Olympic Action Prints

It's a messy time in the art room- one of my favorite things is printmaking!  The kids love it, and with an organized set up and routine, it does not have to be a crazy mess.  Since we've been using The Olympics as a theme in 3rd grade art, after the kids made their statues, I had them make an incised plate on a piece of Styrofoam.  I go ahead and buy the trays through the art catalog.  They can be pricy, but they work.  And to save a bit, I chop 'em in half.  When I'm feeling really cheap, I save them after the projects to use as paint trays and such.  That aside- each student drew one person, in an olympic pose.  Then, we broke out the red, white and blue- except I didn't have as much white as I thought, so we ended up using white paper for those that wanted the Americana effect.  Curriculum states in MNPS that the 3rd graders will do a collograph print.  And, this is incised.  I intend to have them collograph a background image- I've never done a double print project, and I'm not sure how it will turn out, but ya never know until you give it a go.  So, here's step one.  And, hopefully, the next thing you'll see is a double print posting.

Olympic Athletes

I LOVE using the Olympics as a theme in the art room. There are so many connections, the most logical for me being the action- the kids love sports, and it's a great chance to work on those people.  The 3rd graders explored the Olympic Website with me, chose a sport, and filled out a think sheet about their choices.  Then, I taught them to make "pipe cleaner people".  These served as our armature.  We covered them in old tape, and put paper mache' on top of that.  It was a sticky mess, and some of our athletes needed to be propped up with wooden blocks.  But, despite the awkward phase, the paint day today really made them come alive.  I had the students attach their athlete sculptures to a wooden  block (I have an old bunch of wood building blocks in the art room that I've been itching to recycle) and this allowed all athletes to stand proud. We will transition to printmaking after this- using the students' chosen sport as the subject.

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. 

Starting to Hang the Show...

I spent the last Friday before our spring break hanging the art show. I did not get it all done, but what is up looks great, and I am starting to think that I may just get this all done!