Videos for Perspective Drawing

I recently discovered the online videos of artist and art educator Robert Waldo Brunelle Jr, who is a former middle school art teacher that demonstrate perspective techniques step-by-step. Below is a great video with simple graphics and a chipper piano soundtrack on how to draw a city block in Two-Point Perspective.
This is a great video to draw along with, as you watch it and practice the technique.

Below are links to other videos from Brunelle that show you step-by-step ways to draw room interiors from basic layouts to intermediate designs.

How To Draw A Room Using One-Point Perspective

Variations On Drawing Different Kinds of Rooms In
One-Point Perspective
 

Grade 7 Students Learn About Linear Perspective

I love teaching this technical drawing skill that dates back to The Renaissance and the artist Filippo Brunelleschi who used Linear perspective in his drawings of buildings in Rome and Florence Italy during the 1400s.

Check out this brief video that tells about Brunelleschi and his experiment for drawing perspective.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history/art-history-1400-1500-renaissance-in-italy-and-the-north/florence-1/v/linear-perspective--brunelleschi-s-experiement

Before students learned about Linear Perspective and One, Two and Three-Point Perspective drawing techniques, students participated in an assessment drawing exercise where they had to respond to perspective questions/situations and use their prior knowledge.  The results of their drawings demonstrated their skill level and understanding of perspective. It also indicates to me, what students know and don't know so I can differentiate the lesson and bring everyone up to speed, yet challenge advanced students. Below is the assessment and I timed each slide (slides 1 thru 4 were 2-4 minutes pending difficulty and slide 5 was minutes) so students had to manage their time accordingly.

 

Mission Patch Art and Design Competition Winner

Congratulations to Grade 7 artist Alessandro Cartegni, who designed and won for best Best Design in the SSEP competition in the middle school.

Two mission patches designed by NEST+M students (one Lower School and one Middle School) will accompany our winning Flight Experiment Design into outer space. The Mission Patch designs will be sent back to NEST+M after returning from outer space, embossed with a certification stating that they flew in space.

Alessandro combined fine art talents and computer graphics to create his modern Patch Design, which stood out with bold shapes and bright, high contrasting colors.

Alessandro Cartegni, Grade 7

 

2013 Nest+m Gala and Auction

The Nest+m annual Gala, which auctions off all kinds of goods and services was a huge success this year and was held on March 6th, 2013. The PTA produces this amazing event to raise much needed funds to support our school and programs, like Visual Arts. There were some wonderful auction items and this year we had over two dozen student artworks donated to the Gala.  The display of artwork was incredible and beautifully arranged and thanks to everyone that made it such a success. The venue, 404nyc.com was a great modern, open space with three floors of items up for auction.

Check out some of the photos from the event ...

Ava F., Grade 6, Tempera Painting

Monica Hopenwasser, Teacher
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Acrylic Painting

Add caption

Jane G., Grade 6
Sleeping Koala
Acrylic Painting

Vivian C. Grade 6
Acrylic Painting

Josephine O, Grade 6
Manhattan Skyline
Tempera Painting

Amala K., Grade 6
Tempera Painting

Haeun R., Grade 6
The Cute and The Mysterious
Acrylic Painting

Grace G, Grade 7
Acrylic Painting

Hanna Y. Grade 6
Winter Scene
Oil Pastels

Philipine M., Grade 7
Central Park
Watercolor

Emily L., Grade 6
Red and Black
Acrylic Painting

Grade 6 Artist Vivian C. working on her painting after school

Vivian C., Grade 6

Jack C., Grade 6
Puppy Playtime
Tempera Painting

Grde 7: Mixed Media Collage

Students are in the process of creating mixed media collages that are inspired by a special event, place, emotion or interest. This is a great project for students to cultivate their personal expression and give us a glimpse at their view of the world and/or themselves.

Students learned how to use Value, Texture, Repetition and Color to create unity and balance in their collage. We examined the collage works of 20th Century artists who have worked with collage and we analyzed and discussed what Principles and Elements of Art make these works successful. Check out what we reviewed in class below, which is compiled from a variety of web resources and museum websites.

 

Inspiration: Food As The Subject In Painting

I love the theme of food as a subject for grade 6 painting projects. This project can be done at any age and reinforces key skills in drawing and painting and taps into prior knowledge too. This is a comprehensive, engaging painting project!

Here is a cool website that features 15 different food artists and sculptors that use food as the medium itself, as well as being the subject. I show this to students to expose them to the possibilities and get there creative juices flowing. http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2008/12/15/food-artists-and-sculptors/food

Food can be reflective of our history and culture, it can illuminate sociopolitical issues, economics, and it can be a sign of the times. Below is a presentation that I present to students to introduce them to artists and art history around the subject of food.

Paintings and drawings of food can date back to the Egyptians, who left behind artworks that illustrated the foods and rituals of daily life in their tombs. The Egyptians were farmers and ate lots of wheat and barley, as well as meat. We can see in the Egyptian drawing above the animals used for farming that indicates how they harvested their food over three thousand years ago.

The Metropolitan Museum Art History Timeline shows the history of Food and drink from 1400-1800 and gives some good background in European Painting.

Below are some artists that I find fascinating for their style and subject.

Giuseppe Acrimboldo (1527-1593) was an Italian painter that created surreal portraits composed of a variety of fruit, vegetables and other items from nature with incredible detail, strangeness and beauty.

Giuseppe Acrimboldo, Rudolf II of Habsburg as Vertumnus, Oil on Panel, 1590

The Dutch Realists of the 17th Century created still lifes and landscapes that broke away from the religious art that dominated Europe in previous centuries.  Artist Willem Kalf from Holland is a revered Dutch master known for his realism, sophistication and compositions that often featured the opulent objects and foods that the wealthy consumed or owned. Click here to read more about him and his work.

Willem Kalf, "Still Life with Drinking Horn", 1653

During the 1800s, another remarkable artist left his mark, Spanish Painter Francisco Goya who painted portraits for the courts and Spanish royalty and was associated with the Romanticism movement in Europe. He also explored political issues in his artwork and used his imagination to capture his feelings that depicted his gloomy outlook on humanity. According to http://www.foodcultureindex.com/2010/06/goyas-still-life-butchers-counter.html, Goya painted painted "Still Life, a Butcher's Counter" around 1811-1812, a period known as "ano del hambre," or year of hunger, because of the great famine in Madrid.

Francisco Goya, "Still Life, a Butcher's Counter", 1811-12

 
One of my favorite artists of the late 1800's is the French painter  Paul Cézanne . He spanned the 19th and 20th centuries and was part of the Post-Impressionism movement that inspired many modern artists that followed him. He painted still lifes and landscapes and was known for his brushstrokes and the movement they generated in his paintings and the use complementary colors that created harmony and contrast in his artworks.

 Paul Cézanne, Dish of Apples,  1875–77

French artist Henri Matisse, a contemporary of Cézanne, also painted many still lifes that often included food with bold color and simplified brushstrokes.

Henri Matisse, Blue Still Life, 1907

The prolithic and talented Spanish artist Pablo Picasso also included food in some of his still lifes and you can see below how he departed from realism and abstracted his composotion with fragmented, geometric, bold lines and simplified forms inspired by the earlier Cubist movement he pioneered with fellow artist Georges Braque.

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Skull, Leeks and Pitcher, 1945, 28.75 x 45.6 in., Fine Arts Museum of SF

 
During the 1960s, American artist Wayne Thiebaud exploded onto the art scene with his whimsical paintings of cakes, pies and sweets that had a distinct style with cool shadows, rich brushstrokes and use of the color white. I am a huge fan of his work and many other artists have been inspired by his subject and approach over the past 60 years.

"Three Machines" (1963), by Wayne Thiebaud. De Young Museum, San Francisco.

After countless Internet searches, I have discovered many American Contemporary artists who continue to be inspired by food and make art about it. Check out my compilation of artists below and read more about them by clicking on their names to learn more.

Kevin Inman, San Diego, CA
Pink Bunny Easter Peeps

6 x 6 inches, oil on canvas on board

Pamela Michelle Johnson, Chicago, IL
Hostess Cupcake II

52"x 34" inches, oil on canvas, 2009

Debbie Miller, Barrington, RI
A Little Sushi

6 in X 6 inches, oil on masonite, 2009

Ralph Goings, California
Double Ketchup

 22 x 32.75 inches, edition of 30, 2006

Elizabeth Fraser, Portland, ME
Avocado, My Favorite

6 in X 6 inches, oil on canvas, 2011

Sarah Sedwick, Eugene, OR
 Steak and Eggs

10 in X 8 inches, oil on canvas, 2012