Tuesday, January 28, 2014

1st Art Fair Projects


2nd Art Fair Projects


3rd Art Fair Projects


4th Art Fair Projects


5th and 6th Art Fair Projects

Due to the upcoming "Snowmageddon", I was unable to take all of the pictures of the 5th and 6th grade projects. :( Yes that's right...SNOW in South Carolina!!! Hooray! We were actually out of school today. Sadly, it hasn't made it here yet, but it is on the way. As soon as we can get back to school, I will get the rest of those pictures and post them.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

One Project, Two Project, Three Project, Four...

My Art room has become a sea of tri-fold display boards! Many of the projects have been turned in with great information, creative ideas, and great critiques and opinions! I am so proud of these displays!!! I know that I posted last week that I would try to post pictures of all of the Art Fair projects this week. Sadly, it took me about 5 hours yesterday to grade all of them. Needless to say, I ran out of time before Art Club came in. I will be going in on Monday to take pictures and set up, so look for pictures then!

Thankfully, I had extra space in the Art room to store the displays until the Art Fair so we could continue to work on all of our projects. Now, time for the update!

K4: Students learned about resists. For our project, students used blue gel glue to create the resist. After it dries, students will be painting the entire canvas, including over the top of the glue. The glue sort of protects that canvas not allowing any of the paint to reach it. As the paint dries, it helps the glue to release from the canvas easily allowing for the glue to be peeled off revealing a nice clean white line. Students only created the first step of the artwork (the glue), due to the time it takes for the glue to dry.



K5: Students worked on creating the bowls for their fruit still life. To do that, we created brown painted paper. Students began by painting a thick, even layer of brown tempera paint on their paper. Working quickly, they took a comb and dragged it on their paper through the wet paint making very cool patterns and textures. After their paper dries, we will be drawing the shape of a bowl on the back of their painted paper and will cut it out to attach to their final piece.


1st: After working on sketches last week, students began their final realism drawings this week. It seems sometimes that when we use materials that students do not use often (like colored pencils), they rush through the drawing stage in order to start coloring. I wanted for students to focus on their drawings to create one that is detailed and neat, so that is just what we did...a drawing only day! I have to say, I am glad that we did that because their drawings were fantastic! Hooray!



2nd: Students began a project on Edvard Munch. After learning about his most famous work, "The Scream", students were given the prompt to create a clay sculpture of something that would make them scream. I saw everything from spiders to monsters to sharks. I even had a student create a hot dog...he really doesn't like hot dogs. I wanted students to practice before we began our actual sculptures, so out came the Play Doh!



3rd: Many people thought I was crazy. They say it couldn't be done...

FINGER PAINTING!!!

This summer I was inspired by the painting "Impression, Sunrise" to do a Impressionism inspired finger painting with my 3rd graders. At first, students thought it was weird...I mean, some of them haven't finger painted since K4. After I showed them a few tips and tricks, students jumped in with no hesitation! I must say, I'm so excited to see how these will turn out!



4th: We are still working hard on our vases. Soon, we will begin creating the branches and cherry blossoms that the Ming vases will hold.


5th: In preparation for the construction of our collagraphs, students spent this week carefully drawing and planning out their collagraph. Students considered materials, thinking mainly about what texture the material will print, and listed their thoughts on the back of their matrix. I am already gathering supplies and am ready to begin the construction of our collagraphs!


6th: As explained to the 6th grade students when we began our weather vanes, this will be a project that takes time. Most students began the decoupage process last week. The only downside to this project is once they have finish one side of their weather vane, they cannot go on to the other...it has to dry first. Most students finished the first side of their vane this week and are patiently waiting for it to dry so they can move to the other.


Art Club: We have now finished our photographs and mixed media cities!!! Pictures to come this upcoming week!!!

The 1st-3rd grade members of Art Club were able to practice for our upcoming project. I'm not going to explain it here yet, but it involves clay!!! For our practice activity, I asked students to draw a picture of an animal. After drawing whatever animal they wanted, even the fictional varieties, students were asked to sculpt the animal they drew out of Play Doh! Super fun!!!



So next week, due to the Art Fair, classes will not be able to work on their projects. Most students will be participating in a scavenger hunt and will be answering questions for me about their Art Fair project. I will be posting an update on the K4, K5, and Art Club projects because the Art Fair will be taken down by the time their classes come to the Art room. It will be a small post, but with great updates! 

Saturday, January 18, 2014

A Flood of Projects

Thursday, students turned in their projects for our Art Fair. This is the first year that I have assigned an at-home project for students. I decided this summer that I wanted to have this Art Fair for students. Very much like a traditional science fair, I assigned students to choose one artwork. After researching it , students were to create a display showing their hard work. The overall purpose of this project was for students to start looking at art outside of the art classroom and to begin to develop their own personal tastes. I have been ecstatic about the results! Students far exceeded my expectations, both in the design of their display, but also how they are sharing their findings and personal thoughts with their peers. For the next two weeks, I will be sharing some of the projects students have turned in. The Art Fair will be held on the 28th. I will be posting every student's project that week!!!





As for the rest of the week, it did not lack in the awesome department! Here is this week's update...

K4: We have now all finished our sunflower drawings. Starting next week, students will be exploring paint. We will discuss how to hold and use a paintbrush and how the paints can mix and blend as students layer them on their artworks.

K5: The K5 students finished drawing their fruit with oil pastels. After getting all of their fruit cut out, students will be ready to create their table, bowl and background for the rest of their artwork.

1st: I asked first grade students to recreate their sketches for their American Realism project. Two weeks ago, I introduced American Realism to students not leaving them much time for sketching. This project is all about the details. I asked students to choose a place that they love to visit or be at and to draw all the things that make that place wonderful. Because students had such a limited time during our first class to sketch, I decide to dedicate one class period for students to develop their ideas. Here is what they have created so far...



2nd: All students have now finished their Rococo still life paintings. This week, students worked on their self-critiques. This coming week, students will be learning about Edvard Munch and "The Scream"!

3rd: Students were introduced to Impressionism. For their upcoming project, students will be creating a Impressionist inspired landscape using their fingers. Their main goal is to create a landscape that shows a specific time of day.

4th: Let me just say...HOLY COW!!! After the fiasco with the 6th grade Greek Vases, I thought that we had everything figured out with the scratch art process. Using the SAME tempera paint that was successful with the 6th grade projects, I had students paint two even layers of white tempera on their vases the last couple of weeks. Who knows what happened, but despite all of the testing, despite the fact that the same brand of tempera paint worked perfectly with the 6th grade, for whatever reason it did not work with the 4th grade. Their paint peeled right up. I could not believe it. I have been completely dumbfounded by the whole thing. Needless to say, I decided that there was no more time for paint experimentation (especially when the results seem to be different each time), and I decided to have students go in a different direction. Students redid their vases, this time using blue construction paper, and drew their design using a pencil. Using only white, light blue, dark blue, and  blue oil pastels, students began coloring their design. Although they were slightly disappointed that they would not get the opportunity to etch their design, they are very pleased with the results they have so far, as am I.



5th: Along with the 3rd grade, 5th grade, too, started a new project this week. After learning about several printmaking techniques, as well as about the artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, students began creating sketches for collagraphs, Our subject matter?....you may ask...cats inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec's "Chat Noir" poster.




6th: Students began decoupaging a layer of tissue paper on their weather vanes this week. I cannot wait to see these projects finished!!!! They are so cool!

Art Club: Here's another peek at our finished artworks....almost all done!!!







  

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Welcome Back


It has been a full week since I returned to South Carolina from Kentucky. It already seems like Christmas was forever ago! It was odd getting back into the rhythm and swing of school (especially since we were delayed one morning because of the super cold temperatures!),  but I was very happy to see everyone and talk about travels, presents, and fun.

Despite a late start to school on Tuesday, I was able to see all 8 of my classes in addition to both groups of Art Club. Here's what we did this week...

K4: If you look a couple of posts back, we finished our beautiful oil pastel sunflowers. I was so happy how these turned out! Great Job and Good Listening K4!!!

K5: The K5 went back to work creating their oil pastel fruits. K5 students continued to focus on blending the oil pastels creating highlights and shadows.



1st: After finishing our photo booth portraits before Christmas, the 1st grade began studying American Realism this week. I explained to students that the focus of this period was to depict the real events of everyday life without exaggeration or stylizing. After students participated in a PowerPoint, students chose a favorite location for our project. Students spent the remainder of class sketching their ideas.

2nd: I am excited to announce that students have finished their Rococo Still Life Paintings!!! However, I am disappointed to announce that I cannot show them to you until some time next week. When I left school yesterday, it was coming a flood! I DID NOT want to bring those watercolor paintings outside only to get soaked. I have looked at the weather this afternoon and next week is looking much better. Hopefully, I will get those pictures posted Tuesday afternoon. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek...



3rd: Similar to the K4, the 3rd also finished their project this week. If you look back a post or two you will see our horses inspired by the interests of Leonardo da Vinci.

4th: We are continuing work on our Ming Period inspired vases. Long story...will explain next week.

5th: Students in 5th grade also finished their artworks! You know the drill :)

6th: Students in 6th grade continued work this week on their Colonial weather vanes. Due to limited time last art class, students this week are still cutting out their design and assembling the base of their vane. We will begin to decoupage them next week.




Art Club: First and foremost, we got our tee shirts this week! They look great :) We are continuing to work on our photos and cities. There are 3 students that need to finish their photos and 4 students need to finish their cities...then the grand reveal!!! Here's another sneak peek at our work...





On next week's post, I will also be sharing with you entries from this year's Art Fair. Students were asked to choose one artwork and research it. They will be turning in their displays this coming Thursday...cannot wait!!!



3rd da Vinci Horses


K4 Sunflowers


5th Rose Windows