3rd Grade "Snowscoops"

Artwork by Sophia

I've been invited to decorate the OCS meeting room with student art in the month of January.  In order to have something "wintery" completed before we went on break, I moved this third grade project, which we did last year for the first time, to late November,  Even though it might not feel like winter yet outside, its already looking that way in the HES Art Room!  

As second graders, our third graders got some practice creating different values of the same color by tinting with white. In this project, they used both tinting and shading, this time to add shadows to their snowmen and cones to begin to give form to what would otherwise be just a two-dimensional stack of circles on a triangle. Credit for the very cute ice cream cone aspect of this lesson goes to art teacher Abby Schukei. 

Students first drew their cones and snowmen just as outlines with no details.  They then painted the snowmen white with acrylic paint (to get a good, solid white).  Then, using their blue, they added a curving shadow to one side of their scoops, and, ideally, blended it into their white.  On the cones, they started with brown acrylic then created a lighter value with some white and added it to the light side of the cone.  The following week, snowman details, and snowflakes to fill up the empty background, were added with Sharpies and oil pastels.

I really love the cartoon-character quality of these! 

Artwork by Colin

Artwork by Ian

Artwork by Lucia (a Mexico-themed Snowscoop!)

Artwork by Shannon (an Italy-themed Snowscoop!)

2nd Grade Ceramic Leaves

 

Second graders created these ceramic leaves, learning about using the shape and texture of natural objects to inspire art.  Our native dogwood leaves, as well as a few viburnum and oak leaf hydrangea leaves, chosen for their easier (than oak and maple) shape and strong veins, were pressed, vein side down, onto clay slabs. Then the leaf shape was carefully cut away from the slab with a plastic knife.  Wet fingers were used to smooth the edges of the clay leaf, and the leaves were gently set into styrofoam bowls to give them a natural-looking curve before hardening.  After bisque firing, students applied glaze lightly to preserve the vein details.

3rd Grade Silly Sentences

Artwork by Amber

("The rich horse jumped over the hairy carrot.")

This quick lesson is a great way to have some drawing fun while reinforcing parts of speech and sentence construction.  It's also especially appropriate given this year's school-wide writing focus.  

After reviewing the definitions of various parts of speech, students randomly select two adjectives, two nouns, and a verb phrase from three different bags.  I have the three parts of speech on strips of paper in three different colors for help in constructing the sentences.  (If students are not as sure about which part of speech is which, they can still put them in the right color order to construct a proper sentence.  Either way, the order for our silly sentences is "adjective-noun-verb phrase-adjective-noun."  The different colors also help make clean-up go much faster.  Usually students are able to construct at least two sentences and create drawings to illustrate them in one 45-minute period. 

Students quickly see that the random selection of their parts of speech makes for some funny sentences.  For example, the student who created the drawing above picked "rich" and "hairy" for her adjectives, "jumped over" as her verb phrase, and "horse" and "carrot" as her nouns.  From these, she constructed the following sentence to draw: "The rich horse jumped over the hairy carrot."  Of course, the challenge is in how to draw a horse that looks rich or a hairy carrot.  The students always get very creative finding solutions to these drawing challenges!   

Artwork by Lily

("The big-eared scuba diver swam with the skinny snake.")

Artwork by Cameron

("The romantic book broke up with the gigantic dragon.")

Kindergarten Four Season Trees

Artwork by Landon

Since Kindergartners spend some time learning about the four seasons in their first year of school, I use this lesson both to teach them about drawing trees and to reinforce their season lessons.  After a quick review of the number and names of the seasons, I teach them how to think of the letter "Y" when constructing a tree.  (I show them how a tree can be a big "Y" with lots of little "Y"s attached to to it,  Using a piece of 12 x 18 drawing paper that has been folded into fourths, the kinders take a crack at drawing four of these trees, one in each rectangle.  Then we have a great discussion about what one tree might look like as it goes through all of the seasons, and I color my trees accordingly on the Smartboard.  Starting in one corner, the students then color a spring, summer, fall, and winter tree using oil pastels, and finish off their works by painting the background of each "season" a different color of their choosing.   

4th Grade Glue and Pastel Sea Turtles

Artwork by Sadye

This lesson introduced the 4th graders to soft pastels and the technique of tracing their drawings with white glue to keep their pastel sections separated (both physically and visually).  The works were finished off with a cool-colored wash of the liquid watercolors we make from our dried out Crayola markers.  

We also learned a little about the amazing, ocean-spanning migrations of the sea turtles that nest on our North Carolina beaches.

Artwork by Erin

Artwork by Maya

Artwork by Samiya

A Pretty Cute Kindergarten Pumpkin

Artwork by Lucas

I'll be including more of these Kindergarten pumpkins in a later post, along with some info about the project, after all the K classes have had a chance to finish them. But for now I had to include this one for it's over-the-top cuteness. Happy Halloween!

4th Grade Matisse-inspired Collages

Rise of the Jungle by Talan

Fourth graders have been learning about complimentary colors and an artist who put them to use with great success, Henri Matisse. Late in his life, when arthritis made it impossible for him to hold a paintbrush, Matisse focused instead on creating large collages by "drawing with scissors" using painted paper.  Students were challenged not only to use complimentary colors in these cutouts, but also to keep their people, animals, objects and entire scenes abstract (not realistic) while also achieving a sense of balance in their overall compositions.  While some of these works might appear to be just a collection of random shapes, I actually think these are some of the more challenging pieces our 4th graders attempt to create.

Henri Matisse, Sorrow of the King, 1952

Spaceship by Peytin

Wizard Battle by Liam

Danger Sea by Kaden

Enrichment Ideas Page Updated

Because we'll be using it a lot during one of my enrichment clubs this quarter, I've updated the Enrichment Ideas page with several new and creative online art tools.  Even if your child isn't involved with my club, he or she may want to check these latest additions out!  You'll also find new links to the area's biggest and best art museums, which often have kid-oriented exhibitions.  If any specific shows cross my radar - and please feel free to bring them to my attention! - I'll be sure to update the page with specific info.

5th Grade Digital Photography and Editing

"Nick with a Warhol Twist"

It's no secret to our students that one of Mr. O's own artistic passions is photography (you can check out some of my efforts at www.ghostroadimages.com.)  Our fifth graders spent the last part of the year learning about what goes into good photography composition, as well as what exposure means and how a camera functions to make a proper one.  

Students spent a day learning some of these basics, including some photography vocabulary, so that we could speak in a common language while they created photos and edited them on their computers. On a second day, after familiarizing themselves with their cameras (from our Art Room set - thank you, PTA!!!), students applied their new knowledge of the art while creating photos around the HES campus.  

In our third class of the unit, I introduced them to some of the common but important edits that can be made to improve a photograph, and they practiced applying these using the online editor, Pixlr. Because Pixlr also offers many other creative tools beyond these basic functions, the students spent a fourth day experimenting with some of these on their own photos.  

It's clear their imaginations ran wild, but I was also impressed by how many of the students successfully applied some of the more basic composition and editing techniques I taught them.

"HES's 'Back Alley'"

"Bubble Day"

 

"Macro Clover Shot"

"Falcon Kick"

"Colorful Friends"

"Antiqued Taylor"

"Worm's Eye View with Color Edit"

   

Kindergarten Up, Up, and Away Colors

Artwork by Rebekah (purple dinosaur)

This was a quick lesson for reviewing our primary colors and how they mix to make the secondary colors.  Kinders drew four overlapping balloons and colored them in the order red, yellow, blue, and red, making sure to leave the overlapping parts uncolored.  Using the color wheel (and what we have already learned during our color mixing lesson in the fall), the students filled in the overlapping balloon parts with the appropriate secondary color.  Then they were free to draw something - anything - that their balloons were carrying away.  One of my favorites was the picture one student drew of her balloons carrying away a...shirt!?

Artwork by Ben (a house above the city)

Artwork by Julian (primary colored ninjas!)

Artwork by Will (a duck-friendly elephant)

Artwork by Lily (Queen Elsa)

Art Show Time!

HES Dolphin Madison Orange shows fellow Dolphin Katee Suson

her beautiful sea turtle at the Orange County School Art Show

The fabulous works of approximately forty HES artists, along with works from many other student artists, are now on display at the downtown Hillsborough library as part of the annual Orange County Schools Art Show.  The show runs through May 3, and I encourage all parents to bring their Dolphins by the library to check out all the wonderful works of art by the County's talented artists!  

Dolphin artwork on display at the 2015 Orange County Schools Art Show

1st Grade Ceramic Turtles

First graders made these cute and colorful turtles by first using a template to cut a shell from a clay slab.  Then they added a head, four legs, and a tail by "scratching and attaching" their pieces together. Using a toothpick, the students inscribed their turtle shells with various designs ranging from realistic shell patterns to hearts and flowers.  After the turtles were fired, the first graders painted them from head to toe with tempura paints, using a smaller brush to for details.

2nd Grade Value Silhouette Scenes

Artwork by Maggie S.

In art, the element of value means different tints (light values) and shades (darker values) of one hue or color created by adding either white or black.  These artworks by our 2nd graders employ values of blue to create a background resembling a moonlit sky or a sun as seen from beneath the surface of the sea.  Our tints are actually created in reverse: students add increasing amounts of blue to their white paint to go from the white of their sun or moon to the darkest tints at the edges of their paper. On a second day, I let them choose from tracers of owls, coyotes, or sharks, which they trace and cut from black construction paper to create a scene silhouetted against their skies or oceans.  As they create their final compositions, I stress the principle of balance.  These examples show some great eyes for it!

Artwork by Zoe P.

Artwork by Addie P.

Artwork by Carl K.

Artwork by Cassidy B.

Artwork by Lakshman B.

1st Grade Shape Monster Glyphs

First graders learned how glyphs, like the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians or the petroglyphs of early Native Americans, are symbols that convey information without words.  After we looked at examples of these, I gave each class the following guidelines...

Body (choose your favorite color)

If your hair is black, make a square body.

If your hair is brown, make a triangle body.

If your hair is blond, make a circle body.

If your hair is red, make an oval body.

Eyes

If you’re a boy, make one eye.

If you’re a girl, make three eyes.

Hair

How many years old you are?  Give your monster that many pieces of hair.

Teeth

What’s your favorite subject in school?  Choose One.

            Math…1 tooth

            Reading…2 teeth

            Science…3 teeth

Mouth

How many pets are in your house?

            1 pet…rectangle mouth

            2 pets…oval mouth

            More than 2 pets…semi-circle mouth

...and let them get to work with scissors, glue, and construction paper.  I love the variety of monsters they created.  Hopefully, I can convince the first grade teachers to display them together in the 300 building! 

4th Grade Winter Landscape Collage

Artwork by Zach D.

I used this lesson to reinforce the concept of showing space or depth in an artwork through color value and size.  First, students created a simple winter landscape using two values of blue, along with white, construction paper on a black background.  We used the formula of "1/2 white, 1/3 light blue, and 1/4 dark blue" to come up with good proportions of each color to the others.  Then the students created three values of green paper using a medium green, black, and white tempura paints. The following week, they cut trees of three distinct sizes from these values, making sure to use the darkest value for their closest and largest trees, their medium value for their medium sized trees, and their lightest value for the smallest and most distant trees.  Some students chose to add a little more detail to their largest/closest trees.  While most of my students at this grade level are already familiar with the term "background," the lesson offered a good opportunity to introduce them to the concepts of "foreground" and "middle ground" as well.

3rd Grade Ceramic Bird Nests

We created these nests back in late November (see earlier post).  In the cold winter depths of my unheated supply room, it took the first couple weeks of December to dry them enough to safely bisque fire them.  Now that they've been glazed and fired once again, third graders spent the first part of art class this week wrapping them up for safe transport  home -- but not before I managed a few pics.  Enjoy!