Fruits and Veggies

Miroco Machiko

 After seeing this project on several other blogs it looked like my kind of project. It is based off of the artist Miroco Machiko and her colorful painting of vegetables. So with this painting as a jumping off point I had the third graders create their own watercolor painting.
First students focused on creating observational drawing while looking at real fruits and vegetables. I had three or four fruits/veggies on each table and gave the students a set amount of time to draw them. After the time was up we rotated fruit, so students had a new set to draw. Students were particularly fascinated by the kiwano aka the horned melon. 

As students drew their fruits/veggies I had them outline each one with crayons and add crayon marks inside each  for texture.

After the drawings were complete the next step was to paint the fruit and veggies. For this we used good old water colors. Once the fruit had dried students simply had to paint the background black, for this we used tempra cakes. . . which I have to say I'm not a big fan of. This final step is what students struggled with the most, as they had a hard time painting around the fruits and vegetables. Overall I have mixed feelings about this one and would definitely change some things for the next go around.

A Tree Frog and Some Cave Men

I'd like to start off this post by introducing you to my class mascot/pet/art lover/most popular dude at school, Ribs the Gray Tree Frog. I've had ribs for a year or so and before school started I was struck with the idea of bringing him in as the art room pet. I mean what kid doesn't love a class pet? I also decided that I would have him tie into the art room by making his tank art history themed! So each month (hopefully) his tank will change to a different time in art history.
To start things off for September his tank was themed after the Lascaux Cave Paintings from France, some of the oldest art in the world!! I made all the pieces from foam and then painted them, viola instant 17,000 year old cave art.

To go along with Ribs and his cave themed home, I'll show you what second grade has been up to.








I started my second graders off with a good old cave art project. I introduced students to the Lascaux caves and we talked all about how the paintings were made, why they were made ... all the stuff I love to talk about. (I'm a huge art history nerd!) Students were especially excited because they recognized some of the actual cave paintings were also painted in Ribs tank. Finally after talking about Lascaux I took the students on a virtual walk through the caves! This website has a digitally made recreation of Lascaux. Just turn off the lights and it's like you are really there. (FYI the website is all in French but hey, it's still pretty cool.) ((Also you can find the same video on youtube, but you don't get that creepy ambiance music that you do on the French site.))

Finally let's talk about the actual art. Most of you art teachers know the drill. Take paper shopping bags and cut them up, alternatively you can use kraft butcher paper or these big rolls of painting paper I found at home depot. Give each student a piece and have them crumple them up and flatten them back out. Tah dah realistic cave wall. Now all it needs is some art. For that just give your students some chalk pastels and stand back.

Paul Klee and First Grade

For my first graders beginning project we looked at artist Paul Klee, specifically his piece Castle and Sun. We talked about geometric shapes recognizable in the painting and they were quick to move beyond the basic square, circle and triangle to list all the fancy shapes they knew: trapezoid, rhombus etc... After that we reviewed the concept of warm and cool colors.

Onto the project! Students were to pick either a piece of warm colored paper or cool colored paper. They then had to take precut strips of paper from the opposite family. For example if they chose a red background paper(warm) they were to use blue, purple and green (cool) strips to make their castle.

Students cut the strips of paper into shapes and assembled them on the paper, much like working with two dimensional building blocks. It was really fun to see how different they all turned out.

First Post

First I'd like to say welcome to anyone who happens to make it to this little corner of the internet. The concept of writing a blog seemed like a good way to get my ideas out there. . . well mostly it has turned into another not quite competition with my fellow art educator and friend. Both of us are starting up blogs as a way to be more connected with the art education community, plus if one of us didn't do it they would be the loser of this "competition". So since my friend already has three posts on her blog I think it is time for me to post one too. 

I'll start off by showing what my youngest students, Kindergarten, have been working on. To start my Kinders off we talked about Primary Colors. Nothing too in depth, but simply that these are the three colors known as primary and that they help make the other colors. We talked about this while looking at the work of Piet Mondrian for obvious reasons. I also showed this video which they all wanted to watch a hundred times.Ok Go Primary Colors

For the project I had students glue precut black strips of paper onto a white piece. This gave them a little taste of using glue sticks and scissors. After all the students had completed this step I gave each table red, blue and yellow crayons and let them color in the squares and rectangles they had created. I told them it was okay to leave some spaces white.Overall I think the students created some really great pieces.