Saturday, May 7, 2016

2nd Grade Mother's Day Flowers (inspired by Picasso!)

Hard at work on a painting for Mom!


Picasso wasn't just famous for his Cubist paintings -- his drawings using only a few simple lines (and, in some cases, a little color) were also some of his most popular works.  One of the most famous was The Flowers of Peace (1958)

 
The Flowers of Peace, Pablo Picasso, 1958
 
After learning a little about Picasso and his work, second graders took inspiration from his flowers and created their own. Since this work is to be a (spoiler alert!) Mother's Day gift, students traced their own hand onto their paper, making sure not to trace the tip of their thumb, as this is supposed to be hidden behind the flowers they are "handing" to their mothers (good reinforcement of overlapping used to show space).  The first graders then used tempura block paints to make the simple flowers and signed their work with a Happy Mother's Day message. I'm always thrilled to see the different twists the students are able to put on an otherwise uniform project like this one.    (Thanks to Mrs. Brown -http://www.mrsbrownart.com/index.htm - for the lesson idea.)



Sunday, April 10, 2016

5th Grade Cacti Still Lifes

Artwork by Shannon

I wanted my 5th graders to create an artwork that combined many different art elements and principles in one work, so I came up with this still life of cacti.  Unlike a true still life which would have included the subject set up in front of them for observation, I chose to let them compose their own cacti, requiring that they think about balancing their cacti in the pot.  The inspiration for their patterns (and the reason we left our pots in high contrast black and white) came from a quick study of the pottery of the Acoma Pueblo people of New Mexico.  Students paid special attention to form by using curved lines on their cacti and around their pots (some also used shading), and the subject of cacti gave them a chance to practice creating implied texture with their cactus spines and in their gravel.  Some students also specifically employed differing color values in their backgrounds.  (Art teachers, note that the cacti and pots were drawn separately and glued onto a previously painted background.)  I think the students did some beautiful work, and in our discussions they really showed a great understanding of the elements and principles they've been learning about for the past several years!

Artwork by Landon

Artwork by Megan

Artwork by Morgan

2nd Grade Mad Scientist Color Mixing

Artwork by Kate

This project gave our 2nd graders more exposure to drawing 3d forms both through the use of curved lines (on the containers and the bubbles) and with highlights (on the bubbles).  It was also another way for them to "experiment" with color mixing: each container is painted with a mixture of two different primary colors in order to create all three secondary colors.  The containers are drawn and painted on a separate sheet then cut out after they're dry.  These are glued to a sheet of black construction paper, and bubbles are added using circle tracers and oil pastels.  Students were really happy with how their bubbles came out!  I only wish I had more pictures, but I was lacking my usual camera, and most that I took with my phone were not good enough to post:(

Artwork by Brandon


Thursday, March 17, 2016

3rd Grade Andy Warhol Inspired Pop Art Prints


Artwork by Maggie

Students spend the first part of one class period discussing and learning about popular culture and how it is different now than when I was their age -- a loooong time ago.  They then view and discuss some examples of Pop Art, focusing on the work of its most famous artist, Andy Warhol.  Since the medium focus of this unit is printmaking and not drawing, I have them choose and trace a cartoon icon onto a 4" x 4" piece of Styrofoam, rather then have them try to draw and trace their own pop culture product or character.  (They are much less frustrated and much happier with the results of their prints this way!).  In a second session, I have the room set up with different color stations where they ink these printing plates and print with them onto pre-cut squares of brightly colored cardstock. In a third class session, after the prints are dry, the students arrange their prints in a square (ala Warhol) on one sheet of black construction paper, and we end the unit with kid-friendly video about Warhol's life and Pop Art.

Artwork by Tayla

Artwork by Cassidy

Artwork by Anna


Saturday, March 5, 2016

1st Grade Woven Alligators


I think weaving with paper strips is a great way for younger students to learn about this art form before they've acquired the fine motor skills to accomplish it with yarn. In my quest to have our first graders weave something other than a placemat, I found several versions of this lesson on Pinterest (thank you, Pinterest pioneers!).  Students spend one session weaving the backs of the alligators (I actually don't tell them what animal they are weaving, and it's fun to hear the guesses.)  The second session is spent folding, cutting, and gluing on mouths, tails, legs, and teeth on their gators.  Students love their finished gators -- many even give them names before class is even over -- so I don't have the heart to hang on to these for display at school. Everybody just has to take theirs home. Hopefully they survive the trip!




Friday, February 26, 2016

1st Grade Overlapping Landscapes

Artwork by Maddie

Overlapping is usually the first way that young artists learn to explore the art element of space. Simply by overlapping elements, the student's flat, two-dimensional drawings suddenly become three-dimensional because one element is clearly in front of (or behind) another!  Suddenly, there's a foreground and background to their drawings!  This is one of those art concepts that's obvious to adults, but it can feel like an epiphany to children.  Our simple landscapes of overlapping hills, each with a tree that blocks the hill behind, is one way we've been learning about space in first grade this month.  (Note: As this was a new lesson for me, I experimented with letting some classes color with paints and others with colored pencils, thus the differences in media in these examples.)

Artwork by Bishop

Artwork by Oceana




Saturday, February 13, 2016

Positive Negative Hands

Artwork by Sophia

Third graders have been learning about the art concept of positive and negative space and how sometimes the space around and in between an artwork's main subject becomes an important part of the work.  For an example, students created these giant-sized Valentines card by first tracing their hand and painting a colorful design on a 9x12 sheet of drawing paper. In a second session, they cut their hands from the colorful sheet, and I showed them how to fold these and cut a heart from the center of the hands.  The colored sheet was then glued to one side of a 12x18 sheet of black construction paper, with the cut out hand glued on the opposite side in the corresponding position.  Lastly, the students glued the cut out hearts in the center of their black hands.  The result is a work where the positive and negative spaces of the art are equally important to the overall effect.  Pretty cool!

Artwork by Chloe

Artwork by Jada

Artwork by Lucy
  

Friday, January 22, 2016

4th Grade Face Rattles


They're out of the kiln and headed for home -- except for a few I'm keeping for the spring art show. Great job, 4th graders!

Saturday, January 9, 2016

2nd Grade Three-Quarter Portrait Snowmen

Artwork by Barclay

Most early elementary portraits are confined to simply showing a straight-on perspective of a full face,  I show the second graders how, before Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, even most "real" artists' portraits looked that way, too.  Then we talk about how Leonardo and other Renaissance artists made the "bold" move of painting their subjects in a more natural pose, turned slightly so that only three-fourths of the face is showing. (This is a great spot to introduce a zero to one number line or a "pizza" divided into fourths, as many of the 2nd graders haven't been exposed to fractions yet, at least in their classrooms.).  We also discuss how portraits before the Renaissance typically didn't include more than a blank background, but the Mona Lisa and others have a sense of space because the artists also painted their subjects in a setting of some kind.

We then set to work on our own three-quarter portraits, paying special attention to how the carrot nose would extend beyond the head and how the eyes, mouth, and buttons would be off-center.  We also zoom in on our snowman subjects to vary the usual perspective even more and allow a bit more detail.  A ground line is added to the drawing, and students place something - a tree, a house, another snowman, for example - on it to lend their portraits a sense of space.  The white of the snowman is then painted with acrylic paint.  In a second session, details are colored and snowflakes added with oil pastels.

Artwork by Aiden

Artwork by Elsie

Artwork by Riley