What are you doing?

I asked that very question to one of my first grade students this week as he worked on sketching his animal for our first project. After asking him what he was doing, I expected an answer like, you know, "drawing" or "making a horse". Nope...he replied "Disco" and began to dance right there in his seat. So random...made me smile.

For most classes this week, they were introduced to their first projects. I typically introduce projects by showing a PowerPoint of at least 10-15 images. I like bringing in a wide variety of things to show them, especially since we are studying art history this year. I want students to get a wide perspective on the topics we are studying. It is not uncommon for me to also show students videos or to bring in objects to pass around to examine individually. All classes, 1st-6th, are starting projects that focus on art styles/periods during or before the Middle Ages.

WARNING: This post will be long and full of information and pictures. :)

The 1st grade is starting off with a project about cave painting. I introduced students to a variety of cave paintings located throughout the world. I mainly shared images with them this week, however next week, I will be reading several short picture books to them as a reminder of what we talked about this week. After the introduction, students created sketches of the animals they will be drawing on their cave painting artwork.

The 2nd grade started stained glass windows. We focused mainly on the windows of the Middle Ages, but I could not resist showing them how stained glass windows have evolved from being seen solely on churches throughout the world, to being in households and businesses today. They thought the modern examples were great, especially those that show characters from cartoons. Sadly, they were unable to start working on the sketches this week, although I did hear them discussing some really awesome possibilities!

The 3rd grade started Romanesque jewelry. I don't think jewelry is covered enough in elementary art classes. The entire time I was in school, I don't remember doing a jewelry project. It was something you didn't do because the "boys might not like it". I'll admit, when I said we were doing jewelry for our first project all of the boys let out this sigh. There face said, "Really Mrs. Chance?" However, I was extremely happy to see that by the end of my presentation, the boys were totally into it. They loved the examples I showed them, especially the portraits. I asked students to try to sketch 5 designs for the medallion we will be creating and they had no problem doing that. In fact, most of the boys exceeded my suggestion.

The 4th grade started Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is funny how things work out. Little did I know, the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade went on a field trip the day after I introduced hieroglyphics to the 4th grade. They went and saw the King Tut exhibit at the State Museum. This week, students practiced writing their name using the hieroglyph handout I gave them. We will be creating these hieroglyphs next week in a cartouche that will be surrounded by ancient Egyptian symbols.

The 5th grade started Sumi-e landscapes. Sumi-e artworks are ink wash based paintings from Japan. I briefly introduced this type of artwork with students, however, for our first day we mainly focused on defining and identifying landscapes, as well as discussing composition.

The 6th grade started Greek Vases, in particular black-figure pottery. I am hoping that I will be able to take students to our local art museum to see a few of their Greek vases. It is one thing to see these objects on a screen and another to see them in real life. I explained to students that these vases primarily depicted images of Greek mythology and daily Greek life. For our projects, I assigned students to create a vase that depicts something that is personally important to them.

 Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the K4 this week. We created paintings that show the results of mixing the primary colors together. We will be finishing this project on Wednesday, so I will try to post pictures then.

The K5 students also worked with primary colors this week. Using red, blue, and yellow watercolor paints, students painted three of their ice cream scoops.

Last but not least, Art Club continued to work on their Romero Britto inspired artworks. This week, they finished laying down the tape that will create their thick black lines, and drew one pattern into the different sections that were created by placing the tape on the canvas.

Wow! We did a ton this week! I'll have even more to share with you next week, including the first finished project of the year!!!! Hooray!

What a Week!!!

Before I share what students did this week, I have to share with you what I have been working on for the art room. I have one small window in my art room and it doesn't have much of a view. In the spring and summer, the view is of a lot of leaves from the tree outside, and in fall and winter, we can see just the side of the library across the street. A couple of years ago, I decided to make the space a little more cheerful with some bright and colorful bugs that I created on transparencies. Well needless to say, I got a little tired of the bugs and felt like the window could use a makeover. So, since we are studying art history this year, I decided to create a stained glass window. The pattern is apparently based on one from the art deco period, although I decided to use a little more color...it is in an art room after all :)

The window was a big hit with students. They loved all the color and felt it was much better to look at instead of the dull view we usually see.

This week, the 1st-6th continued to review the Elements of Art. We finished our review this week with texture, value, and space. Since there were only three elements to discuss, students had plenty of time to work on the Chihuly collaborative project I shared with you a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully we will have that all finished and up for display in a couple of weeks.

Last week, the K4 and K5 started their first project by doing a little sketching. This week we began drawing elements for our actual artworks. As I said last week, the K4 is creating a project based on the book "Mouse Paint", so naturally the K4 drew and colored a mouse that will playing in some paint next week.

This week, the K5 created large scoops of ice cream that they will be painting next week using the primary and secondary colors.

Additionally, this week marked the beginning of Art Club!!! For our projects this year, we will be studying artists that are working presently and to kick off the year, we are beginning with Romero Britto. I love his art! It is so happy...full of pattern and color! The students are making individual paintings but they will be created in such a way that it will form one giant mural (hopefully). I started by showing students my example.

Students this week did what I called step 1 and 2...drawing three shapes (geometric or organic) and creating their wide lines using strips of painters tape.

Needless to say, it was an awesome week in the art room! On a side note, I got to do something wonderful last night....here's a little back story first. Sometime last spring, I watched a documentary on PBS called "Beauty is Embarrassing" about the artist Wayne White. I was instantly hooked on it because he was one of the main creators of the set and puppets on the show "Peewee's Playhouse" and the animator and set designer on "Beakman's World", both of which I watched quite often growing up. I found it extremely interesting and funny and I love how he wanted to bring that sense of fun and humor into the art world. Well a couple of weeks ago, I saw an ad in the paper saying that he was going to be speaking at our local museum! Let's just say I wasted absolutely no time ordering my ticket. So, last night I got to see the documentary again (as great as the first time) and Wayne White presented after the movie was over. Not only was it awesome seeing him in person, but he also shared with us some of his current projects, like his large horse puppets that are being shown in Houston, TX right now. He also showed us some of his great word paintings in which he paints a funny, humorous, and often thoughtful phrase onto an old painting that he purchases from a thrift store. My favorite was "The Most Expensive Painting in the World".

Now, for those parents that are thinking about sharing his works or documentary with your kids...he has a lot of examples that would be totally fine to show younger kids. However, he also has several examples out there that are not that appropriate for the younger ones. Make sure that you do your research first :) All in all, it was a fantastic experience and I was so happy that I had the opportunity!!!

The Old and the New

As promised now for the last couple of weeks, this post will be an explanation of the upcoming year.

Starting off with the 1st-6th grades. Students this week have been reviewing the Elements of Art. As most of you know, the Elements of Art are the building blocks of art. In other words, artists use the elements, mixing them together to compose a work of art. Knowing the elements of art helps us to not only compose a great work of art, but it also helps us to describe and analyze the work of others. Students will need to understand this information in order to fully participate in the projects we create this year because we will exploring Art History ABC's!!!

Each grade level will be creating a project, each based on four letters of the alphabet. Each of the four letters will represent a period or style from throughout time, including ancient art, art of the middle ages/renaissance, art of the 1500-1800’s and modern art. During our Art Show (typically held at the beginning of May), all work created by students will be displayed together to create the entire alphabet!

This week the 1st through 6th grades reviewed color, line, shape, and form. Next week, students will be reviewing texture, value, and space. In a couple of weeks, we will beginning our first projects. Each grade will start off by exploring ancient art!

The K4 and K5 will be exploring the Elements of Art all year. For our first project, we are exploring color, in particular primary and secondary colors.

The K4 read the book "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh. After reading the book, we conducted a "color experiment" to see how the primary colors mixed to create the secondary colors. K4 students also practiced sketching mice.

The K5 students also read the book "Mouse Paint". After we read the book, which was a review for many of the students, we sketched ice cream cones. For their first project, students will be drawing and painting scoops of ice cream, using the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) first, then mixing them to create the secondary color scoops (purple, green, and orange). After we paint all 6 scoops, students will stack their ice cream to create a giant ice cream cone. Here are some pictures of their sketches...

Next week marks the beginning of Art Club!!! This year, we will be studying contemporary artists...artist that are all working today. Art Club Littles will be on Thursdays this year and Art Club Bigs will be on Fridays. For our first project, we will be creating a large-scale painting based on the works of Romero Britto! Lots of pictures to come!

I Got the Liebster Award!!!

Wow!!!!!! Mr. R, from My Messy Art Room, has selected me for a Liebster Award! I am so excited about this! I have been following blogs for years that have received this award in the past and never imagined that I would get it! Thanks Mr. R!!!!

So, what is a Liebster Award?

The Liebster Award has been passed on through the blogging community for many years. The term "liebster" in German means "kindest, dearest, or beloved". The point of the award is to point out up and coming blogs with fewer than 200 followers that are worth reading.

How do I participate in the Liebster Award?

There are several rules that I have to follow in order to accept and pass on this award. They are...
1. Thank the individual who selected me (Thanks again Mr. R!  mymessyartroom.blogspot.com)
2. Answer the questions posted by Mr. R
3. Share 11 random facts about me
4. Create 11 questions for the 5 blogs I select for the award
5. Contact my chosen blogs and let them know I selected them for the award

Questions from Mr. R

1.     If you could be something other than a teacher, what would it be? It would be one of two things. First, I would probably be a band director or play in an orchestra. I participated in everything band related in both middle and high school and play the clarinet, oboe, alto and tenor saxophone. Second choice would be a meteorologist. I have always been really interested in the weather.

2.     Favorite movie quotes of all time? Absolutely anything from “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (“Beagles love blueberries”, “That’s just weak songwriting. You wrote a bad song Petey!”, “If what I think is happening, IS happening…It better not be.”)

3.     Favorite childhood toy that I wish I still had today?  Since I couldn’t bring everything with me to South Carolina, I had to leave a lot of my favorite toys at home in Kentucky. One of my very favorites that I wish I had with me here is my big stuffed dinosaur. My Mema made him for me and I named him Blue (cause he is blue).

4.     If you could own any piece of art, who would it be by and what would it be? Why? Luckily for me, I own a print from my favorite artist, Charley Harper. However, if I could own any other artwork, it would be one of two artists. One would be any work by Monet. There is just something magical about his works, the colors, the way the brushstrokes show his quick movements. Secondly, I really like the photography of William Wegman. Dogs are my favorite animal and I remember being little and seeing his short skits on Sesame Street.

5.     Coke or Pepsi? Both…but when it comes to soda, I had rather have a Mt. Dew or Squirt. Drink of choice, though, is sweet tea.

6.     Yeast-based or cake donuts? Yeast-based! Cream filled and glazed with chocolate!

7.     If you could have any superpowers, what would they be and why? I would want to be like Storm from X-Men and be able to control the weather. Again, I am really interested in the weather and it doesn’t snow enough here in SC J

8.     Favorite Pixar movie? “Finding Nemo”! I want to go see P. Sherman of 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney 

9.     Night Owl or Early Riser? Neither. I like going to bed around 10 p.m. and if I wake up too early, nothing is better than taking little cat naps until around 10 a.m.

10.  If it were your last day on earth before going to colonize Mars, what would you want to do? First, that would never be me. I have never flown and don’t really enjoy the thought of it. However, if I were much braver, I would spend the day with my family in Kentucky going to all our favorite places or hanging around at my mom and dad’s going through photo albums and home videos.

11 random facts about me

1.     I have been married for 5 years to my high school sweetheart. We have been together for 11 years total.

2.     I have two mini dachshunds, Cash and June

3.     I love cheeseburgers, sushi, and fried crappie

4.     I am originally from western Kentucky

5.     Big fan of Hayao Miyazaki (especially “My Neighbor Totoro”), but Wes Anderson is my favorite movie director

6.     Love shopping for antiques and treasures

7.     I am currently learning how to play the ukulele

8.     I worry about things more than I probably should

9.     I really want to write and illustrate a picture book. I have always been a fan of picture books, especially Dr. Seuss

10.  I am a pretty pale person and sun burn fairly easily (got one this past weekend)

11.  I collect photographs of dogs. While I enjoy any of them, I prefer to look for black and white images. The older the better. I also love when the owner has written the dog’s name on the back of the photo.

Blogs I have selected

1. Tatjanaknudsen.blogspot.com @ Meet the Creative Part of Me

2. Ms. Keller @ splishsplashsplatterart.blogspot.com

3. Mr. Hall @ artwithmrhall.blogspot.com

4. Amy @ amysartsyadventures.blogspot.com

5. Artatmassac.blogspot.com

Question for my nominees

1.     When you were little, say 5 or so, what did you want to be when you grew up?

2.     Favorite animal? Why?

3.     If you could have dinner with any artist, who would it be and what would you eat?

4.     Do you have any pet peeves?

5.     What is your favorite Crayola crayon name?

6.     If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?

7.     What are your all time favorite songs?

8.     What are four words that would describe you?

9.     What is your favorite item of clothing?

10.  If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself on your first day of teaching art?

11.  Chocolate or vanilla?

  

A Wonderful Week in the Neighborhood

Let me start of by saying that I love my job! I am so happy to be back at school, finished with my masters degree and able to focus on teaching!

Secondly, sorry for not posting this on Saturday. My mom, dad, and Nana came to visit. We did a lot of shopping and also got to go visit Folly Beach (one of my favorite places ever!) and Fort Sumter.

Our first week, although more business oriented, was a fun one. With all grades, K4-6th, we started by reading the book "The Museum" by Susan Verde (illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds). Such a good book! Additionally, it really lended itself well to the discussion we had about the projects that we will be working on this year. We also discussed the Artist Rules and my reward system commonly known in my room as "The Points".

I hate for students to not be able to create any art on the first day. I remember going to the first day of art in middle school and was so disappointed that we had to listen to rules the whole class period. The 1st-6th grade are creating a collaborative project based on the works of Dale Chihuly. Instead of using glass, we are using transparencies and Sharpies to create "swirls" that will be put together to create one large artwork. In a few weeks, it will displayed in the upstairs hallway. The pictures below are of students creating their swirl.

For all of you that missed it, Back to School Night was this past Tuesday. I took pics of my displays to share with you. 

This week, most students are reviewing the elements of art. However, the K4 and K5 will be starting their first projects. Can't wait to share! Look for my post on Saturday, I promise :)

Hooray!

Two more days until Art classes start for students! The art room and I are totally ready. We have a big first day coming up. Along with the usual review of rules and procedures, we will be starting a school-wide collaborative project inspired by the work of Dale Chihuly.

Now that school is back in full swing, I will be posting updates every weekend (usually Saturdays). Also, parents don't forget to come to Back to School Night this Tuesday. You can check out the art room, preview some of the projects we will be working on this year, as well as sign your child up for Art Club (going to be awesome this year...will explain in detail in a couple of weeks).

And with that....LET THE SCHOOL YEAR BEGIN!!!

Back from Vacation!

Well as the title of this post implies, I just returned home from a super fun weekend vacation! When my husband and I were on our honeymoon 5 years ago, we visited Chattanooga, TN. While there, we visited Rock City. We made a promise with the owner that day that we would visit again on our 5th anniversary.

Our anniversary was actually on July 25, so we were a couple of weeks off. Also, for this trip we decided that before we went to Chattanooga we would visit Georgia, specifically Atlanta. Neither Mr. Chance or I have visited Georgia before...which is kinda sad considering we live relatively close to it. Well, better late than never :)

While in Atlanta on Saturday, we visited Zoo Atlanta, IKEA, and the High Museum of Art to see the Girl with a Pearl Earring exhibit. I was very impressed with all of the places we visited, especially the High. If you ever have the chance to stop by and see it, I would highly recommend it! Obviously, we did not have enough time to visit Atlanta, but for the few places we did go, we had a blast!

BTW, Rock City was awesome again. I loved it when I was 7, I loved it 5 years ago and I loved it this time. We are now actually planning on going to back every 5 years.

It is hard to believe that school starts next week. School actually starts for me on Thursday. Although I would not mind a few more trips, I am super excited for school to start and found myself talking about it numerous times during our vacation. I can't wait to see everyone and get a fabulous year of art started!!!

As for my picture here....this was located outside of the reptile house at Zoo Atlanta. Had to share it with everyone :)