Grace Irey's Art Portfolio

Description: For this activity, we used crayon and water colors to create a galaxy. First, we began by learning different techniques for how to use watercolor. Next, we talked about how crayon is resistant to watercolor and can be used to create drawings that will show up even when watercolor is put over it. Then, we drew at least one constellation on our paper and some stars or a moon if we wanted. Then we drew a landscape, for mine I included some trees and hills. After that, we painted watercolor that was meant to look like a galaxy.  Extension Activity: As an extension for this activity, it could be connect to a science lesson about astronomy. By discussing galaxies, stars, and constellations, students can learn some basic astronomical concepts. Students can also label or write about the galaxy they created.  

  Description: For this activity we created our own version of Whoville using paper strips and glue. First, we decorated the paper strips with different patterns using sharpie. Next, we learned about four different types of folds we could use to fold the paper strips to create cool sculptures and folded tabs into them to prepare them to be glued to the paper. Then we used a glue stick to glue the small tabs we made to the paper in whatever places we wanted. This resulted in a 3-D Whoville of our own.  Extension Activity: As a possible extension for this activity, it could be connected to a reading and writing unit. Children can either read themselves or listen to the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas being read aloud which features Whoville as its setting. In addition to this, students could also write a brief paragraph about what makes their Whoville unique. 

  Description: In this activity, we learned about how to draw with perspective. We started by drawing a dot in the center of the paper and then drew several different rectangles around the dot. Next, we connected all of the rectangles to the dot using a ruler to draw straight lines. Then we drew different patterns onto each rectangle, and finally we colored the lines connecting the rectangles to the dot with oil pastels to help show perspective. It ultimately created the illusion of a birds-eye view perspective. We also outlined everything in sharpie, to help make the project neat and help it to stand out.  Extension Activity: A possible extension activity is to connect this project to writing. The result of the project looks very similar to a city, so students could write a brief short story about who lives there, what the city is like, etc. based upon how old the students are.   

 Description: For this activity, we discussed Van Gogh and who he was as a person. We also looked at his painting Starry Night and the discussed the various different principles of design that we noticed in it. Afterwards, we began our project which was intended to have a similar landscape to Starry Night. We were allowed to choose our own version of it though, so for my project I chose to make it beach themed. First, we began by gluing down tissue paper pieces that we tore up onto a large piece of construction paper. We covered as much of the background as we could. Next, we cut out the landscape that we wanted from construction paper and glued that down over the background. After that, we drew on any designs to our landscape that we wanted, so I chose to draw a beach towel and umbrella. Finally, once the background had fully dried we drew on white swirls to mimic the ones from Starry Night using a white oil pastel.  Extension Activity: For an extension, this project could be...

   Description: For this activity, we created a hidden safari. First, we created "sunglasses" using construction paper and red film. We traced out the frame of the sunglasses on red construction paper using a provided stencil and then cut the paper accordingly. Next, we placed a strip of red film on the underside on the glasses and glued it to the frames, creating red "sunglasses" that we would use later on. After we finished our sunglasses, we used a light blue colored pencil and drew an animal of our choosing that you would typically see on a safari on a blank piece of paper. For my project, I chose to draw a lion. After we finished drawing our animal, we drew several different patterns over the top of it with warm colors such as pink, yellow, orange, and red. Finally, after we finished hiding our animal we drew under warm colors, we used the sunglasses we made to view the animal underneath the patterns, as the red film from the sunglasses canceled out the warm co...

  Description: For this project, we used coffee filters, oil pastels, white crayon, markers, and water color paint. Using the oil pastels and white crayon, we drew a design and wrote words that we wanted to show through the paint. Next, we used either marker or water color paint and blended them all over the coffee filter using water.  Extension Activity: As an extension for this activity, teachers can read students the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. The book is a great way to explain to students that everyone is an artist in their own way, and it can inspire both creativity and confidence in the students. Combined with the dot project, students can explore their creativity and practice blending using watercolors and markers.