Sunday, December 29, 2013

Mural "Opening"!

There was a fantastic turnout for the Mural Makers opening afternoon, where we had refreshments and talked about the mural-making process. It was great to see all the proud parents before winter break! 

3, 2, 1...



The big reveal! Applause! Applause! 


Signing our hand prints!

I am on the left, there are two enthusiastic high school volunteers and a fellow Art educator! 

After 5 great weeks, hard work and lots of acrylic paint, the mural is finished. The students did an amazing job!

Kinder Printmaking!

Kindergarten has taken up printmaking!
This was a very fun project for all of us in the Art room. Kinder artists learned about the printmaking process (simplified, of course!), and learned about what it means to make a print of an object. I love showing them the video of the artist that creates prints of teddy bears on black paper  - I found it on Pinterest!  Here is the video!
We then began making our own prints - circles on paper - counting our circles and making sure at least one overlapped with another. 


Then, we added color to our printmaking projects. We talked about making an abstract artwork, where it doesn't show "something is real life" but shows shapes, lines and colors in a different way. 

Here are some results! 




The students chose their favorite color and used watercolors to paint the background of their project. 

Thank you for checking out this lesson! 

Op Art- Gr. 3

Hello there! 
We have been working on controlling our colored pencils in grades 3 and 4. One of the students' favorites is the Op Art project. We learn about artists Bridget Riley and M.C. Escher, what Op Art represents, and we create an amazing piece with lines and value shading! The best part of this project is when the students hold up each other's work at a distance, and are so impressed with what they've just created!







 Working hard on their value shading! 
They have learned a lot about patience, because it takes a while to achieve all those different values! 



I love how proud they are of themselves after this lesson! 



Kinder Cylinder Hats!


Kindergarten artists have been concentrating on two and three dimensional shapes in their classrooms, so what better opportunity to make some 3-d shapes in the Art room! We began by looking at cylinders on our tables, describing the sizes and shapes. We then practiced drawing cylinders, learning about the parts of a cylinder along the way - ellipse, parallel lines, and the ever-important "smile" on the bottom. We then created a hat out of our cylinders, and went on to create our main artwork after lots of practice! We talked about who would wear our cylinder hats, and how we would use texture and pattern to make our hats more interesting. Here are some examples! 
The artwork above is supposed to be me! I think it's pretty accurate!!












They had a great time thinking of who would be wearing their new cylinder hats!

Thank you for visiting! 




Foreshortening with Fourth Graders!

Hello!! This is my second year teaching, and this is the first time I have taught foreshortening. It can be a tough concept to understand, but these fourth grade artists seemed to have gotten the hang of it! 
I showed them examples of foreshortening with images of superheroes - Superman, Iron man, Anime sketches, etc. They really seemed to like it! I explained how foreshortening happens in an artwork and in real life - students looked at their friend's outstretched arms, and described what they saw. 
I asked them to describe foreshortening at the beginning of every class with this project, just to ensure they understood the concept. We worked with colored pencils, learning to control value and shading. They came out wonderfully!!







Students also had to decide what they were falling back into - they range from outer space to chocolate and marshmallows! 
Thank you for visiting! 

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Update on Mural Makers!

This is an update on how the mural is going! Next week is our "opening"- everything is finished besides signing our names! Here are some images of the progress:






Artists working hard!



So close!



Ready for our opening! The students worked hard, worked together, and did a fantastic job. 

Onomatopoeias!

Hello!
It's onomatopoeia time! One of my favorite projects! Students look at batman comics, clips of the old t.v. show, and Roy Lichtenstein's artwork. We discuss what onomatopoeias are used for, and we talked about the details that make and onomatopoeia what it is! We also learned about ben-day dots, since they were an integral part of this lesson. The results were wonderful! These are images from last-years third grade class, since this project is done in the spring. BAM! (had to be done)






Thank you for stopping by! 

Klimt Birch Trees

Hello again!
This post will be featuring work inspired by Gustav Klimt, one of my favorite artists! As a class, we looked at birch branches laying at our tables, described the color, texture, smell, etc. It was a great way for students to observe the real thing! We then looked examples of Klimt's birch tree paintings, as well as images I took of birch trees while camping in Maine! We talked about landscapes, perspective, and horizon lines. We then used painters tape to create our tree trunks and branches! 
Next class, we learned the wet on wet technique with watercolors, and painted our sky and ground how we saw fit. We also used salt for an added texture! The best day is when we get to remove the tape, revealing beautiful white birch trees! all we need to do is add their characteristic black lines, and the artworks were finished! 
This is a wonderful project, the students learn so much, and everyone is successful! 






Thank you for visiting!!