The Great Wave

First graders began our exploration of Japan by looking at one of the most recognizable pieces of artwork from that country, The Great Wave (of Kanagawa). aka Hokusai's Wave.

For those interested in learning more abut The Great Wave click here (an enthralling BBC report).

As for the first graders we took this picture as an opportunity to discuss the term landscape. Now the first graders can tell you landscape can mean either an artwork depicting areas of land or the particular orientation of an artwork.

Students drew their own versions of The Great Wave and then painted them using cool colors for the water/land and warm colors for the sky.

Notans

Fifth graders are finishing up their first Japanese inspired project, notans! A notan is a Japanese concept involving the play and placement of light and dark as they are placed next to each other.

 Students began by drawing designs on a square of black paper. Once everything was drawn students then cut out the designs and begin assembling on a larger white piece of paper. As students begin  to glue the cut out shapes each piece becomes the mirror image of the negative space. The idea of positive and negative space was a big concept with our notans.

Kon'nichiwa! A New Year in the Art 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 newly designed art room!

This year Woodland students will be traveling throughout parts of Asia in art class.  We will learn about famous artists from these countries, as well as traditional arts and crafts. To start students will be learning about Japan. Students will notice little touches of this island country throughout the room, such as our color wall being in English and Japanese.

For the first week all the upper elementary students (3rd through 5th) are creating sketchbooks that we will use throughout the year. I'm calling them our artist passports. While lower el created passport photos (self-portraits). As we jump into our second week students are working on printmaking, watercolor, origami and much more. Stay tuned for more updates!