The Science of Pointillism

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jette, George Seurat, 1884

During the 1880s, artist George Seurat invented pointillism, a method of painting entirely with dots or points of paint.  Around the same time in history, scientists discovered cells while looking at plant and animal tissue under a microscope.  ¡Their discovery led to the Cell Theory which states that a cell is the smallest unit of a living organism;  cells are the building blocks of life;  and plants and animals are made of cells.  ¡Just as pointillism consists of thousands of dots of paint, plants and animals consist of thousands of cells. 
Based on this knowledge, seventh grade students:

• Selected a photograph of a plant or animal and its corresponding cell. 
• ¡Drew and labeled the cell as if looking at it under a microscope.
• Used the science of pointillism to recreate the picture of the plant or animal by painting dots of color closely together.
• Filled the entire page with “cells” of color.

Self Portraits Inspired by Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous paintings in the world.  You can see how da Vinci used perspective to create the illusion of depth by adding a landscape in the background.  With this in mind, eighth grade students were asked to draw their self portraits and include a background that showed perspective.

Medieval Dragons



St. George and the Dragon, Raphael, 1506

During the Middle Ages, dragons caught the imagination of many artists.  After viewing several paintings from this period, seventh graders sketched a dragon.  Then, based upon their sketch, they created a dragon out of clay.