School of the Arts Lesson 2

Make a Name Tag: Creating your own grafitti tag.

age: 7th - 10th grade

instructors: Madigan Young, Cari Ann Rasmussen, Sun Hee Oberfoell, & Tyler Bubser

date: 3/3/22

Standards:

• Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary art practices to

plan works of art and design. VA.Cr1.2.IIa

• Through experimentation, practice, and persistence, demonstration acquisition of skills and

knowledge in a chosen art form. VA.Cr2.1.IIa

• Apply visual organizational strategies to design and produce a work of art, design, or media

that clearly communicates information or ideas. VA.Cr2.3.7a

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, TLW demonstrate the use of Line, Color, and Composition when drawing their own Graffiti tag.

By the end of the lesson, TLW identify graffiti tags in Street Art.

By the end of the lesson, TLW design and create their own graffiti tag using their name using drawing materials, such as markers, colored pencils, oil pastels, etc.

Summary

The lesson began with a power point presentation by Cari Ann. She introduced some vocabulary around graffiti and graffiti tags, then showed her 3 artist examples. Next, she introduced bubble letters and font categories often used and described what students would be doing during the lesson. She asked students to use at least two different mediums (colored pencil and oil pastel or marker and colored pencil) in their final creation.

Students began by creating 3 sketches, as suggested by Cari Ann, using paper and pencil. Teachers joined in doing their own sketches but also conversing with students about their plans for their final tag. Students collected and teachers handed out materials for the final tag- larger paper, markers and colored pencils. Students began their final tags. As they colored their name tags, the students on my half of the table were lively and talkative throughout. They shared how they felt the tag was coming along in addition to talking about other random things like the music they love to listen to. The student next to me experimented with symbols in her graffiti tag and used watercolor in addition to the drawing materials. Another student ran out of color in a marker they were using, so decided to try several colors on each letter of the tag which turned out more interesting.

Most students were nearing completion when we ran out of time.

Final Outcomes

Two (out of seven) of our students were more quiet, though not necessarily less enthusiastic about the lesson. They created several smaller name tags, including color so I’m not sure if they were still sketching or liked the smaller format with several different tags on a page. I would say three out of the other four embraced the project fully and more the way Cari Ann instructed it. Another student participated fully but didn’t quite try out the lesson plan based on the parameters Cari Ann laid out. She illustrated something she typically doodles but didn’t change the style- just made her artist signature larger. I thought it was successful as a visual but not sure it communicated the graffiti/street art style so it didn’t necessarily meet the third learning objective. Three of the students had more classic examples of graffiti tags. One student’s work stood out to me as excellent as far as reflecting the fact that they were looking at graffiti styles for inspiration. They were excited about making the letters overlap in a way that wasn’t easily legible and successfully gave the letters a lot of dimension. Excitement/engagement with the lesson shone when the students asked when/if they would have further time to work on their tags.