Cubist Still Lifes-5th Grade

Our last project we discussed Surrealism, in this project 5th Grade students are focusing on Cubism and artists such as Pablo Picasso. We looked at different cubist still life paintings and discussed what makes some objects come forward and how cubism is different from realism. Students sketched out their compositions in their sketch books before they started their contour line drawings on the large paper. Once they had drawn overlapping glass objects on 12x18 inch paper in pencil, they outlined their contour lines with a black sharpie. I encouraged them to fill up the space in order to balance out any negative space by adding things in the background such as a patterned wallpaper, picture frames, or even a window. The other challenge was to change the color or tint/shade of a color everywhere an object overlapped. The students always surprise me with their creativity, even in a still life!