This is our first grade Miro project! This month, we worked on different activities to experience the whimsical style of Joan Miro. On the Smart Board, we discussed the work of this artist. In this first video, you can see what we thought of his paintings and sculptures...
Joan Miro's observations of the world as we saw in the video were quite whimsical and creative. Miro's art teacher tried to get him to observe objects in a more realistic way and as an exercise, he asked him to draw objects that he could only see by feeling with his fingers. We tried this in class. Students put their hands inside a paper bag and drew what they felt with their other hand. Once all objects were drawn, we looked inside and compared the objects we felt with the ones we drew. They were remarkably realistic! Our fingers will often notice small textures and a rounded edge that our eyes might not detect. Finally, we put all the shapes together, creating a drawing of a Miro-inspired person. Here is a video showing this surprisingly fun activity...
For the final part of our Miro project, first graders created a sculpture of a person using assorted materials, such as paper, wood, pipe cleaners, straws and feathers. Our only rule in our interpretation of a 3-D person was that it should tell a story about the person we sculpted. It could be an artist, a musician, or perhaps a veterinarian. The sculpture can let us know about who the person is by what it might be wearing or holding in its hand. Here are a few examples of our completed sculptures.
