Lesson Idea: Worm Tunnels

Just a reminder: this project idea was not an original one and was actually something I saw on another amazing art education blog called "Art with Mr. E."

Mr. E originally did this project with elementary aged students but that didn't deter me from considering as something for my high school level artists. Every one of them would attest to the fact that this project was far from simple and also amazing to have been able to work on and enjoy in its finished state. (See samples of student work below)

I adapted this project for the high school level by making this piece larger in scale overall - each piece was 22"x28" in size. My reasons for doing this were the following:

• Larger surface area of design allowed for this to be a long-term project
• The finished design is quite a sight to behold but even more impressive if it's on a large scale that encourages it to be framed and kept by each artist
• This was used as a bit of a final assessment piece meant to evaluate their overall understanding of the following items: technique for drawing lines and using shading to show contouring, selection of a workable and interesting color palette based on color theory, management of class time and personal workflow issues

I am very pleased with this collective of work the students did both for their 2D Design experience for Fall semester (the foundational class is only one semester). Though some students failed to complete high-quality work because they didn't finish their pieces at all or completed them in obviously messy and rushed ways, this project worked to be a reliable indicator (i.e. a solid assessment piece) for how far they have or haven't come.  It was interesting enough for them to be self-motivated to keep working on, serious enough for them to be challenged on a multitude of levels, and beautiful (as finished pieces) for them to want to save as their last hurrahs for their 2D Design studies OR to be baited into taking more art courses.