Tag Archives: 8th grade art

8th grade art, acrylic, Karen Tashkovski, still life

Vince’s Gourmet Still Life

Image February 10, 2023 Karen Tashkovski 4 Comments

Vince’s Gourmet Imports is an Italian grocery store on Route 11 in North Syracuse, New York. I love the depth and breadth of the merchandise. What works here is rhythm – the repetition of shapes and color.

These are acrylic paintings on 16″ x 20″ canvas panels created by students in my 8th grade accelerated Studio in Art classes. (Chittenango Middle School, Chittenango, New York) The trick is to start with white paint, add Raw Sienna (a yellow ochre color) then add the color of your choice. One color then permeates throughout the canvas, which is pleasing to the eye and causes non-artists to say something like, “I don’t know why I like this, but I do.”

We looked at the work of Janet Fish, specifically the techniques used to create the illusion of reflective surfaces. I am so pleased with the results.

8th grade art, ceramics, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Something’s Fishy

Image November 20, 2022 Karen Tashkovski 1 Comment

Some of my Art-8 students created clay fish using slab and hand building.

First day: use a rolling pin to make clay flat. Fill with crumpled paper towels and fold it like a burrito leaving one side open.

Second day: add extra clay to create the head and tail.

Third day: add fins, gills and eyes.

Fourth day: finish the fish. Add any other details and make clay smooth using hands and/or clay tools.

Next let all projects dry for two weeks before bisque firing.

We spent four days glazing. A dozen different glazes were available. Students were asked to use at least six – three coats of each.

8th grade art, animals in art, art exhibition, art teacher

Oil Pastel on Cows

Image May 24, 2022 Karen Tashkovski 1 Comment

We just completed these cow drawings on black Strathmore 500 paper. Cows are fun to draw because they are essentially made of two trapezoids. The pencil lines were painted out with black acrylic paint.

Then students colored the drawings with Cray-Pas oil pastels. They are beautiful! The artwork is on display on the wall outside of my classroom. This is an 8th grade project.

Japanese art, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media

Japanese Fan Project

Image November 23, 2021 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

I invent all of my own lessons. This is one of my favorites! They are so pretty – I love them. I did the project with my 9th period A day class.

Materials:

Illustration board
Metallic acrylic paint
Fine and extra fine Sharpies
Prismacolor colored pencils
Origami paper

Instructions:

Trace the fan stencil to the center of the illustration board
Choose a metallic paint color and paint the background using a flat brush.
Select three or more resource pictures from the Japanese file – these are 18th century woodblock prints, drawings and paintings (of landscapes, portraits, still-lifes) AND contemporary artworks from Takashi Murakami and other artists. Use Scholastic Art magazines, Dover books, old calendars, etc.)
Draw a composition using a mash-up technique to create a new work of art that looks seamless.
Outline with Sharpie markers using thick and thin lines.
Color with colored pencils.
Add a piece of origami paper to the bottom of the fan. Use a glue stick to attach it.

8th grade art, art, art education, art teacher, contest, design, drawing, editorial design, illustration, Karen Tashkovski

Connected

Image November 3, 2021 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

My 8th grade accelerated Studio in Art students completed an intense nine weeks of creating these peace posters for the Chittenango Lions Club. The Lions sponsor an international peace poster competition for middle school aged children with a grand prize of $5,000.

It is an illustration lesson/editorial design project with some limitations – no words or characters of any kind, no trademarked items or advertisements. We used 16″ x 20″ white tagboard and Prismacolor colored pencils. The Lions Club generously donated enough sets so that my students could each have their own 48 color set. Thirty-eight students competed this year.

Students spent additional hours on these posters at home on the weekends to complete them in time for the contest deadline. The winning poster will go on to the regional competition and possibly the state one as well. The theme for this year is “We Are All Connected”. Now that we are all back in school full-time, this sentiment is truly apropos. <3

2nd place – Chittenango Lions Club Peace Poster contest 2021- “We Are All Connected”

1st place – Chittenango Lions Club Peace Poster contest 2021 – “We Are All Connected”

8th grade art, ceramics, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Day of the Dead

Image November 2, 2021 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

My Art-8 students created these fabulous Sugar Skulls. They came out of the kiln yesterday just in time for a Day of the Dead celebration. We used the slab technique over a plastic head mold. They added and subtracted clay. I helped them remove the sculpture from the form replacing it with paper towels, slashed the cheekbones to create the skeleton shape and added holes to weave a wire through them.

Projects were bisque fired then glazed with these great confetti style glazes. Now they can hang on a wall to be enjoyed for many years to come! <3

8th grade art, abstract, animals in art, art, art education, art exhibition, ceramics, classroom, clay, Karen Tashkovski

Lizards!

Image March 17, 2020 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

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Two of my classes used hand-building skills to create these adorable clay lizards. We used the Sax Colorburst glazes. I love the colors, especially the Firecracker!!! The projects remain in the glass case in the Chittenango Middle School atrium.

We looked at the work of the Aboriginals of Australia for inspiration. Different patterns were added to the body, head, limbs and tail using a variety of techniques.