – A01: Gathering, recording, research and investigation. Investigate and research a variety of appropriate sources. Record and analyze information from direct observation and/or other sources and personal experience.
- Cambridge IGCSE – A02: Exploration and development of ideas. Explore a range of visual and/or other ideas by manipulating images. Show a development of ideas through appropriate processes.
- Visual Art/ Creating, Grade 6, VA:Cr2.1.6: Demonstrate openness in trying new ideas, materials, methods, and approaches in making works of art and design.
- Visual Art/ Creating, Grade 7, VA:Cr2.1.7: Demonstrate persistence in developing skills with various materials, methods, and approaches in creating works of art or design.
- Cambridge IGCSE – A04: Selection and control of materials, media and processes. Show exploration and experimentation with appropriate materials. Select and control appropriate media and processes, demonstrating practical, technical and expressive skills and intentions.
- Visual Art/Creating, Grade 6, VA:Cr2.3.6: Design or redesign objects, places, or systems that meet the identified needs of diverse users.
- Visual Art/Creating, Grade 7, VA:Cr2.3.7: Apply visual organizational strategies to design and produce a work of art, design, or media that clearly communicates information or ideas.
- Cambridge IGCSE – A03: Organization and relationships of visual and/or other forms. Organize and use visual and/or other forms effectively to express ideas. Make informed aesthetic judgments by recognizing the effect of relationships between visual and/or other forms.
- Visual Art/Creating, Grade 6, VA:Cr3.1.6: Reflect on whether personal artwork conveys the intended meaning and revise accordingly.
- Visual Art/Creating, Grade 7, VA:Cr3.1.7: Reflect on and explain important information about personal artwork in an artist statement or another format.
- Cambridge IGCSE – A05: Personal vision and presentation. Show personal vision and commitment through an interpretative and creative response. Present an informed response through personal evaluation, reflection and critical thinking.
SUPPLIES: This project is created as a weekly assignment for an entire semester or yearlong course. Supplies will vary depending on the assignment. Below are supplies that can be used during this project)
- Used, hardback book
- PowerPoint presentation
- Computer (to find images for inspiration)
- Pencils
- Scissors, Xacto knives
- Sharpies (a range of sizes and colors)
- Rubber cement
- Mod podge
- Packaging tape
- Duct tape
- Masking tape
- Bleeding tissue paper
- Colored pencils
- Watercolor pencils
- Watercolor
- Acrylic paint
- Printed pictures (personal and found online)
- Magazines
- Newspaper
- String, yarn, etc.
- Letter and number stamps
- Gesso
- Stencils
- Hole punchers, shape punchers
- Scrapbook paper, white paper, art paper
- Fabric
- Laser printer (for Mod Podge and tape image transfers)
- Dawn dish soap (for bubble prints)
- Shaving cream and food coloring (for marbled paper)
- Charcoal, fixative
- India ink
- Any other two dimensional material that can be used the create images, collage, and write with
PRODUCT:
- A used, hardback book that has been transformed into a work of art
- Each Semester: 12 completed visual journal pages
- At the End of the Year: 24 completed visual journal pages
- Visual journal project rubric
- Visual journal pages media ideas
VOCABULARY:
- Visual Art: Art forms that focus on the creation works which are primarily visual in nature, such as drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, and printmaking, etc.
- Elements of Art: Those components that one combines with the principles of design to construct art:
- Line: A mark on a surface that describes a shape or outline. It can create texture and can be thick and thin. Types of line can include actual, implied, vertical, horizontal, diagonal and contour lines.
- Shape: A two-dimensional line with no form or thickness. Shapes are flat and can be grouped in two categories, geometric and organic.
- Form: A three-dimensional object having volume and thickness. It is the illusion of a 3-d effect that can be implied with the use of light and shading techniques. Form can be viewed from many angles.
- Space: The area around and in your design. You must create a sense of space in the design, in order to allow the viewer to “enter” your work of art. In space you need to achieve balance, emphasis, and unity.
- Texture: Surface quality either tactile or visual. Texture can be real or implied by different uses of media. It is the degree of roughness or smoothness in objects.
- Value: The degree of light and dark in a design. It is the contrast between black and white and all the tones in between. Value can be used with color as well as black and white. Contrast is the extreme changes between values.
- Color: Refers to specific hues and has three properties, chroma, intensity, and value. The color wheel is a way of showing the chromatic scale in a circle using all the colors made with the primary triad. Complimentary color pairs can produce dull and neutral color. Black and white can be added to produce tints (add white), shades (add black), and tones (add gray).
- Principles of Design: The means an artist uses to organize elements within a work of art:
- Balance: A feeling of visual equality in shape, form, value, color, etc. Balance can by symmetrical or evenly balanced, or asymmetrical and un- evenly balanced. Objects, values, colors, textures, shapes, forms, etc. can be used in creating balance in a composition.
- Emphasis: An area that first attracts attention in a composition. This area is more important when compared to the other objects or elements in a composition. This can be by contrast of values, more colors, and placement in the format.
- Movement: A visual flow through the composition. It can be the suggestion of motion in a design as you move from object to object by way of placement and position. Directional movement can be created with a value or pattern. It is with the placement of dark and light areas that you can move your attention through the format.
- Proportion: refer to the relative size of parts within a whole
- Rhythm: Movement in which some elements recurs regularly. Like a dance it will have a flow of objects that will seem to be like the beat of music.
- Unity: Brings together a composition with similar units. If your composition was using wavy lines and organize shapes you would stay with those types of lines and not put in just one geometric shape. Unity helps the design to be seen as one design instead of randomness in all around your design.
- Variety: Creating interest in your work of art by introducing a range of color, texture, line, shape, etc. This will help create interest; however the design still needs to be balanced and achieve unity.
- Medium/Media: The materials and techniques used by an artist to produce a work.
- Mixed Media Art: Artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.
- Altered Books: A form of mixed media artwork that changes a book from its original form into a different form, altering its meaning.
- Collage: An artistic composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and color.
Directions:
DAY 1: First day of class
FINAL DAY: Presentation
- Go over syllabus - the visual journal project
- Students need to bring in a used hardback book from home (remember it will be destroyed, do not bring in a book you want to read again)
- On the second Wednesday of class, check the visual journals for a homework grade. Introduce the project.
- Students will get out their visual journals and complete a homework check
- The “Introduction to Visual Journals” PowerPoint
- Expectations for and how a typical visual journal Wednesday will run
- In my classroom Wednesdays are considered “Visual Journal Day.” I will show a new material students can use in their visual journal, but they do not have to use it if they don’t want to. If any student needs to catch up on an art assignment, they can use Wednesday class time, however, they still have to make sure they complete 12 pages in their book by the end of the semester.
- Introduction to the first material – bleeding tissue paper, or the materials of your choice.
- Students can look through magazines, pull out images they like, and collage them or use a quote or song lyric as inspiration for a page.
- Each Wednesday, a new material/technique will be introduced for the visual journal. Students can work in their visual journals or catch up on an art assignment. Typical material/techniques presentations cover…
- Bleeding tissue paper
- Collaging tips and techniques
- Rubber cement resist with bleeding tissue paper or watercolor
- Splattering paint
- Mod Podge image transfer
- Packaging tape image transfer
- Bubble prints
- Shaving cream marbled paper
- Pressing textures into wet paint on paper
- Watercolor techniques
- Using stamps to enhance a page
- Charcoal and fixative
- Tips for incorporating text into your page (stamps, cursive, printed words, cut from magazines)
- India ink
- Watercolor pencils
- Incorporating book pages into a collage
- Layering gesso
- Zentangle designs
- Sharpie tips and techniques
- Connecting multiple pages through cut outs
- Using pressed flowers
- Using found materials (new band aids, fabric, interesting 2D material)
- Creating abstract imagery
- Colored pencil resist with watercolor, India ink, or bleeding tissue paper
FINAL DAY: Presentation
- At the end of the year, once the visual journal project is over, each student will present his or her favorite/most successful page with the class. The students will explain their art making process.
- Visual Journals will be collected Collect for a final project grade.
Visual Journal Wednesdays:
Each Wednesday, a new material/technique will be introduced for the visual journal.
Students can work in their visual journals or catch up on an art assignment.
Typical material/techniques presentations cover…o Bleeding tissue paper o Collaging tips and techniques
o Rubber cement resist with bleeding tissue paper or watercolor o Splattering paint
o Mod Podge image transfer o Packaging tape image transfer
o Bubble prints o Shaving cream marbled paper
o Pressing textures into wet paint on paper o Watercolor techniques
o Using stamps to enhance a page o Charcoal and fixative
o Tips for incorporating text into your page (stamps, cursive, printed words, cut from magazines)
o India ink o Watercolor pencils
o Incorporating book pages into a collage o Layering gesso
o Zentangle designs o Sharpie tips and techniques
o Connecting multiple pages through cut out o Using pressed flowers
o Using found materials (new band aids, fabric, interesting 2D material)
o Creating abstract imagery
o Colored pencil resist with watercolor, India ink, or bleeding tissue paper
Students can work in their visual journals or catch up on an art assignment.
Typical material/techniques presentations cover…o Bleeding tissue paper o Collaging tips and techniques
o Rubber cement resist with bleeding tissue paper or watercolor o Splattering paint
o Mod Podge image transfer o Packaging tape image transfer
o Bubble prints o Shaving cream marbled paper
o Pressing textures into wet paint on paper o Watercolor techniques
o Using stamps to enhance a page o Charcoal and fixative
o Tips for incorporating text into your page (stamps, cursive, printed words, cut from magazines)
o India ink o Watercolor pencils
o Incorporating book pages into a collage o Layering gesso
o Zentangle designs o Sharpie tips and techniques
o Connecting multiple pages through cut out o Using pressed flowers
o Using found materials (new band aids, fabric, interesting 2D material)
o Creating abstract imagery
o Colored pencil resist with watercolor, India ink, or bleeding tissue paper
Additional Visual Journal InformationResources:
- Cloth Paper Scissors: http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/
- Look Between the Lines: http://www.lookbetweenthelines.com
- Balzer Designs: http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/
- Dreams and Nightmares: Create a page about a dream or nightmare, your worst fear, or your dream for the future.
- A Tribute: Create a tribute to an important person in your life. The person can be alive or dead, a family member, historical figure or celebrity, it doesn’t have to be someone you know personally.
- Materials: Create a page using newspaper, duct tape, a sharpie, and a sheet of construction paper (your choice of color).
- Habits and Traditions: Create a page about one of your habits (example: biting your nails, brushing your hair 20 times every day, reading before bed, counting your steps) or a tradition in your family or with your friends (example: looking at Christmas lights, eating the same meal every year at Thanksgiving, eating pancakes every Sunday, eating at the same restaurant).
- Senses: Create a page about one of your sentimental senses (example: the smell of your Grandma’s cookies, the sound of trains, the sight of a particular house or place, the feeling of your baby blanket, the taste of your favorite food).
- Materials: Create a page using one book page ripped from your book, a white sheet of computer paper, a piece of green, blue, and black bleeding tissue paper, and black paint.
- Swap: Give up control over your journal, swap books with someone at your table, allow them to create a page about whatever they want. Have them sign their work of art when they finish.
- Pet peeve: Create a page about your biggest pet peeve. (example: people who bite their nails, bad drivers, talking during a movie, etc.)
- Gifts: Create a page about your favorite gift of all time. It could be birthday, Christmas, or just because. It could be big (car) or small (an important letter)
- A Series of Unfortunate Events: Create a page about something unfortunate that has happened recently (stung by a bee, lost a game, slipped and fell, lost a piece of jewelry)
- An Event: Create a page about an upcoming even you are excited about (a big game, prom, your birthday, summer).
In my class:
- We work on the journals EVERY Wednesday. This allows students a break from their projects to experiment with materials we may not use otherwise, and for students to catch up on projects if needed.
- At the end of the semester I check their journals, it counts as one project grade.
- Students are required to have a minimum of 12 pages by the end of each semester, although many exceed this number. Pages don’t have to be a two page spread, they can just be one sided.
- We will also do a book cover assignment (which covers a design based lesson).
- If my 6th grade students continue to take art next school year, they will be allowed to continue using the same book.