Sweet Art Project

In getting ready for my annual school-wide art show, typically held in March, my students and I used the heart as our jumping off point.  I was curious as a teacher to explore variations on such a simple theme, and Jim Dine is a very appropriate artist for elementary, and for February.  I did not foresee all of the snow we've had.  Our art show is now scheduled for early April. But, since I haven't seen my kids through 1/2 of February, and Spring Break is at the end of March-we're pressing on, and presenting our hearts in spring.

This little project was done with 2nd grade.  We drew a bunch of hearts.  The only rule was they had to show overlapping.  I did not care which way they turned them, and I even allowed stencils.  We then traced our designs with sharpie on overhead plastic, or acetate.  This allowed us to lay tissue on top, and trace pieces. Once we had the pieces traced, they were attached by spreading a thin layer of glue onto the acetate.  A large sheet of tissue covered the entire thing.  When the glue is COMPLETELY dry, the design can be peeled back off the plastic, and attached to white paper.  This gives it a stained glass look.  We constructed frames, and used black paint to add the contour lines.  The kids absolutely loved the look of it.  I like this project because it can be adapted to many themes- I've done ocean scenes with it as well.  All students can find a measure of success, because it is a lot of tracing.

Coil Pots

I love the coil pots- or at least I have loved this lesson since learning to have the kiddos press their coils into the inner walls of a terra cotta flower pot.  It gives the students the safety net they need to practice a variety of coils, and building.  And, mostly, they all turn out.  Amazing how some are determined to make this much more difficult than it actually is.  All of that aside, it is a fun, colorful lesson just right for spring.  (I use Mayco Stroak N Coat glazes, they fire well, are true to color, and come in a variety of great colors.  Also, a little goes a long way.)

 

 

In other news, the 4th graders have been weaving.  Have you visited Cassie Stephen's blog?  Pop on over for a lesson on weaving pouches.  I'm a big meanie- I make the kids take their own weavings off- they've been weaving with me since 1st grade, so I feel as if this should be attainable for them.

Art for Dinner

The 2nd graders and I are using food for inspiration this 9 weeks.  It is part of their common core, and the 2nd grade classroom teachers were a bit hesitant about this theme.  I was not. I have some really great art projects stored up regarding food- cause this art teacher loves a good snack.  For this project, I had each student write a "Menu" which included their favorite food items.  I then gave them each a paper plate, and we drew the food (practicing scale and proportion, along with reviewing "bird's eye view").  They colored the food with crayon, and used water colors to jazz up their plates.  During another session, we used corrugated cardboard pieces to stamp black lines and create a pattern which would later serve as their place mat.  On assembly day, we added silverware (which was wrapped in foil) cups, and napkins. They loved the variety of materials, and I loved the opportunity to review concepts from the year, along with  seeing the personality in their plates.  We tackled this project while waiting for our coil bowls to get fired- next week we'll glaze them. 

Art Show

4th Grade- Cat Paintings and Clay Facades

3rd Grade- Word Art

Kindergarten-Birds on a Wire

2nd Grade- Bird Houses

1st Grade- Heart Weaving

Sign in, Summer Art Program brochures, and Artsonia Updates.

Cookies and punch- I brought in my nice plate and punch bowl-if I'm throwing a party, I try to do it right.

The music teacher and I decided to take back Youth Art Month this year.  He did his 1st and 2nd grade program, and I did the school art show.  We planned the event as one big "Arts" night.  Mixed feelings- We had a good turn out, but many parents did not bring their older kids, because they did not have a child in the program.  I did get a chance to talk to a lot of parents, and get some updated emails for my Artsonia page.  I like the idea of the arts night, but will have to think about how to entice parents in all grade levels to come, and not just because they are killing time waiting for the program.  Good thing I have a year to puzzle this out.

Still Life

Done by one of my more advanced students- my challenge was the bowl of shells.

Drawing by the same student for comparison.

Ahh, the dreaded still life. It's not that I don't see the value, but it is hard to jazz it up for the elementary crowd.  We started with just a basic drawing.  The 2nd graders just blew through it, without much concern for my oh so careful directions/instruction on scale/proportion and size.  So, I considered that a warm up, and we did the same still life again, only using a very simple view finder.  I introduced it as a tool, and asked that the students try it- even if they never used one again, just to have the experience.  Since the drawings were much bigger, and much clearer the 2nd time around, I broke out the tempera cakes, and let the students paint.  We then compared/contrasted our two finished works with a simple questionnaire, where I asked questions like which was easier, which was more challenging, which was more fun, etc.  I think they got the idea of a still life, and we are all ready to move on to the next thing.  On a side note, I have been working on challenging the more advanced students, so when I set my still life up, I included some harder items, which were strategically in the view of the students in need of a challenge.  I also know that I need to put things in place for the ones that struggle.  An example of this was that I put blue tinted water in the bottles, to make them easier to define.

Fabric Weaving

Every year, I am supposed to teach the 2nd graders to weave with fabric strips.  2 things have made this easier- 1 is a rotary cutter, 2 is a donation of 9x12 cardboard.  Some years, I teach the kids to add beads to the end, or use pipe cleaners to wrap the ends.  Last year, I taught the kids to tie it off with dowel rods, as little wall hangings.  This year, the crop of kiddos is not much for knot tying, so I had them tape the ends to the back, and then we glued them to construction paper, making frames with gel crayons.  The kiddos love their gel crayons, and it also gave me a chance to gauge their pattern making skills.    It took a fair amount of glue on the edges, and a few students carefully sitting on their weaving to make the glue stick well.  But, in the end, totally worth it!

Red Grooms-Artober

Here in Nashville, an event called Artober has started up over the last couple of years.  It is a way to highlight art events in our fine city, and encourage everybody to get out there and get "Artin".  The art teachers in our district were encouraged to use Red Grooms as our focus artist, and find a way to install work inspired by him in our school.  My K-3 students worked on a collaborative city scene, while my 4th graders worked on Carousels.  The carousels were modeled after Red Grooms' Fox Trot Carousel which depicts scenes and events from our city's history.  As October comes to a close, I thought I'd share how our installation looked upon completion, before the students start taking the bits and pieces home.

Carousels in "The Park"



The Big Finish



Fall Trees and A Rootin Tootin Art Class

 Just a little Fall Fun with my Kindergarten Class- we learned about Warm Colors, as we talked about Fall/Autumn.  A simple tissue paper collage (with a little glitter in the medium) made a lovely fall background for our torn paper trees.  We talked about outlines, and we looked at assorted leaves before drawing leaf outlines over the tissue.

So, my 2nd graders and I have been indulging in a couple of Western Themed art project.  I saw this on Pinterest, and just knew I had to give it a go.  We made "Wanted" posters.  We talked about the old time need for accurate portraits, and I demonstrated how to make a head and shoulders portrait.  We also brainstormed Cowboy details, like hats, badges, vests, bandanas- you get the idea.  The kiddos did a great job with their self portraits.  We attached them to brown paper, and worked on lettering "WANTED" along with thinking up cowboy names, and crimes.  I wanted to steer clear of actual crimes, so we chatted about humor, and exaggeration.  Our crimes are things like running in the hall, spilling milk, and reading too many library books. And, of course, we needed to offer a reward.   If you found one of my rascals, you'd be set for life going by the prices my kiddos set. I'll be honest, the writing took the better part of a class- it was a great opportunity to talk about lettering, contrast and size though.  What I did was I gave each student a card, and as they needed something spelled, I wrote it on their card.  This saved me from writing every word on the board, and allowed me to circulate better.  Today's class had a high ratio of English Language Learners- I'll be curious to see how the other classes do with the writing. We had a great time Cowboying it Up, and it was a fresh look at Self Portraits.  Thank you to whoever I pinned the idea from-it's a keeper!

Torn Paper People Olympics



Her people are in the pool because she did not leave room for an audience.  Guess this is where direction following comes in?  Or, maybe it's a synchronised even.



I have a project that is my absolute favorite to break out.  It is the torn paper collage.  During Olympic season, I love to declare the Torn Paper People Olympics.  We really sieze the opportunity to talk about action, and detail.  I find that while the students would rely on pencils and scissors, in this instance, not allowing them forces the students to think more creatively, and we get some really fun pictures.  Due to my desire to work increasingly with the classroom teachers, I did this project with 2nd grade , and a bit earlier in the school year than I typically would because it fit in with what they are tackling in "Common Core".  The athlete performing a trick is themself, in order to work in the idea of self-portrait.  On the last day, I gave them sharpies to add any tiny details, and we used erasers to stamp the crowd.  As a writing connection, I am having my students write the commentary for their trick. This is where the classroom teachers are helping me. 

Amate Paper Painting

My Example

"King Cobra" and since it's a king, it needed a fancy frame says my student.

Horse (and girl- (not sure about the bikini thing going on there)

Lizards

I've been wanting to try this project for some time now, and with TCAP testing in full force this week, I decided to try it with my kiddos as a carrot to keep em' quiet while the testing goes on around us.  We learned a bit about how the paper is made from the Bark of Mulberry or Fig trees, and we looked at some samples.  When we made ours, rather than strip bark from a tree and boil it, we just used brown construction paper- however we did tear the edges to give it a more organic effect.  I only allowed black paint for details/outlining, and I encouraged animals as the subject matter.  I think they are very sweet, and a fun little art project with potential to be a bigger one. This gave me a great opportunity to discuss Positive/Negative space.

The Last of the Dragons

Cityscapes

My 2nd graders have been making landscapes and cityscapes. After discussing skylines, we folded our paper, and using watercolor crayons made skylines on the top, and by spraying the completed papers with water and folding, we had a good example of reflection.

2nd grade cities

Along the same lines as my previous post about the Sculptures, I decided this was the year to give up all those cereal, shoe and oatmeal boxes I'd been saving. Rather than the typical collage/2-D city lesson, this year, we really brought it to life. Each student used a box to create a storefront. Scrap paper, markers, etc. Then we used posterboard scraps, and corks to create a simple version of a 3-D vehicle. This allowed me to discuss symmetry, and depth with the students. Those who were able then made mini-self portraits, and I showed students how to cut a slit into the bottom of the person, and into a matching scrap to make the people stand, even though they were flat. We found out of the way places to build our city, and keep it for display, and my students don't realize it yet, but we will be finishing it off by making advertisements for our stores- allowing me to review some of the elements of art that students always seem to need reminding of.