2nd Grade Gets Even Deeper...

Now that 2nd graders understand where artists place things in their work to make them look far and near, we can move on to the next tool in the box...size! Have you ever looked out of the window of an airplane during take off? Or stood on the side walk and looked down the block? What happens to the objects on the ground or lining the street as they get farther and farther away? They get smaller!

In Part 1 of our unit on Depth, we analyzed still life paintings to learn about the placement of objects within a composition. While we can tell which ones are closer and farther by where they are in the picture, we can't really get a good idea of their depth based on their size, since the items in a still life tend to be grouped pretty close together to begin with, considering they are usually all on the same table. To get a better idea of how size really effects the way in which we perceive depth we have to look at Landscapes. So we did! Using the Promethean board students were able to circle objects in landscape paintings that they thought were far and near. And, whaddya know, the closer an object appeared, the bigger is was. When coupled with the placement on the page, we can now create some pretty dynamic compositions. Consider the beginning of Star Wars! The big words are at the bottom of the screen, and as they move up the screen they get smaller. (Now, why they are shaped like a trapezoid is a whole other discussion...for another grade level!)

Students created their own "Shapes In Space" collages using precut shapes in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Their goal was to arrange the shapes in such a way that it appeared as if they were flying forward from space, or back into space, depending on your preference. We coated the finished collages with Mod Podge to seal the shapes in and give the collage a glossy look. 

These collages were meant as an exercise in combining size and placement in a composition to create depth. This, coupled with the still life drawings from Part 1 of the unit, help build the skills and understanding needed for the final project coming in Part 3, landscape drawings. The "Shapes in Space" collages will be coming home sooner rather than later, and are not currently on the website.