Fall Leaves are Representational Shapes

During our third week of art class, I introduced the art element: Shape. Here is the definition my students memorized:
"A shape is a closed line with two dimensions, height and width. Three types of shapes are Geometric, Representational and Abstract."
We looked at examples of the three types of shapes:
​Geometric​: From geometry, these shapes are used in math and for symbols in art.

Representational: These are shapes that look like something in real life and are made from the contour outline of that object.

Abstract: These are simplified or transformed representational shapes.

I asked the students which group of shapes do the previous weeks line drawings (ice cream cone and apple) fit into. Naturally, they chose Representational because they were drawing "the outline edges of an object". 

I brought in a bag full of leaves I gathered from my neighborhood that had just started turning colors. And they each chose one leaf to draw as a Representational shape. They used the Trace & Blind Copy technique described in week 1 & 2, then drew their final leaf without the blinder on nicer drawing paper. When they colored it, they observed the colors on the leaf very closely and blended the crayons to match.

Here are two inspiring books we read.

I hope to see some of my students bring in a fall leaf collage inspired by Lois Ehlert's Leaf Man.

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