This art project combines a plaster cast of two arms with a painted canvas. The plaster arms symbolize holding oneself back from potential. The painting depicts a wave, moon, and dark sky to symbolize hope and light within darkness. Colors like blue represent trust and faith, while black represents fear. The artwork aims to express longing for something better by overcoming fears. While the plaster had some imperfections, the conveyed message of growth and potential was successful.

1. Expressions in Plaster
Lesson for Art Foundations (9-12) by Molly Conway
Students create a piece of artwork that combines a plaster cast of their face and/or
hand(s). This will be painted using Expressionist ideals of symbolism and imagery that
conveys a message. Their message can either demonstrate their personality or a
commentary on a social issue.
To complement the artwork, students complete a formal written critique and present their
work to the class, briefing them on their self-critique.
Below is the handout I give students explaining all the details of the project. I use this as
their first semester final.
RUBRIC:
1. ARTWORK
a. Using plaster gauze, working in assigned groups of three, create a cast of each
group member’s face and/or hand(s) in the position they wish to use to
express the message of their artwork. Follow procedures demonstrated in
class. Each student will be graded separately on the plaster work they achieve
and daily group work (including cleanup).
b. Trim plaster cast at a proper angle and attach to canvas board with hot glue,
reinforcing by stuffing with newspaper if needed. Use plaster paste to smooth
imperfections and cover hot glue.
c. Using tempera cakes (and acrylic paint only when necessary), create an
Expressionist painting over the entire canvas and cast that sends a message.
This can either depict an element of your personality, or give your
commentary on a social issue.
d. Give your artwork a title and write it on the back of the canvas board, along
with your name, date, and period.
2. Critique PAPER

2. Write a critique of your artwork. Use the four-step critical method learned previously this
semester. Critique must be typed and turned in on eBackpack by finals day. You must use
as much specific art vocabulary as possible (minimum of 8 terms), underlining each
term. (You may choose words from the list of suggested art terms on the next page.)
Critique must be four paragraphs, at least five sentences each.
***ON THE LAST PAGE OF YOUR PAPER, INCLUDE TWO PHOTOS:
1. Your completed artwork (labeled with the TITLE you chose for it)
2. The plaster you completed on a group mate’s artwork (labeled “PLASTER”)
Format of a four-step critique paper:
a. Title: The title you chose for your artwork
b. Description: Start off with a good introductory sentence that grabs our
attention. Then, describe the artwork as if we cannot see it.
c. Analysis: Analyze the design of your artwork using at least eight specific art
vocab words, including Principles of Design as they relate to the Art
Elements. Underline each one you use.
d. Interpretation: Interpret the meaning of the artwork. What expression does
your painting have? How does the plaster cast effect the message? What
symbolism did you include to tell your story? What do your color choices
say?
e. Judgment: Judge what you think is successful about your artwork and what
you would change if you could.
*NOTE: You don’t necessarily have to pack all 8 of your terms into the analysis. If they
make more sense being used in your description or interpretation, that’s fine!
SUGGESTED ART TERMS TO USE IN PAPER
This is a starting place. You may use these, or other art vocabulary.
Check your key terms from each chapter.
Be as SPECIFIC as possible! You must include a minimum of 8 terms in your paper.
ART ELEMENTS—
Line—contour line, implied line, lines of sight, expressive lines, descriptive lines
Shape—figure/ground shapes, positive shapes, negative shapes, organic shapes,
geometric shapes.
Form—organic forms, geometric forms, foreshortening, open forms, closed forms.
Value—light, dark, high-contrast, low-contrast, color
Color—hue, value, intensity, primary color, secondary color, monochromatic,
complementary, split- complementary, saturation, warm, cool, analogous, triadic.
Texture---simulated, actual, rough, smooth
Space—overlapping, high and low placement, positive, negative, flat/ 2-D, deep/ 3-D,
linear perspective, aerial perspective

3. PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN—
Unity—proximity, similarity, continuation, harmony
Variety—differences, sometimes gradual
Dominance—focal point, emphasis
Rhythm & Movement—continuation, controlled repetition, alternation of elements that
create a sense of movement
Balance—(equal distribution of visual weight) symmetrical, asymmetrical, approximate
symmetry, radial
Gradation—gradual change of any art element.
3. ART PRESENTATION
On Final Exam Day, you will be given 2-3 minutes to come up to the front of the room,
display your final project, and present your paper to us. YOU MAY NOT READ FROM
YOUR PAPER. Instead, you must fill out note cards to use when you present, so that
you are sure to cover all the points while maintaining eye contact. The content of your
presentation should reiterate what you wrote in your paper, using a more casual tone. You
can use as many notecards as you need (but you must not READ FROM them.) Below
are suggestions of what you might wish to include on your notecards:
Art Final Presentation
Description: Start with a good introduction!
What does it look like? Pretend they can’t
see it…
Analysis: Created with Expressionist style- symbols
show a message…
Elements and Principles
8 art terms EXPLAINED…
Interpretation: Meaning behind each symbol, color,
image, etc…
Judgement: What did I do well?
Was I successful in getting my message
across?
Why? How?
What do I wish I could I improve?

4. Student examples
“Calm w ithin the storm”
Your family is a part of w ho you are. You can't change that. If you have the w orst family ever, the best family ever, or no
family at all, there presence, or there lackof presence, shapes you into the person you become. This artw orkis on a
16x20 rectangular canvas. There is a red plaster hand in the sign language symbol for I love you coming off of the
canvas. Surrounding the base of the hand is a red heart. Surrounding the heart, there is a value change fromw hite, to
blue, and finally to black. There are storm clouds in the darker sections, and w hite fluffy cloudsin the lighter sections.
In this artw ork, there is a variety of color. There are cool colors, such as blue, w armcolors, such as red, and neutral
colors , such as w hite and black. The shape of the hand coming off of the paper creates space between it and the canvas.
There is negative space around the fingers of the hand. The intensity of the blue is w hite next to the heart, and continues
to darken, until it reaches black. The edges of color are not clear; they blend together.
To me, this artw orks message is that family and love create calm w ithin the storm of life. The sign language symbols for I
love you hold personalmeaning to me. It symbolizes family. The symbol for the heart is quite obvious: it symbolizes love,
and the love that family gives. The w hite clouds closer to the heart represent the calm that family creates. The darker
storm clouds closer to the edge of the canvas representsthe stormand the chaos of life. I chose the color blue, because
blue can be a calming color, such as the w aves of the ocean or the color of the sky; it can also be a chaotic color, such as
a stormy sky.
The point of the artw orkwasto show that family creates calmw ithin the storm of life. I believe that I w as mostly
successfulin achieving this goal. The storm clouds may confuse some people, but how you interpret an artw orkis all
about how view it. If I could change anything, I w ould make the value change in the colors more fluent. I w ould also
perfect the plaster at the bottom of the hand, so that it's not as flaky.

5. Skepticism
“Skepticism” is a bright painting mixing w armand coolcolors. It uses flowing l ines to blend darkand harsh coolcolors into
w armand bright colors. There is a plaster sculpture of holding hands across the middle. They are included into the
painting by also being covered in the lines. Oranges and reds flow out fromthe left side of the canvas. Blues, greens,
purples, and black come fromthe right side and meet in the middle w ith the w armcolors.
The painting show ssymmetry by centering where the hands are and w here the colors change fromwarmto cool. It
provides a sense of b alance by show ing the g radation from the bright to the dark. There's a lot of variety in the hue and s
hade of all of the colors. The space is completely filled w ith color, leaving no space on the canvas white. The e xpressive
lines enhance the emotion shown by the colors chosen. There isn't variation in t exture , but there is a lot of depth ,
especially in the darker colors.
The artw orkis titled “skepticism” because it is an expressionist painting of mental illness. It show s the bright, fiery colors
blending into the dark, morose colors. It represents the confusion that comes frombeing ignorant to the diseases mental
illness is. There is a cloudy feeling given in the middle w here the two sides meet to represent the naivety many people
have about mental illnesses. The title of “skepticism” is calling out those w ho don't believe mental illnesses are diseases
and don't support those w ho are affected by them. The hands meeting in the middle are a symbol of support for those
w ho are sick. They show unity and that there is help available.
Overall, the artw orkis successful. Ithink it gets across the message clearly, but show smore depth as you look into it. The
meaning is w ell-thought out and depicted w ellin the art. The painting of the contour lines show sthe naturalaspect of
mental illnesses. I w ish iw ould have had lighter colors on the w armside instead of such bright colors. I do like how the
dark colors turned out, they create a feeling of being lost w hich is how many people feelw hen dealing w ith mental illness.
“Skepticism” is a strong painting that expresses the deeper meanings it is intended to.

6. Global Warming
You know how you feelwhen you have a fever; burning up, hot, and just not good in general. Well if the w orld wasalive
how do you think it w ould feel, w ith allthe air pollution from cars, factories, and other machines. Probably not good. In this
art w orkI painted space and stars w ith blackand w hite paint, and the a big w orld in the middle, w ith blue and green paint.
The hands are placed on the w orld like a person w ould catch a basketball. The hands are black to blend in w ith space
and, I used Orange around the fingers to represent the heat fromthe pollution.
The art w orkhas shape because the world is a circle. It has formbecause some of the stars are just random blotches of
paint. It has color because it has a total of five different colorsused. It has variety because allof the stars looksomew hat
different. It has dominance because the main focus point is the earth. It has value because there are light and dark colors
used in the art w ork. It has lines, the edge of the World and the contents have lines. Lastly I think it has harmony because
it ties in to nature.
the meaning of this art w orkis globalw arming, the orange around the hands are supposed to be the heat coming off from
your hands and surrounding the earth causing it to get w armer. The plaster hands are supposed to be around the earth
giving off heat to make it look like its global w arming. The symbolism I used to tell the story are the hands that are giving
off heat and w arming the earth. My color choices are trying to be accurate to w hat the earth looks like but much simpler.
I think the art w orkwassuccessfulbecause it shows the message of globalw arming and how it is something nobody
cares about now but it now but it could become a problem in the future if w e don't do anything about it. I think I could have
changed a couple of thing on the art w orktoo. Like i could have spaced out the stars a little better so they look a little
more balanced. I could have added some yellow and red around the fingers too. I also could have painted stars on the
hands and make the earth a little more circular looking. But even though it has some problems to it I think it is a success
because it is all about the meaning.

7. SomethingBetter
Description:My project is about breaking aw ay fromyourself in attempt for something better. This project takes place on
a 16x20 inch canvas. The plaster sculpting is of tw o arms. One arm is grasping the other arm. The other arm is reaching
out. The arm that is grasping is a solid black; w hile, the other arm is is blue. The color o n the blue arm becomes a yellow -
green color once it gets to the fingertips. On the canvas is painted a w ave with a moon behind it and a dark sky. The wave
is comprised of the colors: blue, yellow , white, and green. The moon placed behind the w ave is a bright moon. The color
on the moon is yellow colors and it contains black smudges. They sky is black w ith lighter streaks going across.
Analysis:In my art, there is both organic and geometric shapes. T he moon is a circle w hich is geometric, w hile the w ave
is an organic shape. There is texture on the arms and moon. The texture for the arms is smooth and the texture on the
moon is meant to be rough. The moons texture is simulated by the black smudges on it. The color throughout the project
is mainly cool colors fromusing a lot of blue and green; but, it also includes yellow on the moon and shades of yellow
throughout the rest w hich creates warmcolors. Value is portrayed through the w avesand the sky to have lighter shades
of the colors. There is a u nity in the piece because of how the colors relate to each other and create harmony w hich is
pleasing to the eyes. There is Rhythm and movement by the streaks of paint on the w ave which give emphasis that the
w ater is heading in a certain direction. The dominance in this project is on the hand w ith the yellow fingertips because
eyes are mainly directed tow ard that point. On the fingertips of the blue arm, there is a low intensity of yellow, while on the
moon, the yellow is a high intensity.
Interpretation:The message of my artw orkis meant to express longing. The plaster is of a hand trying to escape and
reach for something better w hile the other one is holding it back, restraining it. The hands are meant to symbolize how w e
hold ourselves backin life fromreaching our true potential. In the back the w ave symbolizes hope and truth, w hich fits
because w e have hope that one day w e might be able to overcome our fears and escape fromour comfort-zone. The dark
sky and the bright moon symbolize light w ithin the darkness. It show show even when everything may seem lost, there is
alw ays something to reach for and try to obtain. The colors in the project also play a role in the story of this piece. The
blue on the arm and w ave representstrust and faith which showshow we should alw aystrust in ourselves and have faith
that w e willbe able to overcome our fears. On the fingertips of the arm reaching out, they become green w hich represents
both the fact that the hand is just barely touching the light and the fact that green symbolizes grow thand harmony w hich
is important because w e allcan grow to become better people. Contradicting the colors of blue and green, is black. The
black color on the arm represents fear and darkness. The blackarm is grasping the blue arm because of fear of failure
and expanding its horizons.
Judgment:Ibelieve that the painting on the canvas and the message being conveyed w asa success.There w ere tiny
dots on the plaster that w ere white and some parts of the painting did not feelprecise so those parts w ere unsuccessful. If
I could change something, I w ould paint the plaster again and try to smooth the plaster more in order to make it more
complete. Other than that, I believe that the art piece w as a success.