A Busy Place!

My busy, busy art room. It is heading towards the end of the year and my room is a bustling, busy
place. Students are completing projects and starting new ones. The Fine Arts Department is also preparing artwork for our end of the year Spring show.

Jim Dine Heart Sculptures

For the past two weeks, my students have been working on creating 3D artworks inspired by Neo-Dada and Pop Artist Jim Dine. The lesson focused on his expressive heart series. Students designed their own 3D hearts using paper towels and paper mache for texture. Then they were painted. The students in these photos are adding the final touches to their works.

Painting our 3D Jim Dine Hearts

Hearts galore ready for painting.

More painting...

Sculptures

Cubism Oil Pastel Drawings

The objective of this lesson was to learn how to blend using oil pastels and explore analytical Cubism. We reviewed the art of Georges Braque and Picasso as well as various blending techniques with oil pastels. We also practiced fracturing the picture plane and color theory.

Creating sketches in the Cubist style.

A student adding color to their sketch and practicing oil pastel
blending techniques with handouts after classroom demo.

More sketching for final art.

Completed Cubism artwork.

More art!

Memory Sculptures and more

Below are some new artworks I have been working on. I have been inspired to create mixed-media artwork using found objects, photographs, drawings and other fun stuff...

I am a great lover of literature and music so most of these are inspired by musicians like Charlie Parker and writers like Percy Shelly and Oscar Wilde.  More to come including sculptures!

More of my art can be viewed here:  http://stephanierodriguezart.com or http://stephanierodriguezillustration.com

Emily Bronte is the subject for this piece,

Detail of Emily

Graphite drawing detail

Charlie Parker's Bird

Detail of Charlie Parker

Unique Portraits

The objective of this lesson was to create a unique portrait using watercolor, oil pastel or graphite pencil. This was a lesson for my Drawing 3 Honors class. Students drew using reference photos and sketches. These portraits were used for our annual Hispanic Heritage show. Every student was encouraged to choose more than one medium to create an expressive look.

Portraits in various mediums from oil pastel to graphite. 

Graphite Man of La Mancha

Dali portrait in pen and ink and graphite

Sculptures!

The objective of this lesson was for my Intro to Art History students to explore the art of Greece and incorporate recycled art techniques. Students explored the process of creating sculptures using an armature, wire and other found materials. Once the armature was completed, students then used paper mache and paint, beads, fabric and other inventive materials to finish them up.

Students in the process of creating an armature
with bottles, tape, cardboard and other recycled materials.

More armatures...busy... busy!

We are ready to Paper Mache!

Monkey, Witch and Harry Potter characters.

Sculpture army is ready for exhibition at
"The Art of Found Objects" at Ocean Bank.

Story Quilts and Jazz

Jazz Story Quilts

The objective of this lesson was to explore the art and life of Faith Ringgold as well as introduce them to Jazz music. Every student was encouraged to create a unique jazz musician portrait in the medium of their choice. 

Class Story Quilt

Jazz musicians