Day of the Dead

This week in art class we have been studying Day of the Dead . The seventh grade students were very excited about the symbolism of Day of the Dead and the prospect of learning how to draw skeletons and skulls. I created a reference a package for each student that had copies of Day of the Dead art as well as some step by step directions on how to draw skulls.

The art students first created sketches inspired by Day of the Dead art in their sketchbooks.  After they were satisfied with their sketches they transferred their images on to black 12x18 paper.

The first day painting the students were only given white tempera paint in baby food jars. I wanted my students to think about positive and negative space. Also I wanted then to realize that sometimes while  painting it is important to learn to wait for the paint to dry in order to achieve a desired results. During the second day painting students were allowed to add color, students used palettes to mix their own paint. On the third day students embellished their work adding glitter, feathers and other collage materials.

Here are some helpful links:
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/mexico/resource/5616.html?detoured=1
http://www.questconnect.org/oaxaca_lesson_plans.htm
http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/articles/dead-education.html