Post Contributed by Jocelyne Adkins, Program Director/Educator
 |
| Kalahari Beetle by Mikel Norman, 3rd Grade |
On Thursday, September 6th, we focused our study on beetles. There are more than 350,000 species of beetles! We began our lesson with a book by Jerry Pallotta and illustrated by David Biedrzycki, titled "The Beetle Alphabet Book". Using the alphabet, one beetle is introduced per page with a few informative facts about that specific beetle or beetles in general.
For the first stage of our project, the students selected a photocopy of a beetle from Palotta's book as a guide to draw from. They used great care to document the shapes and proportional relationships within their beetle's body. After adding color to their beetles with crayons, the beetles took on a transformation, to give them the look of a batik fabric.
Please see the photos and read about the process further down the page. And stop by the main hall outside the Beye office on the west wall to see the finished "Beetle Batiks" on exhibit. We love walking by them each day. Well done!!!
 |
| Xavier, Net Winged Beetle |
 |
| Andrew, Cucumber Beetle |
 |
| Cassandra, Quartz Plain Beetle |
 |
| Mikel, Kalahari Beetle |
 |
| Laila, Bombadier Beetle |
 |
| Caleb, Tiger Beetle |
 |
| Benjamin, Giraffe Beetle |
 |
| Emily, Metallic Beetle |
 |
| Norah, Mexican Beetle |
 |
| Norah, Mexican Beetle |
 |
| Dexter, Violin Beetle |
 |
| Benjamin, Giraffe Beetle, complete |
 |
| Donald |
As Donald demonstrates below, to give the illustrations the look of a batik fabric, the paper must be crumpled up and smoothed out several times. Doing so creates cracks in the paper. In the next step, a layer of dark paint will seep into these cracks to imitate the dye that slips into the cracks in the wax of a batik fabric.
 |
| Donald, Step: 2 crumpling the paper to create creases |
 |
| Donald, Step 2: Unfolding the drawing |
 |
| Emily, Step 3: Painting over the drawing to add color to the creases |
 |
| Caleb, Step 3 |
 |
| Emily, Step 3 |
In Step 4, the paint is rinsed off and the illusion of a batik is created. The teachers took on this task, since the paper becomes very fragile and tears quite easily. Here are some of the completed "Beetle Batiks" below. They are beautiful!!!
|
| Kalahari Beetle by Mikel Norman |
 |
| African Beetle by Maurice Lee |
 |
| Leaf Beetle by Leila Shafernak-Perez |
 |
| Violin Beetle by Dexter Ward |
No comments:
Post a Comment