Wire Animals

Fourth grade recently finished up our first project! Yay! Students learned about American artist Alexander Calder and how he used the element of line in his artwork. After talking about Calder's sculptures we became familiar with the concept of continuous contour line drawings, which means once you start drawing you can not lift up your pencil until the picture is complete. This idea is really fun for the kids once they get the hang of it.

Once everyone had their ideas drawn out on paper we began to recreate those drawings using wire, just like Alexander Calder. This part really forced the students to problem solve and think in a different way, which is why I like this project so much. Plus at the end we are left with dozens of really unique looking animals!

End of the Week Sneak Peak!

The second week of art is in the books and while no grade is one hundred percent finished with their projects I'm too excited to wait to show you what they are working on! To start off the year every grade is using the Element of Art - LINE in their projects. For some younger grades it is simply learning about the different types of lines and for others it is using line to make a more complex work of art.

 In Kindergarten first we learned the proper steps when painting, we don't want flat hair do's on our brushes! Then we talked about different lines and painted each one across our paper.

The next class we reviewed all the lines we had learned and then talked about the difference between 2-D and 3-D. After we made 3-D line sculptures. They were quite colorful!



First graders reviewed what they learned about line from Kindergarten and made a line sculpture out of pipe cleaners. The following class we started our Line and Pattern Project. Students divided his/her paper using different lines and then filled in each section using a pattern.We'll be going over these with watercolor next week.

Second grade is using line to make a cityscape. Students looked at the use of line in architecture and we discussed the idea of geometric lines vs. organic lines. Students used markers to fill in his/her buildings with black geometric lines and we have now begun filling in the backgrounds iwth colorful organic lines.

 Third graders are also learning about geometric and organic (lines and shapes). We used what we learned to create Aztec Suns. When coloring students colored half the sun with hot colors and half with cool colors. Then we used the opposite for the background. Students are doing and excellent job blending with the oil pastels.

 

Fourth Grade is learning all about American artist Alexander Clader. He's the artist who invented the mobile, but he is also responsible for some wonderful sculptures that use contour line. Students practiced using continuous contour line to draw (which means we never pick up our pencil while drawing). Once we had our animals drawn we started to make the drawing using thin wire just like Clader!

Fifth grade has been busy creating an Optical Illusion Design using line. This is a really great project as it emphasizes good craftsmanship. By the end of this project students are masters of shading with color pencil.

   Lastly my group of ASD students have been hard at work practicing their cutting and gluing skills while learning about all the colors of the rainbow at the same time! ROYGBIV everyone! 

A Look Around the Room

We are now into our second week of school and are starting up some really great projects I'm excited to share with you! First though I thought I'd give you an official look around my new art room!

 Here is a nice view of the room as you enter the class. My tables are arranged so there is a straight shot to the seating area in the back.

This is the area where students sit while when I discuss new projects, read books or look at images from the computer with them. I'm really diggin' on this rug I picked up on sale at Target.
I have a small book shelf to the right.  I have a lot wonderful art themed books for curriculum, plus tons of fun books for students who finish early to read.
I also have our classroom rules and Wildcat ROARS on the wall. Plus our favorite role model Mona Lisa.

Here is a view of the front of the class where i have hung our classroom art jobs and class ART letters to keep noise volume down and students on task. Those paying close attention will also see that Ribs the Art frog has his new home on the table at the front of the class!!

Lastly I'd thought I'd share with everyone what our Wildcats created during their first week in art.

Every student created a mini self-portrait using a monochromatic color scheme. That means they could only use one color to create his/her portrait. For some it was a challenge (especially those that had yellow) but everyone did a great job using different shades of the same color and different materials to create stunning works of art.

After every student completed a portrait I got to work taping and gluing and gluing and gluing . . . sorry needless to say it was a lot of gluing and assembling our finished work in the hallway! 

So when everyone walked into school this morning they were greeted by all the students smiling faces in a Giant Rainbow Wall!!

Back to School Fashion, Styling Your Classroom Furniture

School is starting tomorrow, which means it is time to get the art room blog up and rolling again! Over the summer a lot has changed and I find myself at a wonderful new elementary school! Yay!! Around the same time I found myself with ten of these small wooden chairs that I picked up at a sale for 35 cents a piece! I know what you're thinking. . . what a great deal, you should have bought all twenty of them! Alas, if only I had the space at home for twenty extra chairs, let alone my car!

Anyways once I was hired for my new position I knew I had to do something fun with these chairs. So I decided to paint them to look like famous works of art of course! My first chair was a great success, inspired by Piet Mondrian.






First I sanded the chair and sprayed it with a white primer. Afterwards I sprayed it with glossy black. Once that had thoroughly dried I taped off my design. I used the painters tape called Frog Tape and I would definitely recommend it, no paint bleeding! Then I used oil based glossy paint to color in the shapes. . . and tah dah! A great new chair that is super fun and fits perfectly at my low computer desk!











The chair is just the first peak at my awesome new art room, which I will be posting about later this week! Along with my new students back to school portrait and let us not forget the class mascot/art expert Ribs the Gray Tree Frog!