1st Grade Self-Portraits

First Grade are finishing up their self-portraits. We looked at all different kinds of portraits-paint, clay, drawing, collage, to understand that a self-portraits can be made out of many materials. I guided the students in drawing the accurate shapes and sizes for facial features, and we even used mirrors to help us along. They were colored with markers, and the background was created from another paper that we printed (or stamped) on with different objects. Most of the students made patterns with the printing, some created a frame around the self-portrait. Here's a few to enjoy, more will come soon!

3rd Grade Snowflake Collages

Winter is coming! Winter is coming! Where are those snowflakes? Well, if they don't come soon, it's okay because we are going to be creating them in the Art room. Third grade is learning how to identify all those color groups, like warm, cool, primary, secondary, and neutral. They are using liquid watercolors and a color group to create a painting and even adding salt to add "frost". The salt absorbs the liquid color and leaves frost-like shapes. Next, students will learn to fold and cut snowflakes, which helps us understand symmetry and radial design.The last step will be to arrange and glue the snowflakes, but we aren't quite that far yet!

Kinder Texture Rubbings

Kindergarten has been learning about texture in Art. I showed students pictures of objects and animals and asked them to tell me how that particular 'thing' would feel on their fingertips. We learned the four 'staples' of texture: Hard, Rough, Soft, and Smooth. Next, we folded a piece of paper three times, traced the fold lines, and began to create texture rubbings with texture plates and crayons. Finally, I encouraged the kinders to explore textures in the room and find objects and areas to create texture rubbings from. It was a blast!

Happy Dia de los Muertos!

Happy Dia de los Muertos! (Day of the Dead). Art class is a great opportunity for learning about other cultures. If you're curious about all these skulls you might be seeing, these are calaveras, which is spanish for skull. We have been looking in particular at sugar skulls, which are a popular figure of Dia de los Muertos. We've been learning about this holiday and creating calaveras in different ways for the grade levels: 2nd grade painting, 3rd grade mask-making, 4th grade permanent marker drawing, and 5th grade printmaking.

Kindergarten Jack O' Lanterns

These little guys were drawn in black crayon (with curved lines to make our pumpkin look round and real) and painted with warm colors. Next we used black paper and cut different shapes for the face, discussing how many sides a triangle has, how to cut a circle from a square, etc. They are very cute and they are on display in the staircase across from the gymnasium!

3rd Grade and 2nd/3rd Grade Mulit-Age Ceramic Leaf Forms

We are very excited about these Ceramic Leaves in 3rd grade! These leaves are not geometric, but organic forms made from clay. Clay is an excellent material to use because it challenges us to think about the spatial quality in art and requires a specific process to follow. We wedged our clay, rolled a slab, and traced the shape of a leaf using a real, "up-north" leaf. Next we added lines and texture and worked the clay into the form we wanted. They were put into the kiln, we glazed them (making sure to organize our colors and design), and now we are just waiting in anticipation for them to come back out of the kiln! More pictures to follow...

1st Grade Spiderwebs

First grade are completing their spiderwebs in Art right now... We learned and used directional lines like HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL, and DIAGONAL to draw a spiderweb on a black piece of paper. Next we traced our lines in glue and after the glue dried, we used oil pastel to create a pattern with colors. We read "Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti", learned about the characteristics of spiders, and cut and glued a spider from geometric shapes. They did a great job with the glue and these are just in time for Halloween!