Author Archives: Welcome to the Art Side - Art with Mrs. Dowd

2020 has been one crazy year. I have been teaching online since March 2019 to my beautiful kiddos and have been busy adapting and reformatting everything to use in Canvas. Although we can’t be together in person, my students have been doing a fantastic job. I have had to change the structure of my CTEContinue reading “Illustrated Words”

To say things have been crazy would be an understatement. I miss being in class with my students and honestly did not think we would begin the school year virtually. I have been busy updating my curriculum and reformatting my lessons so that my students will have the best distance learning possible. I have beenContinue reading “New Digital Classroom, Covid 19 Edition”

These couldn’t have come out any cuter! We have been working on a soft sculpture. This is an exciting unit as students have debated whether or not this medium qualifies worthy as art. At the end of the project, when we reflected on our work, students, for the most part, agreed that soft sculptures, likeContinue reading “Ugly Dolls- Soft Sculpture”

In my exploratory class I try to find clever and unique ways to teach Value. The regular value scale can get a little bit boring so I jazzed it up by turning it into a sweet treat. My step by step directions, samples and worksheets can be found at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Value-Scale-Ice-Cream-5220008

In this activity students analyzed logos using Costa’s levels of thinking. Students worked in groups of 4 to analyze the logos, evaluate if the logos were appropriate for their intended audience, and if not how could they be improved. Student’s then presented their posters in small groups, came back and reworked their posters.

This year as we are working on our school-wide AVID certification, we have been focusing onThe Five Phases of the Focused Note-Taking Process.We take our notes in our Journals and refer back to them often. We often add to our messages, annotate, make connections beyond our notes, and reflect on them. All students benefit asContinue reading “FOCUSED NOTE TAKING – AVID STRATEGY”

Wow! That’s a mouthful! Just like the heading states, students worked in pairs to research the brand identities of some of the most successful companies out there. They had a worksheet to help guide them through their research after studying and documenting their findings. Students downloaded a template for Google slides, made a copy, andContinue reading “CTE Brand Identity Collaborative Research project and Presentation,”

In this activity, we focused on the principle of Variety.First we looked at art that demonstrates good usage of variety. Then the students delved in deeper with a collaborative activity where they worked in small groups to analyze, interpret, judge, and evaluate a piece by a master artist (AVID strategy Costa’s Levels.) Next students practicedContinue reading “Scratch Board Tiki”

After studying and looking at various artworks that demonstrate balance, students created their own pieces. They created these designs by creating a template then rotating their designs in an ABAB pattern. Afterwards we had a gallery walk to look at each other’s work and discuss it. Students then independently wrote a reflection/artist statement. 

Observational Drawing, Proportion, Perspective and Value