Tiffany Lamp Designs- 6th Grade Art Nouveau Unit

This year, my sixth grade students participated in an Art Nouveau unit where they learned about Louis Comfort Tiffany. We designed lamps and painted stained glass windows.

With a recent home renovation, I had some custom glass put into my cabinets and the owner of the glass shop was excited to hear that I knew about Louis Comfort Tiffany and was planning to teach it to my students. I loved giving the students a behind the scenes look at what a glass-artist's shop looks like. This man has owned this shop since the 70's in downtown Denver and produces beautiful pieces. 

To start our unit we learned about the characteristics of Art Nouveau and the life story of the artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. The sixth graders were very engaged in the conversation and after asking them their favorite project this year, a lot of them said the lamps! Along with Art Nouveau and Louis Comfort Tiffany, we talked about products and  how they are marketed and made in a way to target certain consumers. We discussed things like functional v. non-functional art, color, design, and cost.

Here are some video links that you might find interesting to share with your students!

Artist: Louis Comfort Tiffany- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6xiSVca6I8

How It's Made: Stained Glass Windows- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WInb5RgsahI

My Favorite: Agnes Preece and Artist in Irelandshows the technique Louis Comfort Tiffany used- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WInb5RgsahI

I wanted to kick off this project with a drawing prompt which was "Design a Tiffany style lamp for Mother Nature." I wasn't sure how they were going to respond to the prompt but they loved it! They designed a lamp for mother nature in the hopes that she would buy their lamp. 

Here they are!

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After they completed their lamps, they designed a stained glass window to match. With their stained glass windows they needed to have a few things.

#1) An edge for "copper foiling"
#2) A hue with it's tint and shade (This was really more of an experimentation. Some kids did amazing with this!)
#3) An enlarged representation of their lamp

We used acrylic paint on black construction paper.



I stressed that the students needed to DRAW BIG and enlarge their design. The students that didn't listen to that piece of advice regretted it later because it took a long time to paint.

However, these turned out great as well!

Mahalo for reading!

My favorite lesson of 2015/2016...Chameleons!

As the year is winding down I am starting to realize just how much work we got done this year! My favorite project this year has to be one I did with my 3rd graders. I wouldn't have been able to come up with this idea without having received the book "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni for Christmas.

Leo Lionni on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Color-His-Own-Leo-Lionni/dp/0375810919

Color Theory is always a hot topic in the art room and this was no exception with the third grade curriculum. I wanted to find a new twist and when I read "A Color of His Own" the lesson finally popped in my head. I had a closet full of art posters that were begging for some wall space. Why not have the students OBSERVE artwork and CREATE a chameleon to match?! 

Before we even started our chameleons we completed a color mixing worksheet that included a color wheel, tints, shades, and neutral color mixing equations. We completed this worksheet with every new material we used. I have this worksheet available for FREE on my teachers-pay-teachers website! The rubric is also available for $1.

Free Color Mixing Worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Color-Wheel-Assessment-2546269
Rubric: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Color-Wheel-Assessment-Rubric-2546282

Here's a quick rundown of what we did once we started the actual project!

 
 #1). We talked about chameleons and the idea that they can change into whatever colors they want. Little did I know that a recent discovery in 2015 has shed some light on the topic. That is not really the case! We watched one of the Valspar commercials with the original idea, and then a video about the scientific reasons of why chameleons change colors.

Scientific Video from National Geographic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJtaIqahi3I
Valspar Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpFg37zKY8Q



#2). While drawing, the third graders experimented with the benefits of drawing using shapes and practiced quite a few chameleons in their sketchbooks. After their sketches were confident, we started adding texture and analyzing different colors.



#3) Once the students had drawn their final chameleons on their final papers they were able to choose what poster they wanted to use. It was fun to see what they chose and I enjoyed listening to their conversations.



#4) When coloring their chameleons the students were encouraged to include tints, shades, and neutral colors while matching their chameleons to their chosen poster.



#5) Since this was part of a Public Art unit, the students were able to choose the exact spot they wanted their artwork displayed. I had 2 students at a time take a piece of paper with their name and tape it to their spot. Then I was able to hang up their artwork safely and with little disruption to the surrounding classes. It was fun seeing where the students chose to display their artwork. Some were more hidden (like in the Lost and Found) and others were prominently displayed by the office.

#6) Since I didn't want to send the actual posters home with the students, I took pictures and printed them out for them. My office staff was more than happy to cover this cost for me. The kids were then able to take the picture home with their chameleon. I got a lot of positive feedback from parents and the staff with this project. It created a lot of conversations and their peers took time to observe the artwork further. If you try this project, I would love to see what your students came up with!















Mahalo for reading!