Post #100 HOORAY

Wow! 100 posts already! I can't believe all of the things that we have done over the last couple of years. I really enjoy blogging and am super glad that I started mine. Not only has it been a way for me to remember all of the wonderful artworks that students have created and accomplishments we have achieved, but it has allowed me to share everything that goes on with parents, members of our community and everyone out there in the world. I have appreciated all of the wonderful comments over the years and look forward to hundreds of more posts in the future!

This week was a relatively normal week and students were able to accomplish a lot. With that said, on to this week's update...

K4: With the completion of our glue resist paintings last week (see post below for pictures!), we started a new project this week. I introduced students to the work of artist Wayne Thiebaud. I love his art...how creamy his pastries actually look, the bright colors of the candies, and the overlapping delicious compositions! After showing students a number of his paintings, I shared with students two of his paintings of gumball machines and told students that we would be creating our own gumball machines. To begin this process, students used a cork and tempera paint to stamp neat, round circles to make "gumballs".

K5: Students in K5 have also recently finished a project (look at the posts below for their still life artworks). Since our self-critique session went so well a couple of months ago, I decided for students to work on another one. I am so proud of how honest students are with their critiques! Great job everyone!

1st: We are still working hard on coloring our American Realism drawings. As I have been telling students "slow and steady wins the race!"

2nd: This week was a little crazy for the second grade students. Due to two fire drills, we were only left with about 10 minutes to work...not enough time for painting. So instead of just wasting time or playing a game, I asked students to critique each others work in pairs. Students were very helpful to one another and offered a lot of good suggestions. With their new game plans, students are ready to begin painting again next week.

3rd: Last week, students began their Impressionistic landscapes by laying down their base layer of paint using their fingers. YAY for finger painting! This week, many students were able to finish their base layer and began layering different colors on their landscapes giving it the impression of a certain time of day. I am very excited about these! The colors are so bright and I am proud of how fearless students have been about layering and adding colors to their artworks that they would normally not consider.

4th: Students are almost finished with their Ming Vase artworks. They look so good! I can't wait to share the finished works next week!!!

5th: We finally started our collagraphs!!! We had to do some changes to this project because of the number of days that we missed, so the collagraph portion of this project has now been updated to the background. Students were able to choose any design they liked. We will be using Styrofoam next week, to add the cat design we created earlier before all of the snow and ice.

6th: Students are continuing work on their weather vanes. Beginning next week, most students will be moving on to the next step...painting!

Art Club: Members of Art Club are still working on their Palissy Ware. Not much has changed from last week to this week. Most of the younger students have began painting their sculptures, while many of the older students are still sculpting.

Mosaic News: I cannot believe how much we have gotten done. It amazes me every time I look at it! It seems like we just started it and now we may only need two more days until it is finished!

Hooray Normal

This week was one of the first normal weeks we have had since we returned to school from Christmas break. Needless to say, we were all relieved! Students were able to come in to the Art room knowing that we were going to be able to work and get a lot accomplished...and we did just that. I am once again happy to share with you this week's full, complete update!

K4: Students have now finished their glue resist paintings. I had three students this week that needed to complete the painting portion of the project. Since all three were able to finish on Wednesday, we are now ready to start a new project this upcoming week. I am excited about this one...printmaking!!!

K5: After carefully creating each component of their still life artworks, K5 students were finally able to assemble their creations. Students began by cutting out a bowl shape from their brown painted paper. This was then glued to their background and the food was arranged last. I love how these have turned out. I am so happy you can see all of the wonderful highlights and shadows that students included while creating their fruits with oil pastels. There is still one student that has not finished, so I will not be posting a full slide show of all the finished works until next week, but here are a few that finished up this week.

1st: Students are continuing to color their Realism drawings. We are inching closer to being done. I am so proud of how students are taking their time with this project. It is really paying off and their artworks look great!

2nd: Most of the 2nd grade students began painting their "What Would Make You Scream" sculptures this week. We created what I call the base layer. Next week, I will be showing students how to paint smaller details and how to add additional layers of color. I also had a few students start to create their sculptures this week, due to being absent when we originally did our sculpting.

3rd: Students began creating their final Impressionist landscapes this week by finger painting. We practiced a few weeks ago, so students were totally ready and excited about creating their final artworks. Many students were able to get quite a bit done. We still have several more days of painting ahead of us and it will be fun to see how these artworks progress.

This does not have much to do with the 3rd grade project, but it did result from the paint that they used. As the 3rd grade students were cleaning up on Wednesday, I asked them to drop their palettes into a large bin I have in my sink that contained warm water. I clean the palettes for students after they leave each day. I know that they can clean and I had rather them have 5 or 10 extra minutes to work than to have to stop super early and clean. Anyway, after they left I began to clean all of the palettes. Once I was finished, I had a bin full of dark, muddy looking water...nothing pretty to look at. I dumped it out and waited for all the liquid to drain so I could rinse out my bin a couple of times before setting it aside to dry. When I returned to the sink, I saw this amazing kaleidoscope of color. The 6th graders, who had just come in for Art, did not want me to clean the paint out of the sink. So, I preserved this moment and awesome sink art through photography.

4th: Last week, the fourth grade had just started creating their cherry blossom branches when school was dismissed early. So, we spent this week finishing what we started. I love how these look. I have seen this process done before on several different blogs and we did something very similar to this when I was in school. The results are fabulous every time!

5th: Sadly again this week, the 5th graders were unable to come to Art. This week they were on a field trip. Hopefully, I will see them next week so we can start working on our collagraphs :)

6th: Students resumed work on their weather vanes this week. Most students are still in the decoupaging stage, but a few are beginning to paint their weather vanes copper. Here's how they are looking...

Art Club: We are continuing work on our Palissy Ware. Students are at different levels with this project currently. Most of the younger students were able to start painting this week, while a majority of the older students are still hard at work sculpting. Our current goal is that by the end of next week, all students will be able to start painting their sculptures.

Mosaic News: We are progressing right along. In fact, it is surprising each week to step back and see how much we have accomplished in such a short time. I am so pleased with how it is looking so far and I love seeing how enthusiastic students are when working on it!

Last but not least, you may be wondering "Mrs. Chance...why didn't you post yesterday?" I try to post every Saturday and have since I started this blog at the beginning of 2012, but not yesterday. In addition to a baby shower that I attended (sooooo cute!), I also attended the school's annual auction. I have to say that this year was wonderful! The night started out with food and the beginning of the silent auction. A live auction was held at 8 PM, followed by the end of the silent auction at 9 PM. For various reasons, I have not been able to attend an auction for the past couple of years, so I was determined that this year I would be taking something home. I am happy to report that not only did I have some delicious shrimp and grits for dinner, but I won a Lowcountry cookbook along with an awesome glass chip and dip set, although it is so pretty it will probably be more of a decorative item in my house. Don't want salsa covering up how cool it is :)

Posters, Painting, and Palissy Ware

Sorry I was unable to post like I normally do yesterday. Mr. Chance and I left Friday night to go to Atlanta to my sister's graduation. She now has her master's degree! Congrats to my sis!

We didn't return home until late last night, so needless to say, posting had to wait until this morning :)

Anyway, here's this week's update...

K4: Last week, students began creating glue resist paintings. We applied the glue last week, but had to wait until this week to paint. I gave students the option of using two of the primary colors. Students were allowed to paint their canvas in any way they wanted. I wanted them to explore how the colors mix and to practice using and holding the paintbrush properly. By applying the paint to not only the canvas, but also directly on top of the glue, it allowed the glue to release itself from the canvas. Once the paint had dried several hours later, I was able to peel the dried glue off to reveal the nice white canvas underneath. I really love how these have turned out! They remind me a lot of Jackson Pollock paintings. In fact, I am planning on teaching the K4 about him next week and comparing their artworks to Pollock's.

Just for a little clarification...the first two images are the entire artworks and the bottom image is a close-up. I wanted to share all the cool little cracks and grooves. 

 K5: We are almost ready to assemble our still life artworks! This week, we created the last component...the background. Can't wait to put everything together next week!

1st-6th: Because the Art Fair was cancelled due to the snow, I wanted students to still be able to share their hard work and creativity with their classmates. Additionally, I was interested in the choices that they made, especially why they chose their artwork. So, we spent Tuesday and Wednesday discussing the Art Fair displays. I am so glad that we had a day to do this. Students and I really learned a lot! I heard many really cool stories and was proud to hear such great opinions! Great job everyone!

Art Club: We started our Palissy Ware artworks. After a fantastic discussion last week, students were ready to start sculpting their great ideas. They really considered many different aspects of the animal that they chose including its habitat and the relationship their animal has with other animals in their environment.

The two different groups will have slightly different artworks. The younger group is using "Model Magic" and larger platters, while the older group is using polymer clay and smaller platters. Here's how they are looking so far...

Some additional things to share with you...

1. This week started the new school wide mosaic project. The art teacher from the high school, Mrs. Allen, will be coming to our school several days this month to work with every student on creating the mosaic! I am really excited about this! I love how we are using the school's logo and how each student will get to play a special part in the creation of this artwork!

2. This is just cool. Mr. Chance is a chemist. I spend a lot of time at his lab while he works in the evening. I was there the other night removing the glue from the K4 resist projects. As I was peeling glue, I noticed that the paint had dried in a really interesting way on top of the glue, especially the orange for some reason. Well, I wanted to get a better look at it so I put a small piece under the microscope. Neato!!!

Things will hopefully go back to normal next week. Everyone should be resuming their current projects. Additionally, we will be beginning to put the first pieces on our mosaic!