8th Grade: Scale Drawings focusing on Principles of Design

Carmel's 8th Graders put incredible time and effort into portraits of some of their favorite celebrities while focusing on Principles of Design such as Contrast, Emphasis, and Balance. Students chose images of their favorite pop culture icons that they then enlarged through drawing. To do this, they created a grid on the original image, and then a larger but proportionate grid on their drawing paper, so that they could recreate the image box-by-box. This enabled the students to achieve a nearly photorealistic effect.

6th and 7th Grade: Collaborative Pieces

Carmel's 6th and 7th graders created collaborative projects that put their drawing technique to the test! Each student was given a single square piece of a much larger image, and had to recreate their square through drawing. Once all of the squares were completed, they combined to form some wild images...

6th Grade

7th Grade

7th Grade

7th Grade: Originality in Art

Carmel's 7th graders totally transformed van Gogh's famous work, turning the well-known celestial swirls and quiet hills of "Starry Night" into everything from blue roses to alien invaders. 

"I believe that no art is original, because art is based off of experiences in life and things that you've seen. Artists get their ideas from other peoples' artwork." --Destiny

"In my opinion, all art is original. All people have different meaning and messages in their artwork...Even if someone tries to copy something, their work of art is still original because it came through their hands."
--Chris

6th Grade: Originality in Art

Carmel's 6th Graders created their own unique interpretations of van Gogh's famous Starry Night, switching up everything from color scheme to theme. Throughout this project, the students discussed and debated the concept of Originality in art, and whether art can in fact be original at all.


Some of their words of wisdom, as given in written responses:


“Art is always original because people think differently. Whoever creates a work of art first does not matter. If people are thinking the same thing to make a work of art they still have had different experiences that led them to create that artwork, so all artworks are original.”—Angel 


“…Art is not original when it looks the same as another work of art because it is copied. It is original when it shows part of your identity, and when you thought of it.” —Chaylene 


“All art is original because each person has reasons for making it. The reasons and process and the inspiration for creating the art is different. The person [creating it] is unique. Those are the reasons that I think all art is original.”—Jay
 

8th Grade: Originality in Art

Carmel's 8th Graders created their own unique interpretations of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" while examining the topic of Originality in Art. After completing their works of art, these students reflected on whether or not their recreations of van Gogh's famous work were, in fact, "original" and argued whether or not true "originality" can exist in art.

7th Grade: Art with a Message

Carmel's 7th Graders created works of art that conveyed meaningful messages ranging from environmental, to social, to personal, to political.

6th Grade: Abstract Self-Portraits

Carmel's 6th Graders exercised their creative minds and thought outside the box to create inventive abstract self-portraits that let their personalities shine!