Hokusai Bridges

4th:

Hokusai: Under the Mannen Bridge

4th graders studied Hokusai and all his awesome art from centuries ago. Hokusai is most known for his 36 Views of Mt. Fuji series. Mt. Fuji is now a dormant volcano. Students are always fascinated when I mention a volcano in art class, whether dormant or active! When Hokusai was creating his art, there was a boom in domestic travel. Many people in Japan were walking, boating, riding a horse all across Japan. There were many different kinds of bridges. Students explored various art works made by Hokusai and noticed the many ways Mt. Fuji was depicted (up close and far away, in sunset and daylight). Students noticed zig zag bridges, and suspended bridges (with seemingly no handrails), foot bridges, and arched bridges. 

The artwork my art students created was based on Hokusai's famous "Under the Mannen Bridge" picture. With Mt. Fuji being what is seen under the Mannen bridge. We changed it up a bit of course by giving some artistic freedoms with this. I let students depict a number of things under the bridge, including, Japanese style houses, palaces, trees, and of course mountains. Mt. Fuji could be erupting or not. Students could also choose the bridge style they liked the best-straight, arched or even zig zag. Students created a line design on their bridges for interest. For the houses (the cropped ones on the left and right sides of the paper), students used house templates to trace around. Students also used boat templates. I found these to be very helpful. 

Students traced everything w/black sharpie (a mix of fine and extra fine pens). Next class, they painted with liquid watercolor the sky and water. I gave students 3 different kinds of blue (Blue, Turquise blue and Blue Green). I do love using liquid watercolors as students have so many options for blue and for this kind of project, it really makes a difference.  NEXT class after that, they painted everything else. This was important so the blues in the sky and water didn't blend with all the other elements. For the most part, students had free color choice. I did encourage lots of warm colors at this point to give some contrast. Lastly, students added gold glitter tempera paint to the bridge for an added sparkle effect. It seems like this has been one of the longest 4th grade projects I've ever done..but I think the results are well work it! In all, 4 class periods (each 1 hour long) to complete.