2ND GRADE TED HARRISON INSPIRED LANDFORMS

When I found out my 2nd graders were studying landforms in their Social Studies unit, I knew I had to try these Ted Harrison landscapes again. We went about the project in a pretty similar fashion but this time, instead of using glue to trace the lines, the students traced over their lines at the beginning and end with black oil pastel to help their designs stand out. My students were so eager to share and apply their knowledge of landforms and their enthusiasm really shone through on the final artworks.

Chalk pastels are definitely one of the messier mediums but there’s something about their vibrancy and boldness that make each project stand out. I’ve found it helpful to give students a baby wipe after each chalk session–cuts down on clean up time at the sink and encourages the more mess-adverse students to continue knowing that they can spiff themselves up at the end.

5TH GRADE TED HARRISON INSPIRED LANDSCAPES

My 5th grade students studied the vibrant, stylized landscape paintings of Canadian artist Ted Harrison. They discovered he fell in love with the sweeping, layered vistas in the Canadian Yukon and made it his life’s work to capture their majesty in his bold paintings. After viewing a Powerpoint showing examples of his work, learning about his life, and studying real photographs of the Yukon landscape, students were ready to get to work.

We imagined how it would feel looking out across the mountains, noticing how the layers in each painting help to give each work depth and show perspective. They also saw how Harrison used stylized wavy lines to give the illusion of space.

Students used pencils to sketch out their wavy landscape designs, which were then traced over with white glue and left to dry. The next class, chalk pastels were dipped into starch to give a brighter look and cut down on the dust. The students were very proud of their bright, bold landscapes and their success at using varied lines to create depth. Check out some more colorful examples!

Inspired by this lesson from the Crayola website.