This Week in Art

4th - All fourth graders are starting to glaze their mugs.  Glaze is like paint except the it is liquid clay with colored chemicals in it.  The students are learning all about glazes and how to use them.  We will be finishing glazing next week and will "fire" them in the kiln after that.

3rd - All third graders are finishing up their origami candy cup this week.  After a couple finishing folds, we are coloring them with markers.  With many holidays like National Teacher Day and Mother's Day coming up, they make a perfect present!

2nd - All second graders are painting their 'face' pots this week.  We are using bright tempera paints to add color to these cool sculptures!  The students have had a lot of fun with this project.  Clay is always a good time!

1st - Last week first graders worked on drawing with glue.  This week we are using chalk pastel again to make these pictures very colorful.  While chalk pastel is messy, it is a ton of fun.

APRIL'S ARTISTS OF THE MONTH!!!

Great Examples of Artist Week

This Week In Art

3rd and 4th graders are finishing up their surreal artwork and their study of Salvador Dali.  They have been adding colors this week using marker, crayon, and colored pencil.  Next week will be an artist day, so please have your students bring sculpture materials if they would like to make sculptures.

2nd graders have started their clay week!  Last week we made plans for our clay face pot, but this week are getting into the mud.  This is always an exciting time.  Students made all kind of faces...monsters, animals, and self portraits.

1st graders are finishing up their bird drawings and their study of John James Audubon.  This week we are adding color with chalk pastels.  The students always have fun blending and mixing the colors with their fingers.  Here are a couple student examples...

Back from Spring Break

3rd and 4th grade have been studying the artist Salvador Dali and Surrealism.  Surrealism was an art form where artists would use their dreams to help them in their artwork.  Many times there would be real things like people, clocks, or bubbles, but they would do impossible tasks like melt, explode, or mutate.  We looked at several Salvador Dali paintings and watched a Disney cartoon called Destino that he helped create.  Here are several examples of almost complete artworks...

2nd graders are starting their clay project for the year.  This is a very exciting time!  We are studying face pots which are self-explanatory, pots with faces made on them.  This week I showed them how to make a face pot and they came up with ideas by drawing.  Next week will be our big clay week!

1st graders are studying the artist John James Audubon.  JJ Audubon loved birds and with spring warming up we're hearing more and more birds singing their songs.  Mr. Audubon created hundreds, maybe thousands, of bird artworks.  He took his best works and made a book out of them called the 'Birds of America.'  It is still one of the most extensive books of bird drawings out there!

Finishing Up "Artist" Week

March Artists of the Month!!!

Sculptures from an Artist Day!

3rd and 4th graders are finishing their one point perspective cities by coloring in their pictures.  Here are a few examples of student work.

3rd and 4th grades are continuing to work on their 3D cities with one point perspective.  This week we are working on windows, sidewalks, more buildings, and rooftops.  The cities are really coming together quite nicely.  Here are some student examples...

1st and 2nd graders are starting a project about mandalas and sand painting.  This week we started designing our mandalas by using rulers and compasses.  I also demonstrated what next week will look like by showing them the sand painting part.  This is always an exciting activity!  How often do you make art from sand?

In 3rd and 4th grade we are continuing our work on creating 3D pictures.  We have spent some time taking basic shapes like a square, rectangle, circle, and triangle and turning them into 3D shapes like cube, rectangular prism, cyclinder, and pyramid.  This week we are working on 3D shapes by creating a city using one-point perspective.  Here is a cool video about one point perspective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZYBWA-ifEs

 In 1st and 2nd grades we are having an 'Artist' week.  This means that they decide what they want to make, how they make it, and if they want to make something with a friend.  We haven't had an 'Artist' week since Christmas break so we are way overdue.  The students were all very excited about it.

3rd and 4th grade will be starting a drawing lesson on solid shapes this week.  A solid shape is a three dimensional shape instead of flat.  This is a math concept that they all have worked on.  We will be working on drawing 3D shapes and practicing shading. 

1st and 2nd grades are studying Marc Chagall and his imaginative paintings.  After looking at his famous picture I and the Village, we created our own stories.  After drawing, I let the students have the choice of what kind of art tool they would like to use for their pictures; markers, crayons, colored pencils, watercolor paints, or oil pastels.  We should be finishing these up this week.

I and the Village by Marc Chagall



In 3rd and 4th grade we have been studying the artist George Seurat and creating pointilism paintings.  George Seurat created 'pointilism' by making millions of dots of paint on his canvas.  He thought by letting the eye of the viewer mix the dots instead of his brush it would make a more vibrant painting.  Here is his famous painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jette. 




Students working on their pointilism painting with tempera paint and q-tips. 

1st and 2nd graders worked on sumi-e paintings.  Sumi-e in Chinese means 'ink'.  Sumi-e paintings are usually made with ink and a bamboo brush.  Sumi-e artists hold the brush at the top instead of the bottom so they can make flowing lines.  Sumi-e painting is very cool to watch.  Check some videos out on YouTube!