Wow! That's A Lot!

Yes...that is a lot of art! I felt extremely pleased with not only how much art was created this week, but also with the quality of the art. Students are so excited about showing their work off in a couple of weeks at our Art Show. I'm going to go ahead and say now, that I am a very happy and proud art teacher!

K4:  In order for a couple of students to catch up from being absent, I skipped to a upcoming step in our project. As you might have read in previous posts, we are working on creating clay Very Hungry Caterpillar sculptures. Last week, students were able to paint their beads to reflect the iconic greens of the caterpillar. I was planning on putting our sculptures together this week, but it really wasn't fair for the three students that did not receive the opportunity to paint their beads last week. So, what ended up happening was those three students painted their beads to prepare for next week, and the other students create "plates" of food for our "very hungry" caterpillars to eat. Several different types of food were drawn, including cookies, suckers and candy, and Swiss cheese.

K5: Many students are finishing up their Rainbow Zebras. This week students added the hair to their zebra's mane. It was so interesting to see how just a little bit of yarn gave these artworks so much personally! 

1st: I have been promising it for a couple of weeks now...the big Cubism transformation! After students finished coloring their background, they began carefully cutting their artwork into geometric sections and arranging them onto a piece of 12 x 18" construction paper. They are looking so cool...almost like a mini mosaic!

2nd: After creating our fabulous Hundertwasser houses last week, we started on creating the background this week. Hundertwasser is known for using bright, bold, fun color in his artworks, so what better background than a piece of painted paper? Students were allowed to choose any three colors and worked on creating areas where these colors blended on their paper. The results are gorgeous! 

3rd: Students continued work on their Kandinsky Circle assemblages this week. I love how these are turning out! By the way, I shared last week that I was debating on hanging these individually at the upcoming Art Show or hanging them as a group....I totally decided to hang them as a group. They look so cool together :)

4th: Students added the fictional elements to their photographs. They had so much fun doing this and were so eager to share their ideas and creations with one another. In fact, I am planning on taking a few minutes of class next week to allow them to share with each other. They are so proud of what they have created! Also, pardon my hand being in all of the pictures. It is difficult to take a picture of glossy 5 x 7" photos without glare.

5th: This week was the final week of printmaking. Students finished up both their collagraphs and relief prints. I will be taking pictures of the three "best" prints that they choose to turn in to share with you next week.

6th: Sadly, I will not get to see the sixth grade students next week  because of their trip to Washington D.C. However, before they left for the weekend to prepare for their awesome trip, they did some great work on their Fauvism inspired Palmetto Trees. Please remember that these artworks will be for sale at the Art Show on May 8th. All proceeds will go to help pay for both the Washington D.C. trip and graduation. I am hoping that once students return from their trip and spring break, that I can post a preview of the finished artworks before our Art Show. For now though, here is how they are coming along...

Art Club: The younger students finished their Paul Wackers inspired tapestries this week. Look for pictures later today! Super cool! The older students are still hard at work on theirs. I am thinking that it may take a couple more weeks for theirs to be complete, but here's how they look so far....

Mosaic News: I am soooo happy to announce that the mosaic is now complete!!! We placed the last piece of glass on it Friday afternoon. After break, Mrs. Allen will be coming in to grout it. I cannot wait for it to be installed!!!!

Next  week, I will only be seeing the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades on Tuesday due to our school retreat on Wednesday and the start of spring break on Thursday. It will be a short post, but definitely one worth checking out. I will be posting my update, hopefully, on Saturday next week, but it is very possible that it could be Sunday. I promise though, there will be an update :)

Oh Geez

Really calendar. Why must you be so mean to me? I realized yesterday that we are three short weeks, and only two more art classes away from spring break. EEK! Where has all the time gone? That means we only have 3/4 classes left before our big Art Show on May 8th! Despite the recent reportings of "spring fever" around the school, students have been really focused in Art and I am hoping that we can get a few more pieces done despite the time crunch we have now entered.

Got a big update for you today, picture heavy too...but well worth it I promise :)

K4: Big news...I have decided to change our project slightly. I was talking with Mrs. R, the K4 teacher, about how I intended for students to create necklaces which display a certain pattern (through color). As students finished busily working on creating their beads using Model Magic, Mrs. R had an epiphany...why don't we use the beads to create caterpillars? Yes! As we further collaborated on this new idea, she suggested that it be based on Eric Carle's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and I suggested that we could display the caterpillars on a paper plate that students will paint to look like food (like a watermelon, cookie, pancake, orange...) I am very excited about this newly developed project! Students will still be fulfilling all of the objectives from the past project (creating beads from clay, creating a pattern, threading a pipe cleaner through each bead) however, I feel that this project is a little more solid and will be a ton of fun!

K5: Most students spent this week coloring a full piece a paper using as many colors as possible. Why you might ask? Well, this paper will become the stripes for our rainbow zebras. Many of the students were able to finish, however we will need to spend a few minutes finishing up next week. I am hoping that I am able to share a couple of pictures with you next week of much more colorful zebras.

 
1st: Tuesday was a big day for the 1st grade because they were able to come to Art twice (the second class was a make-up session since I had to miss the past Tuesday). During the first class, students were introduced to artist George Braque and Cubism. Students discussed his different artworks and loved trying to guess and find all the objects included in his Cubist paintings. After completing our discussion, I introduced the new project to students which will be to create a Cubist style artwork of a musical instrument. During the second class, students were able to begin sketching, drawing, and coloring their favorite instrument. Next week, we will start working on the background and preparing it for a big Cubism makeover!

2nd: We are still hard at work on "constructing" our Hundertwasser houses. Students are in love with this project! They are having such a good time creating their house, choosing the "paint" colors and "landscaping". After a quick demo about using markers to their fullest potential, students did have the opportunity to begin coloring, however, I wanted to wait and show you their houses once they are fully completed.

3rd: After only having a very brief period to plan out their artwork last week, I decided to give students a full class to think, prepare and plan for their Kandinsky Circle Assemblage project. Students had to have two things planned before the end of class on Wednesday, what color each layer of their circle is going to be and what materials they will be using to construct their assemblage. Beginning next week, we will be putting them all together!

4th: Students spent Tuesday planning for their photography project. I asked students to think of two different locations where they would like to take their picture and how they will alter their photography to create a fictional narrative. We are all crossing our fingers that it doesn't rain on Tuesday this upcoming week. Over half of the students want to take their picture outside. Here's hoping for a sunny day!!!

5th: I am so happy with the results of our collagraph prints! Students have worked so hard and are so pleased with the results of all of their efforts! I can't wait until we add our relief prints on top next week!

6th: With most students having completed the weather vanes, I decided to go ahead and teach students about Fauvism! After a brief discussion about key characteristics of the style and showing students several different examples, including a few by Matisse and Derain, I demonstrated how students will be painting a Fauvist inspired Palmetto Tree. Students will be creating this for not only our next project, but also as a fundraiser for the 6th grade's Washington DC trip. We will be having a silent auction during the Art Show on May 8th where these pieces will be for sale! Before creating our final paintings, students will be doing a lot of practicing. Wednesday marked the first practice day for 6th graders.

Art Club: Everyone is now working on their Paul Wacker's inspired tapestry. The older students just started this week discussing the concept of collecting and Wacker's work, while the younger students began creating their tapestries. Here's how they are looking so far...

In other cool news...I was walking around the room as the first graders finished up their instrument drawings and noticed a pretty cool free draw. "Z" started with nothing but a line, but by adding layers and a few squares here and there came up with an awesome cityscape. Nice Job!

A Shout Out to Pollen

Thank you pollen for what you do to me every spring. Not fun. As soon as Christmas ends, I know a day will be coming when my allergies will go crazy. That day came this week. I woke up Monday coughing and sneezing and only was able to get 2 hours of sleep Monday night/Tuesday morning. I had to miss school. I hate missing, I really do...especially when we are starting new things or things I have been waiting to do with the kids for weeks (like printmaking). However, I am incredibly lucky. The teachers at my school are extremely flexible and are happy to reschedule any class that I miss. I was able to make up two of the four a couple of days ago.

I am happy to report that my allergies are now straightened out. I am feelin' good and am ready for next week! But first, here's this week's update...

K4: Before we start our new project next week on jewelry, I wanted to see what students knew about patterns. To begin our activity, I read students the book "A Pair of Socks" by Stuart J. Murphy (illustrated by Lois Ehlert). Students looked at each sock and we discussed if the patterns of the socks made a match. After we finished reading our book, I gave each student a handout I made. Since our project will be about jewelry, the handout I created displayed three pieces of string, two of which had beads. Students were asked to color their beads in such a way that it created a pattern. I will be reviewing patterns again with students next week and then we will be creating our own beads using model magic.

K5: When students were sketching their zebras last week, I asked all of them to choose two papers that will become the background of the art. We put both of those papers together when students arrived and spent the remainder of the class period creating the bodies of our zebras. They look at little more like little white horses right now, but we will be adding our rainbow stripes in a couple of weeks.

1st: Sadly, I was not able to see the 1st grade students this week. Good thing is, I will be seeing them twice this coming Tuesday!

2nd: His name is fun to say, his artworks are even more fun to look at...Hundertwasser! Students started learning about this artist/architect yesterday. After looking at many examples of both his paintings, stamps, flags and the buildings, students started sketching ideas for their own artworks. To start this project, students will be designing their own Hundertwasser inspired houses. I love how fun they are, how almost Dr. Seuss-like they are in their design. The kids had a blast making them!

3rd: Students in third grade also started a new project this week about the works of Wassily Kandinsky. There are a lot of Kandinsky inspired projects out there on the Internet, mainly those with circles. Now don't get me wrong, I think this is a great project for the little ones (K4-5) but for third graders...not so much. A little too easy, I think, just to paint some circles. So, instead of painting, we are going to be using found objects to create our circles. I have been saving marker caps, boxes, wrapping paper and several other materials since about Christmas for students to use for this project. Students also have the option of bringing in their own materials to use...of course with parent permission. To plan this week, I asked students to think about what colors they would like to use and what materials they believe will make an interesting artwork.

4th: I am also sad to report that I didn't get to see the 4th grade this week either. Next week, we will start planning out our photographs before taking them during the first week of April.

5th: Students finally got to start printmaking this week!!! Things are looking great so far! Can't wait to pull more prints on Tuesday :)

6th: Most students have finished their weather vanes now. Things have been a little interesting due to a number of absences because of events at school. Due to students missing classes, its pushing them further behind. I will be starting a new project with them next week, but those that are not finished with their weather vanes will be using half of the class period to work on finishing up. I am hoping that in a couple of weeks, I can post the finished artworks. They look so cool!

Art Club: Younger students were introduced to the works of Paul Wackers this week. His modern still life artworks display a number of objects often arranged on shelves. Really cool. If you haven't heard of him, check his work out. I love it! For our projects, students will be making a tapestry inspired by Wackers' works. As I explained to students, we will be making a self-portrait without using a picture of ourselves. We will instead use items/objects we enjoy to represent ourselves. Here are some of their sketches...

The older students have almost finished their Palissy Ware. They will be joining the younger group next week by starting their tapestries. Here are some of their finished artworks...