Splish Splash Splatter

Romare Bearden Collages

2012-02-24T13:30:00.000-06:00

I have been neglecting you these past few weeks, and I apologize. I have no good excuse, other than the fact that we have been diligently preparing for our Black History program and for Read Across America week.

Here are some finished collages inspired by the beloved Romare Bearden:

Dexter - 6th Grade

Sophia - 6th Grade

Courtland - 6th Grade

Mallory - 6th Grade

Darrion - 6th Grade

Diamond - 6th grade

We worked for the past THREE weeks on our collages. And still some students did not finish! I know every time I teach this lesson that it will take forever and a day to finish, but I know that the results are stunning. I love studying Bearden because it gives students the chance to see the work of an artist who was inspired by music, art, and theater. It also showcases his desire to imitate the environment in which he lived. For this lesson, I had the students create a place that represents their own live. Some examples I gave were school, their home, church, outside, at a park, the football field, etc. Then, I made sure that they were creating their own people using parts of photographs. I discouraged them from cutting out people and gluing them down and leaving the photos in tact. This way, it forced them to think about the proportions of their people within the environment they created.

Story Quilts

2012-02-17T14:51:00.000-06:00

3rd graders have been studying African American Artists for Black History month. We decided to make story quilts a la Faith Ringgold. I know this lesson can be overdone in the art world, but I think she is fabulous and the kids can relate to her art because her artwork is primarily based on stories she heard as a child. Also, her images are playful, colorful, and enticing. Here is a You Tube video that I played for the young artists:

Here are some samples of excellent work by my 3rd graders:

by Elise

by Martha

by Trayauna

by Noah

Dr. Seuss Week!

2012-02-16T11:41:00.000-06:00

We are getting ready to have the Cat in the Hat visit our school. What better way to welcome him than an art display dedicated to Dr. Seuss himself? Here are three examples of projects that we have been working on:

3rd graders drew portraits of the Cat in the Hat -

Another 3rd grade class made these fun fish paintings:

And Lorax trees:

African Masks

2012-02-07T09:36:00.000-06:00

     For the rest of this month, we are getting ready for Black History Month coming up in February. I want some dramatic artwork to display around the building because we are hosting an evening in February to celebrate African American History. The students will be performing plays, skits, songs, poems, and much more.
     The 4th graders today worked on these gorgeous African masks. We discussed the purposes of masks, African art, and the meaning behind some of the symbols/designs commonly used in African art. I always make the point that African art is always meaningful to the artist, has some symbolic meaning behind the shapes & colors, and is almost always useful/functional. With these key features in mind, students can understand African culture a little deeper.
     We began by watching this short slide show I found on YouTube:

Next, I gave the students this handout to base their mask design from:

I demonstrated how to fold the paper in half, draw half of the mask shape on the folded side, and cut it out. Next, students added graphic designs to the mask using ideas from the above examples. Lastly, we used shades of brown, black, & white tempera paint into the shapes. We also added raffia & yarn around the masks for that touch of texture.
Here are a few examples:

Curved Line Drawings

2012-01-30T13:28:00.000-06:00

I found this lesson over at Stuck In The Mud Pottery and fell in LOVE with it. First of all, it's a H.S. lesson. Second of all, I knew my 6th graders would be up for the challenge. Third of all....our designs turned out FANTASTIC! Janelle's instructions were top-notch. The only thing I changed was adding oil pastels over our cross-hatching shadows. My students love to use oil pastels, and quite frankly, I have a hard time leaving artwork b&w. I need color in my life, what can I say?

My students worked on 16x20" paper, started with a pencil, then traced over their lines with a black marker. I showed them how to make the "ribbons" look like they are going under other ribbons, how to make the loop, and how to add shadow where another "ribbon" overlaps it. I think I have the best artists here at Halls Ferry. What do you think?

by Jordan

by Mrs. Keller

by Armani

by Sophia

Kindergarten Lions

2012-01-30T11:23:00.000-06:00

In keeping with the African American cultural unit, kinders made these adorable lion portraits in Art last week. Starting off with the lion face, we colored in the features with neutral colored crayons. Next, I put orange, yellow, & brown paint on their tables and showed them how to paint straight lines radiating from the lion's face to represent the mane. Lastly, I put pieces of neutral colored yarn on the tables & let them glue pieces of yarn on top of the lion's mane. Here are just a few examples of student work:

Rhyan's Lion

Autumn's Lion

Olivia's Lion

African Landscapes

2012-01-27T08:56:00.000-06:00

With my 2nd graders, we watched this video showing the rich wildlife of the African landscape:

Next, I introduced them to the concept of silhouettes. This is a tough one for little ones because you have to explain light direction and shadowing. Even though they may not totally understand the abstract concept, they can gain an understanding of why the images are all in black. I emphasized painting their sunsets from light to dark, starting with yellow and ending with red, or the darkest color on their palette. Here are a few examples:

by Aaryn J.

by Brian T.

by Aaliyah B.

by anonymous 2nd grader

Kindergarten Giraffes

2012-01-25T09:33:00.000-06:00

I showed this video to my kinders yesterday regarding the African landscape, climate, & animals. (I actually have a student who just moved here from Africa, so that was pretty cool.)

   We named all of the different animals that we saw in the video (although I have to admit...there were a few horned creatures that I didn't know the name of, so I called them 'antelope'...ooops).

     Then, we started our giraffe project. This was quite an undertaking for kinders. We had to draw the giraffe, cut it out, tear brown paper for the spots, make a moon, & cut the grass. I think they turned out very well. The lesson actually came from Patti over at Deep Space Sparkle. My teacher friend had downloaded one of Patti's units on African Themed Art Lessons and gave me a copy. Thanks Patti! Here is a link to her blog: http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2010/12/african-art-lessons-plans/
Purchasing her lesson plans is definitely worth the $$.

     Here are a few of our torn-paper giraffes:

Penda's Giraffe

Chase's Giraffe

Jared's Giraffe

Corey's Giraffe

Metallic Winter Trees

2012-01-19T12:14:00.002-06:00

I know tree silhouettes tend to be overdone from time to time. But...I just think they're beautiful! I also think they are one of the most simple things to draw with the most beautiful results. So, I gave each one of my 6th graders a 6x8" piece of paper and showed them how using line variations and overlapping the lines can be quite easy. Next, the amazing part came. I let them each use a SILVER MARKER! They were very excited and tried extra hard so their drawings would turn out just beautiful. After we colored in the trees & added falling snow, the students used watercolor right over the marker drawings. I told them they could 1 color + black so it looked like nighttime. Here are a few examples:

India's Tree

Christopher's Tree

Alex's Tree

Gabe's Tree

Motivation

2012-01-19T08:36:00.000-06:00

I just realized yesterday that there is this 'unsaid' motivation between my students about getting their artwork published on my blog. As a student was working on his artwork yesterday, he kept asking me over and over again, "Is this good enough to go on your blog?"..."Do you think I am doing a good job?"..."I really want my art on your blog"..."I want to have the most pictures of my art online". And so on.

I began to realize that the kids have this intrinsic desire to do well on their artwork so they will get one of my 'green slips'. I hand these out to the students whenever their artwork goes on my blog. I have actually had a parent contact me through the blog, praising the art instruction that her daughter receives here at school. I was flattered. And, I am proud of my students. And, I love to make them feel good about what they do at school. Enough said.

Penguins, Polar Bears, & Snowmen!

2012-01-17T09:40:00.002-06:00

Well, it finally decided to look like winter here in the Midwest. So, what better way to ring in the season than to make some winter animals! I got this adorable lesson from Mrs. Haake over at Apex Art, http://apexart.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html.

I loved all of the bright colors! After 2 classes of penguins, however, I needed to mix-it up and add some other creatures. So, we used the same concept of cutting specific shapes by making Polar Bears & Snowpeople. To make the lesson go smoothly, I had pre-cut paper at each student's seat. For example, I had the 10x10 background, a 9x9 white or black paper (depending on the animal), colorful 3x3 squares for the earmuffs, & strips of colored paper for the scarves.

Here are some of my student examples:

Kennedy's Penguin - 2nd Grade

Grace's Penguin - 3rd Grade

Destiny's Polar Bear - 2nd Grade

Caleb's Snowman - 3rd Grade

Martha's Snowman - 3rd Grade

Kg. Mood Paintings

2012-01-12T10:24:00.001-06:00

This project is another one for the annual Picture The Music Art Competition for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Here, I wanted to focus solely on color & its relation to feelings or moods. So, after listening to our selected music, I had each student think of only 1 color that they think would best match the song. Then, we drew an abstract drawing on the paper using a variety of lines & shapes. Next, I showed the students how to mix their colors into each space. They painted each space a different tint or shade of their color. I know tints & shades are a little deep for Kg's, but I figured the process of mixing the colors to make them darker and lighter is more important here rather than focusing on the technical terms. So, I think they turned out pretty well...what do you think?

Penda's painting

Corey's painting

Jared's painting

Monrey's painting

Mackenzie's painting

Tye-Dye Line Designs

2012-01-11T14:23:00.000-06:00

I wrestled with this project for over a week now until FINALLY yesterday morning, I decided that we would create a sort-of 'zentangle' pattern in the foreground of our tye-dye paper. Whew. The kids LOVED making the tye-dye paper using water color markers. Here are the steps:
1. Draw a large swirl in the middle of the paper using a pencil. Make sure to draw very lightly so the pencil will not show through the marker.
2. Scribble the first color on the swirl line using the side of the marker to get a lot of watercolor on the paper.
3. Scribble the second color next to the first color, overlapping just a bit.
4. Scribble the third color in the remaining space, overlapping the colors just a bit.
5. Mist the entire paper with water so the colors will bleed together.

But, what next? I didn't want to ruin the 'musical' elements that we spent half the class working on last week. I wanted there to be emotion, and whimsy, and added surprises...but I was struggling with what would work best. So, I handed out some of my own tangle creations that I have photocopied, available on the activity shelves. I inspired the students with the VERY simple process in creating shapes using line variations and filling in the shapes with patterns. And then. I brought out. The. GOLD & SILVER MARKERS!!! Ta-da! That's what was needed to make these colorful creations special, interesting, and whimsical :) Here are some of my 6th grade students' masterpieces:

Nile

Xavier

Marissa

Drew

India

Kalle

Pinteresting...

2012-01-11T09:31:00.000-06:00

Wow. I just discovered that my lessons make up an entire page on Pinterest!!!! It was humbling to see exactly how many people are using my art lessons. I am humbled.

Musical Animals

2012-01-10T15:24:00.000-06:00

Well, there comes a point in every Art teacher's lesson plans when you need to change things and mix them up either because it's simply not working, or you've become bored teaching the same thing over and over. The latter is my case today, yesterday, and always. We are still working on our Picture the Music artwork in conjunction with the St. Louis Symphony. We are still comparing and contrasting music to the visual arts based on emotion and color. But, I needed to add a splash of whimsy. So, for my 2nd graders today, we are doing Musical Animals. Kids LOVE animals, don't they? To relate this theme with my music objective, we will talk about repetition in music and art. Here are some of our masterpieces:

Amauria's horses

Caitlin's elephants

Kamauri's butterflies

Alan's Lions

Jordan's butterflies

Art + Music + Kinders = 1 Tired Teacher

2012-01-06T15:11:00.001-06:00

Today we worked on our art for the annual Picture The Music Art contest for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. We talked about how different kinds of music and evoke different emotions and how certain colors can match those emotions. (Deep, I know).

Then, I had the students pick three or four colors that they thought best matched Beethoven's 5th Symphony. They 'scribbled' the colors all over their paper and then I sprayed water on top of their paper so all of the colors would bleed together. This was the background for our paintings.

Next I gave the students a tray of tempera paint and gave them some specific things to paint. First, I told them to paint a wavy line, then a square, three circles, two straight lines, etc. I think they are fabulous and we had lots of fun creating these musical paintings :)

Our "marker paintings" drying on the floor

a finished painting with the details added on top

Signing off...

2011-12-14T08:46:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm sure you all know that this time of year is pretty hectic for us Art Teachers. Yesterday alone, I made Santa's workshop & an outdoor rooftop scene for the Christmas play here at school, I had to build a chimney, and I left work to design a set for another Christmas play at a local church. Not to mention creating the decorations for the staff Christmas party and taking down ALL of the holiday themed art in the building so we can start fresh in January. Whew!!! So, I wish you all a very merry Christmas and I hope you find a way to de-stress so you can enjoy your families because that's exactly what I am doing in T-minus 48 hours :)

Paper Ornaments/Spheres

2011-12-02T11:30:00.001-06:00

This is a lesson that I did with my 5th and 6th graders today. They were SOOOOO excited to begin the project because I had two spheres already made and they look very cool. But as we were working, they realized just how complicated these are to make. It takes some patience, but with a little bit of good direction, your students will be making these in no time. We made the large spheres but if you wanted to conserve paper and call them 'ornaments', then I suggest making the medium or small ones. All three templates are located on the blog I listed below. Here are a few tips when working with students:
1. Use words like 'floor' 'walls' and 'ceiling' and reference constructing a house. This helps them to understand that the walls need to attach not only to the floor, but also to each other.
2. When cutting out the shapes and the cutting lines, have the students hold the template on the paper to get a precise cut otherwise the pieces won't attach correctly.
3. I had them start with 6 pieces and construct the 'floor' and the 5 'walls' first so they got the main idea of the construction. Then, when they got the hang of it, I gave them the last 6 pieces of paper.
4. This will take more than one class period to finish.
5. Good Luck!!

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-make-3d-paper-ball-ornaments.html

Construction Paper Pine Trees

2011-11-30T09:58:00.000-06:00

I am reposting this project from last year. If you are like me...you are swamped with demands for backdrops, hallway decor, holiday programs, and much more!!!! I do this project every year because I just LOVE the results and I know that you will too.

This project works great for grades 2-6. First of all, we discuss the shape of an evergreen tree in it's 2-D form (if we were drawing it). Then we discuss the 3-D form of a triangle...the cone. Next, I demonstrate how to make a cone out of green construction paper, make 'fringe' on the edges to resemble pine needles, and stack cones in various sizes to make the tree taller. Lastly, I make a mixture of white paint, glue, and water and let the kids splatter some snow and glitter on top of their trees.

Summarizing + Art = Collaboration

2011-11-21T13:33:00.001-06:00

I was asked to further stretch the concept of summarizing with my 6th grade students by combining it with art. I thought, what a great idea! I am the type of person who has to picture something before I write about it, or while I read it, to gain the full understanding of a concept. So, I'm sure there are a handful of my students who need to learn how to picture a concept before they can write about it. My method of teaching visualizing + summarizing was to show the students several paintings and have them answer the "who, what, when, where, why" in their own words. I allowed them the creative license to create their own story line of the painting to add a touch of creativity to the lesson. Here are the paintings we looked at and summarized into our own words:

Josh

In this painting, The Circus, by Georges Seurat, there are people putting on a show because these are people from all around the world. This occurred at the mall in 1998.

Airiell

In the painting, In the Box, by Mary Cassatt, the twins, Marie and Mariah look at the surprise box at night when their parents are sleeping, so they won’t get caught so easily.

Demetrius

In this painting, The Front of the Asylum Saint Remy, by Vincent Van Gogh, John Williams takes interest in it. He stands in the shade of a tree and admires the building. The afternoon sun shines and at the moment the building’s owner opens it up. The man smiles and relaxes in the shade. “That’s one nice building,” he says.

Annie

In this painting the artist Georges Seurat paints, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. It is a Sunday afternoon and people from all over town come out and sit by the water to watch the fish. They ate lunch and then they came down, they kids were playing, everyone was relaxing because it was a Sunday. They are at the big lake and it’s so pretty there.

Ceramic Leaves

2011-11-15T14:32:00.001-06:00

These beautiful ceramic leaves have been hanging in our foyer for the past several weeks. I finally decided I should photograph them and share them with you. First of all, I have done this project for the past several years, but never have they turned out this beautifully...and I have to admit it was by pure accident. My sixth graders made these leaves one day in art by pressing a real leaf into their clay to create the texture. They cut out the shape of the leaf while it was pressed into the clay. After they dried, I bisque-fired them and had them ready for the surface treatment. In the past, I have used black glaze to fill in the veins and the texture with a colored glaze on top. But, with budget cuts, I am in short supply of glazes this year. So, I had the students use black acrylic paint to fill in the veins and wipe off the surface with a damp sponge so the paint only goes into the texture. Next, I had the students use watercolor paint to add color. This is where the "happy accident" comes in. When the watercolor was first applied, it looked nice...a suggestion of color...not too vibrant. But, when it dried, it looked like mud! Chalky-mud! So, I was going to have the students repaint them until I tried putting a gold glaze on top of the watercolors. And, voila! It made the color come to life while adding a shimmer of gold. Perfect!!!

Comic Book Art...cont.

2011-11-10T12:08:00.000-06:00

Students in grades 5 & 6 have been diligently working on their Onomatopoeia art for the past two weeks. First, they had to fill up the entire 9x12 paper with black text from magazine pages. Then, they were to create a sketch of their word and some action symbols that represent the chosen word. Next, they drew their design on top of the magazine paper with a sharpie marker and added shadowing around their letters. Last, I had them use a limited color palette of blue, red, and yellow to reflect Lichtenstein's artwork. As you can see from the student work below, some students chose to follow those guidelines while others did not. I didn't take off points for the coloring part of the project because while I suggested the three color scheme, I didn't enforce it as a grade. It's very difficult to limit creativity to three colors, isn't it? (he he he)

Here are some finished works of art:

Wallpaper Villages

2011-11-04T08:47:00.000-05:00

These darling works of art come from a class of 2nd graders. I initially got the idea from a quilt that I saw on Pinterest. I thought wallpaper patterns would make an adorable little village! Here are some of the completed works of art:

Curtis's Neighborhood

Latavia's Neighborhood

Brooke's Neighborhood

Yarn Block Painting

2011-11-02T16:22:00.000-05:00

In Art Club today, students made stamps out of blocks of Balsa wood and yarn. We wrapped the wood block in a long piece of yarn, taped it down, and stamped it into the paint and on our paper. Yes, it was a bit noisy, but I think they enjoyed it and their paintings express the high amounts of energy in a room full of 7 year-olds!

Brooke's Artwork

Emory's Artwork

Isaiah's Artwork

Wood Block Stamp

Onomatopeoia Art

2011-11-02T13:03:00.000-05:00

This is a fun lesson to do with those 6th graders who are just too "cool for school", lol. I showed the students this You Tube video where Batman & Robin are fighting the bad guys and on the screen are onomatopeoias (the kids LOVED it):

Next, I had my slideshow playing on my new, fancy projector. I had the definition of onomatopeoia, sample artwork, various words they could choose from, and comic book fonts. I also had this handout printed out for kids to refer to:

Here are the samples of artwork that I showed the class before we began our artwork:

And, of course, I HAD to share the art of Roy Lichtenstein with this project:

As you can see, these samples are layered with text and color, so for our assignment, students cut out black and white text from magazines and glued them all over their 9x12" paper. Then, they sketched out which word they wanted to put on their art. We used scrap paper to sketch out our ideas so they didn't mess-up their 9x12 collage work. When they were ready with their final idea, they used a sharpie marker to draw their words and details that describe their word on their paper. We didn't even get to the color part of this project yet today, but they are so excited about this one! Give it a try! If you want the slideshow, leave me a comment and I can e-mail it to you :)

The Longest Line Drawings

2011-10-27T10:55:00.001-05:00

Students in grades 4-6 have been working on these fun, colorful drawings for the past two weeks. This project went right after our Moving Line Drawings, both using colored pencils, and I think my students need a break from the "sit and color" routine we've been in for 4 weeks. So, next week I am thinking we need to do something fun and fast, maybe with paint :)

For this project, we discussed the definitions of line and shape. It was quite comical to hear their responses for the definition of "line". They said things such as, "a straight line...uggh, nevermind", to "something that is either straight or curved", to finally "a segment connecting two points"!!! Yay! It was difficult to define something so simple. We reviewed the different types of lines and went to work filling up our papers with only ONE line. They could curve the line, squiggle the line, zigzag the line, and so on, but it could not stop until they filled up the entire paper. Next, we traced the shapes over our drawings and colored in each shape with a monochromatic color scheme. Here are some results:

Bubble Painting

2011-10-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

This was a fun, messy, exhausting project I did with Art Club last night. I believe that sometimes experiencing art can be more important for primary artists than actually creating art. These kiddos had more fun blowing the bubbles and watching them pop than actually making the bubble prints!

Oil Pastel/Chalk Pastel Pumpkin Drawings

2011-10-14T11:45:00.001-05:00

3rd graders yesterday afternoon learned about depth perception and overlapping while creating these spooky pumpkins. I like the effect of chalk on dark paper, so we started with a blue sheet of paper. The students drew the first pumpkin with an oil pastel right in the middle. Next, they drew the two side pumpkins a little bit smaller and behind the first one to show depth and overlapping. They colored inside the spaces with chalk pastels (VERY messy, btw) and cleaned up their drawing by re-tracing the oil pastel lines. Here are a few completed works of art:

Mary Jane's Pumpkins

Grace's Pumpkins

Devan's Pumpkins

Pointillism Pumpkins

2011-10-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

2nd graders this afternoon created these perfectly plump pointillized pumpkins! We looked at the art of Georges Seurat and took special note of his use of dots in his painting techniques. We used several colors instead of just one color to fill up the spaces in our pumpkins like Seurat did in his paintings.

Isaiah's Pumpkin

Aaron's Pumpkin

Cameron's Pumpkin

Circles, Circles, & More Circles!

2011-10-12T13:07:00.000-05:00

Kinders learned how to cut circles this week! I gave them squares of paper and showed them how to cut and turn the paper until there are no more corners. They cut large circles, medium circles, and small circles. They overlapped the different sizes of circles on their papers. The next class period, I gave them paint and an assortment of lids to use as circle stamps. I showed them how to stamp small circles inside larger circles, how to use the stamps correctly, and how to stamp the shape on their papers.

Amir's Artwork

Sidney's Artwork

Samara's Artwork

Iran's Artwork

Tree Silhouettes

2011-10-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

My amazing 6th graders created these beautiful paper tree silhouettes. I showed them how to use the Portfolio water soluble oil pastels by drawing on their paper using lines that express rhythm and movement and spreading the color around their paper with a wet paintbrush. We talked about the color wheel and which colors will mix well together and which ones will look like 'mud' when mixed. The students chose what time of day they wanted to depict and which colors would best represent that particular time of day. While their paper was drying, we started to draw the trees. This is a difficult task to draw branches using lines that overlap, show thickness/thinness, and are connected together. Here are some of the finished projects:

Fall Landscape Reflections

2011-10-07T13:05:00.000-05:00

For this project, I must have been hopped up on caffeine to be able to complete it in the allotted hour time-frame. First of all, I had to set out oil pastels, watercolors, watercolor brushes, acrylic paint, acrylic brushes, and paper towels for each student...whew. But, the results are so stunning, I felt like it was well worth the extra effort on my part. Here were the steps:
1. Fold the paper to create the horizon. 2. Draw the clouds with the white oil pastel, the tree trunks with the brown oil pastel, and the water waves with the blue oil pastel. 3. Use watercolor paint to paint the sky and the water. 4. Use the acrylic paint to 'dab' the foliage on the trees. 5. Re-fold the paper to make the reflection in the water. 6. Use a slightly wet watercolor brush to make short horizontal brushstrokes in the reflection to make it look like water.

I worked while the students did so they could follow one step at a time and see how quickly they needed to work to move on to the next step. Here are some finished paintings:

Zalyn's Landscape

Tyler's Landscape

Ra'jai's Landscape

Kayla's Landscape

Jean Dubuffet Sculputres

2011-10-06T08:48:00.000-05:00

This is an exciting project that I am doing with my 6th graders. First, we watched this You Tube video showcasing some of Dubuffet's original drawings, paintings, and sculptures. I thought it was interesting to teach the kids that this particular artist based a lot of his own work on children's drawings. Next, I showed them a PowerPoint slideshow showing some abstract sculptures made of poster board and some of Dubuffet's resin sculptures.

We began our sculptures using white tagboard, cutting out free-form shapes, and adding pattern and color with black, red, and blue markers. I demonstrated how to attach the pieces together by making cuts in each piece and sliding one piece on another piece. Here are a few sculptures in progress (the first one is my teacher sample):

Jasmin's Sculpture

Evan's Sculpture

Gabe's Sculpture

Curtis's Sculpture

Here is the video from You Tube that I showed the students:

Construction Paper Owls

2011-10-05T11:12:00.001-05:00

For second grade art today, we made owls using different sizes of pre-cut squares. I showed them how to cut a triangle out of a square by tilting their scissors from the bottom corners and cutting to the top of the square. This was a VERY difficult task for 2nd graders, so I had to draw the diagram on the board so they could use a crayon to draw the lines and then cut out the triangles.

We started with one triangle pointing up at the bottom and overlapping each row of triangles as we added more to shape the body of the owl. Next, I showed them how to cut circles from squares by cutting off the corners until they have a circle. We cut out three different sizes of circles and overlapped them to make the eyes.

I had planned on doing this with my Kg. class as well, but after seeing how difficult this was for 2nd graders, I changed my plans!

Amauria's Owl

Aliyah L.'s Owl

Rodney's Owl

Kindergarten Art Club, part 2

2011-09-30T13:28:00.001-05:00

Well, Kindergarten Art Club has come to an end. It was an exciting adventure with the 5/6 year-olds. They were sooooo excited to be able to stay after school and do extra art time with Ms. Keller. We made rainbow apple prints, 3-D houses, Model Magic pumpkins, and mixed-media masks. Here are my little ones wearing their sparkly/colorful/ribbon/button masks and their magic wands/swords:

Abstract Name Designs - Finished!

2011-09-28T13:10:00.000-05:00

My 6th graders finished their Name Designs today and they turned out fabulous! We used watercolor paint to fill the spaces in with color. Here are the finished results:

Andrew T.

Jasmin C.

Alex B.

Dyami P.

Evan H.

Scarecrows!

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-05:00

This is an adorable lesson that keeps the primary artists busy for the entire class period! I break it up into steps for the students to follow along to ensure success for everyone. Here are the steps:

1. Trace and cut-out the shapes for the scarecrow's shirt, pants, & hat using stencils and wallpaper scraps (set aside for later).
2. Discuss farmlands (the crops, colors, and lines). Draw the hills using curved lines and show the students how to repeat that same curved line in each hill to represent rows of crops.
3. Instruct the students on coloring each hill with a two-color pattern. Have them color the sky at this point, as well.
4. Next, glue down the parts for the scarecrow. I pre-cut scarecrow heads for my students and pass them out at this time.
5. Last, I give each student some "hay" (or raffia, as we art teachers call it) and two buttons to glue on their scarecrows.

Aren't they so cute?

Aaryn's Scarecrow

Hannah's Scarecrow

Andre's Scarecrow

Alan's Scarecrow

Amauria's Scarecrow

Sparkling Fall Foliage - Revised

2011-09-23T11:26:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have caught on...I pick a theme and stick with it for a week or two. I let my primary classes do the same projects because #1: they are usually back-to-back on my schedule, #2: I don't usually repeat lessons year after year for specific grade levels (that requires way too much organization for this creative mind), and #3: I think they are just so cute that I cannot help but teach it to another class :)

So, here are my new and improved Sparkling Fall Trees:

I think the white paper looks much nicer than the tan paper I used the first time. I also took the opportunity to teach the students about foreground and background by making a hill that the tree is on and other hills behind the tree. And the handprints turned out much nicer this time because I had the students stamp their hands in the yellow first, orange second, and red last. I also gave them three paper towels so they could wipe off the color on their hands before stamping a new color. Much better results :)

Abstract Name Drawings w/ Pattern

2011-09-21T14:19:00.000-05:00

This is one of my go-to projects when I need to introduce pattern. The results are stunning and I have about a 100% success rate even for the the kids who struggle with completing their art projects. We talk about creating interesting patterns using simple lines and shapes. I created a slideshow of Zentangle patterns so the students can see some interesting examples of line patterns. Here are some of the 6th grade drawings that were completed this morning. We will be adding color next week.

Sparkling Fall Foliage

2011-09-21T09:07:00.000-05:00

Even though the trees are still green here in Missouri, I had to get a head-start on our Fall projects because I am in charge of the main bulletin boards at our district Administration Building during the month of October. So, here we are with an easy, safe, always exciting fall painting project.

When they entered the Art room, I had this video playing as they were seated and during the duration of the video, I talked to them about why the leaves change color in the fall and how that directly relates to the cooler temperatures and the shorter days - so we had a little Science lesson before beginning our Art project.

I usually do a project like this during the fall and the spring for my younger students because drawing trees is not only something that the students can relate to, but they can also learn how to draw using line variations. We talk about the thickness on lines, the length of lines, how lines can represent strength/weakness in art, how drawing from nature is NEVER perfect, how imperfections in art are acceptable, and so on. I usually have the students dot the leaves on the trees using their fingertips, but wanted to actually do hand prints this time.

Here are a few examples:

Sidney's Tree ( I like the splatter marks from slapping her hand down on the paper)

Amauria's Tree (I love the fingerprint leaves falling from the tree)

Aryn's Tree (This one shows the hand prints really well)

Amazing!

2011-09-19T13:58:00.001-05:00

This video shows a live painting demonstration using only glue and glitter...just beautiful! What can I do with the kids based on glitter art? I think my custodians would definitely have a 'word' with me, lol.

Harvest Landscape Drawings with Chalk

2011-09-19T13:39:00.001-05:00

I decided to break out this great lesson that I taught a couple of years ago called 'Modern Landscapes'. I have to give credit where credit is due, so thank you Patti from Deep Space Sparkle for this lesson (http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2008/05/coolwarm-modern-landscapes/).

I loved the results from Patti's blog, but decided to change it up a little bit by making it season specific. For example, instead of just talking about and looking at landscapes, my students and I looked at photos showing farms and fields during harvest time. We talked about the repeated lines, warm colors, rolling hills, and more. I had a slideshow playing showing examples of student work from Patti's blog and contrasted those to some farmland photographs. Using black oil pastels on black paper is genius because the chalk won't mess-up the line drawings...it just wipes away...like magic :) And, of course, we talked about warm and cool colors and what types of colors to use when depicting daytime, nighttime, etc. So, there was thought about color placement and color relationships here in this lesson.

Here are some samples of finished student work:

Artwork by Annie

Artwork by Alonna

Artwork by Keenan

Artwork by Dannara

Artwork by Sanai

Artwork by Quanna

ROBOTS

2011-09-16T14:46:00.001-05:00

Today, I had the Kg-3rd graders back-to-back, so I needed a project that would suit the very young artists and the older creative minds. I had pre-cut paper available on the tables when the students came into the art room so they could to put together their robots without having to draw and cut the shapes out themselves. I know that the cutting is important, but I wanted to emphasize the fact that they can create lots of things out of a simple rectangle without getting frustrated with the cutting part. We also used Metallic Crayons, which didn't photograph well. The sparkles really look nice on the dark paper. I think it turned into an "out-of-this-world" art project!

Anthony's Robot - 2nd Grade

Noah's Robot - 2nd Grade

Will's Robot - 2nd Grade

Iran's Robot - Kindergarten

Justin's Robot - 1st Grade

Pop-Up Houses

2011-09-13T14:58:00.001-05:00

Second graders are the best group of kids to work with! They still have that young uninhibited creative spirit and yet they are skillful enough to take on even the most challenging tasks. I decided to introduce them to the concept of 'relief' sculpture by choosing a simple subject matter - houses. First, we discussed relief sculptures and the difference between 2-D art, 3-D art, and relief. Next, I we discussed the concept of foreground, middleground, and background. I know these are difficult terms for these youngsters, but they really 'get it' when they learn these spatial concepts at such an early age.

So, we started by drawing the background - the area behind our subject matter. Next, we drew our own, personal, creative houses. We cut the houses out and mounted them on the background with pieces of foam core to give it depth. Last, we drew bushes to put in the foreground and mounted them with even more pieces of foam core so it popped out in front of the middleground (the house).

Jaydan's House

(Detail shot of the above house)

Caitlin's House

Weekend Art at home...

2011-09-12T09:16:00.000-05:00

Ugly light fixture +

+ soda cans =

= Fun, Funky Chandelier

Relaxation in the Art Room

2011-09-09T14:26:00.000-05:00

I found this great online radio station called SKY fm radio this morning and had it playing all day while the kids worked on their art projects. Today most of my students have either been doing a repeat of lessons I've already posted or are finishing work from last week, so we needed some good background music to keep us inspired. I felt like I was at the spa all day long...nice way to end the week! And, here's my creation for the day:

Chilp

2011-09-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

This book is found NOWHERE on the internet...maybe because it was published in 1967? I scored this copy from our library here at school and picked it up because of the striking illustrations and who can pass up an adorable lesson idea on birds?? I have dabbled with bird projects in the past and just love how whimsical and fun they can be. But, I have been stuck in a bird rut with my own lesson plans for the past couple of years. I think this is the perfect lesson to bring me back to bird paradise :)
First, we read the book, Chilp. Cute story about a bird who is unhappy with the way he is and decided to change himself by adding feathers from different varieties of birds.
I demonstrated how to draw a few options for a bird's body on the white board. I don't like to make the students copy everything I do, so I figure if I give them options, they can use some of my ideas and some of their own. Next, the students added feathers by drawing them & adding patterns on the feathers with crayons. They colored over the crayon patterns with markers to reveal the interesting patterns. Lastly, we added watercolor paint around the birds and feathers on their birds. And Viola!

Aaron's Bird

Tramond's Bird

Kindergarten Art Club

2011-09-08T11:00:00.000-05:00

We started Art Club off with a splash last night :) (literally!) It was great, though. I love the concept of apple printing, but wanted to spice-up my usual lesson using the colors of apples. Since Kg. classes have read the book Mouse Paint, I decided to go with the concept of color mixing while printing. It was great because the colors mixed on their own as the kids dipped the apples and printed them. Can you see what's missing, though?

Yep, the Art teacher - genius that I am - forgot the row of yellow!! Ooops!

Mouse Paint!!

2011-09-07T16:21:00.000-05:00

Well, we weren't quite ready for this lesson as Kindergartners. I should have done this with my 1st graders, but you all know we learn by experience, don't we? I broke it down into several steps: 1st - we read the book and I demonstrated how to make the mice and paint them; 2nd - we drew 6 mice together on our papers; 3rd - we painted 3 mice using the primary colors; 4th - together, we mixed secondary colors in each of the additional mice. At this point, when I realized the lesson was going nowhere FAST, I let them make mice footprints all over their papers. Here are the results:

These were about the only two paintings that actually showed the proper color mixing.

Just For Fun...

2011-09-02T14:32:00.000-05:00

Look what I made while the kids were creating their own masterpieces :)

Fireflies!!!

2011-09-02T13:58:00.001-05:00

This is an adorable project to do with the primary grades. I taught this lesson today with my Kindergartners and my 2nd graders. First, we read the book, Leo the Lightning Bug - which is just as cute as can be!

Next, we made "stars" on dark blue paper with yellow colored pencils and then we drew colorful lightning bugs. I had to emphasize drawing DARK with these b/c if they didn't, their drawings wouldn't show up. Now, the best part came last...for students who worked quietly and tried their best (which they ALL did, but I like to hold the bribe out there for good behavior), they got GLITTER!!! - to make their fireflies light-up, of course :)

Now, I took these with my iPhone, so please forgive the lack of quality photography here:

Emory's Lightning Bugs

Kameron's Lightning Bugs

Angeli's Lightning Bugs

Watermelon Watercolors

2011-09-01T14:21:00.001-05:00

I found this adorable book in our school library today and wanted to a simple lesson with my 2nd graders based on watermelons. It was a cute book, published in 1967, about a farmer who paid no attention to anyone but found that he missed a lot of opportunities by just focusing on himself. I decided to take advantage of using simple shapes and lines to teach the students about overlapping. I demonstrated how to draw a rind first, a straight line across the top, and then add seeds. We used watercolor paint to add color to our drawings.

Pop Art Self-Portraits

2011-08-31T12:52:00.001-05:00

Well, well well. I am itching to post something interesting, but I am waiting for my students to finish their self-portrait drawings so we can paint them and I can post some stunning student work. But, as we all know...stunning work does not come from 1 single class period (or rarely comes, I should say). So, I will post what we are working on this week and will post the finished paintings next week. That way, you can be anticipating the marvelous work to come :)

The main idea is to create a Pop-Art self-portrait in the style of Andy Warhol. I like Pop Art lessons because it really breaks down the intimidation barriers and helps kids to see that art can be fun and simple without being complicated. One of my 1st grade Art Campers this summer said of Warhol's paintings..."It's so boring but so exciting at the same time!" That was my 'Ah-ha' moment of being an art educator...I finally reached the other side!!!

This was the You Tube video that I showed the students:

So, I gave each student a piece of paper that measured 6x9". For the older grades, I took the opportunity to teach them facial proportions, and for the younger grades (3rd & 4th) I just gave a quick demonstration and let them draw their portrait without the "rules" of proportion. Next, I showed them how to heavily mark their drawing with pencil lead, turn it over, and rub the back of the paper with a scissor handle. Then, when their image transfers, they outlined their drawing with a Sharpie. Here is one example, look for more to come.

Sparkling Apple Orchards

2011-08-25T15:48:00.002-05:00

I just had to do another apple lesson with my second graders! I love, love this book:

This time, I decided to teach perspective by painting an apple orchard. First, I had the students use watercolors to paint the horizon line, the grass, and the sky. Next, we let the paint dry while I read the story to the class. We used tempera paint for the trees and the apples. I had them paint three rows of trees, first a large tree trunk, then a medium, then a small. I usually don't even approach perspective until at least the second half of third grade, but as I become more comfortable with my method of teaching it, I am introducing it with the primary classes more often. When I was demonstrating how and where to place the tree trunks, one of my artists said, "OH, I SEE IT!!!". I love that type of confirmation when my words match what they see so they can truly understand visual representation!!! (I feel like my mission is completed, I am at 'one with the universe', lol)

For the foliage, I had them paint the small tree's top first, then the medium, then the large top last (opposite from the tree trunks). This way, they can see how the foliage can overlap with another tree. They painted the apples on the trees with their fingerprints. I told them if they work quickly and quietly, they got red glitter on their apples :) - works every time!

Cameron's Orchard

Joi's Orchard

Brooke's Orchard

Silhouette Self-Portraits

2011-08-25T10:41:00.000-05:00

I love, love, love silhouettes! I remember when my little guy was in preschool and his teachers traced his silhouette. I still have it to this day, framed, and on display. I think a silhouette is like frozen time. You can see the chubbiness in their cheeks, their hairstyle, their serious faces. They are timeless. So, I am doing a silhouette project again this year with my 5th graders. These are different and more artistic than a typical cameo. The objective for my students was to create a collage of things that represent them at this point in their lives. So, some are doing shopping, sports, food, etc. I also told them to add text- words that represent them (ie. kind, athletic, smart, funny, reliable) to get them thinking of some traits that are unique to them personally. Here are some photos that I found on Google Images that I am using for my powerpoint (not my student work, just samples for inspiration):

This one is from princetonol.com

This one is from artismessy.com

I will post some of my students' creations when they start to come together next week :)

Woven Paper Apples

2011-08-23T11:00:00.002-05:00

This time of year, I like to use an apple theme to add excitement and color to the building. Last year, I did apple stamping with the kids, but decided that I needed something a little more exciting. The kids loved apple stamping, but for the sake of my staff and the parents coming in tonight for Curriculum Night, I felt we needed a different take on the traditional "apple theme". Here is a photo from www.creativejewishmom.com which inspired our soon-to-be colorful, woven apples:

Oh, and of course, I had to tie in some literature with this project. We read the book, Apples to Oregon. This is a great book! It's a "slightly true" story (which kids love) about the Oregon Trail. It's a Mark Twain Award Winning book and is also one of our AR books, which I encouraged the kids to take an AR test on the story for additional reinforcement.

What to do with all those teacher samples???

2011-08-22T11:13:00.000-05:00

As art teachers, we NEVER throw things away. For one, we can always use this for another project, cut it up and make something out of it, or put it in that pile of things we will sort through in the future. Unfortunately, that pile grows larger and larger year after year and the samples we said we'd use begin to collect dust and fade with time. Sigh. This year, I decided to pull my samples out of retirement and use them for a beginning of the year bulletin board:

and wall decor:

and hallway displays:

and yet, I still have piles more in the Art Room :( What do you do with your teacher samples?

ABC I Like Me!

2011-08-19T14:39:00.001-05:00

After reading this book by Nancy Carlson, students created self-portraits. I walked them through a step-by-step demonstration of drawing a head, neck, shoulders, and details & then let them go to town. I don't like giving Kg. students too much specific direction, because their art is so innocent and creative. They are natural artists at this age and I love to see what they come up with!

On the second day, we reviewed the ABC pattern from the story and created the watercolor border to go around the self-portraits. Here are a few of our masterpieces:

Success!

2011-08-18T13:40:00.000-05:00

School's starting and our kids are just as wonderful as they were in May. I get more and more excited every August as we begin a new school year. I love to see who's grown over the summer, who is coming with new siblings, and the new faces that I will soon meet. As an art teacher, I just love the fact that I get to be with these kids for seven years! Some of my students have had me as their art teacher since they were in kindergarten. Our profession is unique to this fact because we definitely get to see our students grow, mature, and develop their artistic talent. I can easily say that I am proud of my students because while some of them started out as artists with exceptional talent, some of them had little to no art experience and are developing into artists right before my very eyes! I love my job!

This week, we have been working on designing the covers of our PBS journals. The students will use these journals in their regular classroom throughout the year by writing samples of High 5 behavior and other topics of Positive Behavior. In the art room, however, we get to be creative and make a magazine collage on the cover. It's a simple lesson, but it's a great one to start the year with so I can address the High 5 behaviors in the Art Room and it helps me get to know my artists. Here are a few completed collages:

Summer Art Camp (cont.)

2011-06-21T16:18:00.014-05:00

My students were so fabulous and creative! We had such fun working together on our projects all week. My favorite part of the whole experience was when we were looking at a You Tube video on Andy Warhol and learning about Pop Art. One of my students said, "It's so boring, but so exciting at the same time!" That comment gave me goosebumps because they really "get it". I enjoyed seeing everyone's own interpretation of what we were learning. Here are the photos from camp:

Alyssa's finished foam core house sculpture

Summer Art Camp

2011-06-08T21:31:00.000-05:00

Well, Summer Art Camp is off and running! I have about 13 students signed up for the 'Paint Like a Pro' and about 10 for 'Let's Sculpt'. Here are some highlights from the first two days at camp:

Jordyn's Blue Dog:

Hailey's Blue Dog

Kennedie's Blue Dog:

Alyssa's Blue Dog:

Ella's Blue Dog:

Tanna working on her Georgia O'Keeffe masterpiece:

Peyton working on his flower painting:

Alyssa painting her flower:

See you in August!

2011-05-25T19:00:00.000-05:00

I hate to say goodbye, but I can't promise I will be blogging much this summer. I plan to do a lot of reading by the pool, traveling, and playing with my kids. However, I am teaching a Summer Art Camp at a local Community Center during one week in June and one week in July, so stay tuned for pics from the camp. Other than that, Happy Summer!

Fine Arts Fair 2011

2011-05-18T14:43:00.002-05:00

We had a GREAT turn-out last night at our annual Fine Arts Fair. As opposed to previous years, I decided to turn the entire school into an Art Gallery, whereas each student would have a work of art represented. In the past, I was only a part-time art teacher here and I would hang the art for my classes only for display purposes. But this year, I decided to make sure each student had either a painting or a sculpture for sale at the Art Gallery. It worked out really well because with my art budget being cut, I needed the extra fundraiser to purchase clay and other sculpture materials for next year. It's time to get creative with fundraising, isn't it???

Parents and students alike were excited to purchase the artwork. The artwork was sold for $4 each, while the stools were sold for $30 (that's what it would cost to replace them + shipping). Believe it or not, a lot of people were willing to pay the $$ for the art stools. I think I may be on to something here :) Many families purchased their own students' work as well as other paintings and sculptures that other artists made. Here are some pics from last night:

This was the raffle basket that I put together for the students complete with a sketch pad, a canvas, markers, crayons, model magic, paint, and colored pencils. They are dying to see who won!

Students working on the Circle Painting mural in the Art Room. The projector was showing the You Tube video 'Circle Painting' on a continuous loop every few minutes to inspire the students and families as they painted.

This was the finished circle painting. I got a deal on the canvas from one of Michael's weekend sales. It's huge, but I know the perfect spot for it here at school.

These were the art stools that my students painted. I do this project every year with a group of well-behaved 6th graders, but this was the first year that I allowed them to buy their art stool at the Fine Arts Fair. The project involved researching a specific artist, writing a paper about the artist, the type of artwork he/she created, and choosing a specific work of art to re-create on an art stool.

Van Gogh, of course :)

Jasper Johns

These students were working on Circle Paintings in the Art room.

Here are some folks enjoying the art in the hallways. Like the papel picado?

These students were admiring the Oaxacan animals in the display case. There was a laptop set up on top that was playing the Oaxacan Wood Carving slideshow.

Our record bowls were a BIG hit!

Muiscal Painting

2011-05-16T10:40:00.000-05:00

Students love, love this lesson. I like it because it's about the creation part of making art, instead of the end-product. It's also about following directions, so this works well for younger students. I had my Kg. class make these circle paintings today using lids as stamps. The main idea is that I put a different color on each table - when the music starts they start stamping and when the music stops they move to the next table and wait for music to start again. I use cups, marker lids, milk lids, caps or any other circle shape that they can hold and stamp easily. Simple, fun, and fast.

Yarn Painting

2011-05-09T13:21:00.001-05:00

To top of our Mexican week (or two weeks, as it turned out) I had my 4th-6th graders work on yarn paintings. Funny story, actually. In our video on Mexican American Heritage, they did a demonstration on yarn paintings and how it is traditional to the Huichol Indians, etc. The students were so excited about yarn paintings that I changed my plan immediately. I was initially going to have them work on Papel Picado like the rest of the students, but decided to forego the plan and feed off their enthuasiasm. It payed off because many of my students tried very hard on this project and the results are beautiful. Mind you, the paper is only about 6x8", so they were finished before they had the chance to get bored with it.

Another handprint project for Mother's Day

2011-05-04T14:34:00.000-05:00

Another great use of our little handprints :) This time, we made a Mother's Day card using our handprints stamped in red paint to make a heart. We stamped our hands on 8x10" white paper and glued the paper on a colored piece of construction paper that served as the 'picture frame'. The kids decorated the cards and glued beads on them to make them extra special :)

Melted Record Bowls

2011-05-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

Now, these are just the beginning of some great works of art, but I was just too anxious to post these :) I had melted these before school yesterday morning so my Art Club students could work on painting them and getting them ready for the Fine Arts Fair in two weeks.

First of all, to melt a record, you need to preheat your oven to 200 degrees, put the record on top of an oven proof glass bowl so when it heats up, it will slump over the bowl. As soon as you see the record melting, take it out of the oven and let it cool. At this point, you can carefully mold it into whatever shape you want to. You have to work quickly b/c as soon as it cools, it's permanently in that shape - unless you re-melt it, of course. It only takes about 5 minutes to melt and 2 minutes to cool, so it's a quick process. I put two bowls in my oven at a time, so within 30 minutes I had 18 bowls ready to be painted.

From experience, I can tell you that these will turn out beautifully if you spray paint them with a coat of white primer before using acrylics on them. Most of the acrylic paint won't show up well at all on a black surface, so to ensure vibrancy, I would recommend priming them first.

Papel Picado

2011-05-04T11:45:00.002-05:00

We watched a video on Cinco de Mayo to celebrate the Latin American holiday coming up this week. I like this lesson b/c it's easy, fun, and vibrant. I also use the decorations for the Fine Arts Fair which works out b/c I don't have to make all of the decorations myself :) Here's the slideshow I showed my students:

Papel picado

View more presentations from rkeller19

Art + Magic = FUN

2011-04-29T14:23:00.002-05:00

I took my son to the Magic House St. Louis Children's Museum the other day and saw these magnificent works art I wanted to share with you.

These photos are a series of three canvases that were put together like a mural. But the thing I like best are all of the found objects the artist incorporated into the painting, like yarn, beads, buttons and other things.

Detail shot of the right canvas showing yarn and button details

Right canvas

Center canvas

Left canvas

Waiting for the electric train to pass by...

Aren't little boys precious?

We loved this station! In the middle of the table there were sculpture pieces that the kids could use to create their own masterpiece. I need some of these for my classroom!

I love these stairs because from a distance, they look like a stack of books.

This was another sculpture I really liked. It reminds me of a Frank Stella.

Oaxacan Animals - Continued

2011-04-28T13:24:00.002-05:00

We used acrylic paint for our animals today in art class. I like to introduce students to different types of paint, but acrylic is about as far as I go. I don't have the budget or the patience for oil paints at the elementary level. Acrylic was great for these animals because the paint dried fast and it dried with a nice shine. While our animals were made with the 'additive' sculpture method, I went ahead and introduced them to 'subtractive' sculpture by showing them photos of the sculptors making these wood animals starting with a tree stump and carved the animal out of a block of wood. I think it really helped them to understand why these sculptures are so important and why they are considered one of the most cherished art forms in the Latin American culture.

Here are a few finished animals:

The infamous duck with his tongue hangin' out

The tiger was painted realistically, but the artist added details when the paint dried.

This tiger did not have the "folk art" details added, but the artist did such a good job, that I accepted her work just as it was.

This lion isn't finished yet, but I wanted to showcase the beautiful detail that the artist is adding to the body, mane, and legs.

I would also like to add that it is VERY difficult for even 4th graders to be able to control their paintbrushes to color a small sculpture in a smooth, even color and to add small details with paint! Each student got about 6 oz. of Model Magic and the animals measure about 3"x 4". So, that said, these are fabulous - if I do say so myself :)

Pandas!

2011-04-26T14:53:00.000-05:00

My Kg. and 2nd grade classes watched this hilarious video this afternoon about animals in Asia. I don't know why, but all kiddos love animals. So an animal art project is a no-fail lesson guaranteed! We drew some adorable pandas using simple shapes, lines, and colors...

Oaxacan Animals

2011-04-25T12:21:00.002-05:00

I've been wanting to do a lesson on Oaxacan animals for the longest time, but kept putting-it-off for whatever reason. I was exploring some media on the world-wide-web when I came across this beautiful slideshow showing excellent examples of the woodcarvings and even some photos of the artists themselves. Here is the slideshow you can download from Slideshare:

Oaxacan wood carving slideshare ppt

View more presentations from ljohnson60

And here are some animals my 4th graders made using Model Magic (now keep in mind, these are just the beginning...we'll be adding color and details next class so stay tuned):

A duck with his tongue hangin' out

A cute pair of owls

Of course, a bunny.

And I love this droopy penguin.

Handprint Flowers

2011-04-25T10:17:00.001-05:00

Okay, for all of you classroom teachers out there, here is another handprint project that is cute, easy, and foolproof. I used a lunchroom tray and spread white paint all over it so the colors wouldn't be solid, but would mix in with white for another dimension. Then I made 'puddles' of colored paint that the students could easily stamp their hand in. I assisted them, of course, but it was an easy way to access a whole class and let them choose their own color of paint without having to paint each hand. The grass part took the most amount of time because they had to fill up the bottom of a 12x18 piece of paper with 'blades' of grass. I like to have lots of cutting in the projects for K-1 because they need the fine motor practice. For this project, I required them to cut out 'blades' of grass as thin and as long as their fingers. Some did well, while others struggled getting their triangles thin and long enough. When they were finished with the grass, they were instructed to make 3-4 stems and that was my signal to assist them with the paint. It was lots of fun!

Budget Crisis

2011-04-22T14:35:00.000-05:00

Has anyone else out there found themselves watering-down the tempera paint and Elmer's glue to stretch the 'Almighty Art Dollar'?

I am a little concerned about where my art supplies are going to come from in the next few years if school districts keep getting less and less money ~ sigh.

So, while we are watering-down our supplies and making the projects smaller, we must remember not to water-down our instruction.

Gallon Robots

2011-04-20T14:42:00.000-05:00

This was a project requested by a 2nd grade teacher to compliment their math lesson. I think she thought I'd follow the printed handout and have the students color the worksheet, cut out the pieces and glue them together...but little did she know, my mind doesn't comprehend "worksheet" language :) Instead, I gave each student colored construction paper that we divided into half gallons, quarts, pints, and cups. I didn't realize exactly how much paper we would need...and exactly how BIG these robots would be. The kids had to take their projects to the floor because they ran out of table space.

Modern Art...

2011-04-20T13:02:00.001-05:00

To continue our lesson on Frank Stella, I decided that if I gave the students the whole hour to work on their paintings they would chatter incessantly. So, what better way to focus their attention then have them watch a video on Modern Art while they are making Modern Art???? I'm a genius, I know :) This is a great video showing artists, such as Chuck Close in his element, expressing his talent and demonstrating his painting skills:

Here is my teacher sample of my own version of a Frank Stella painting from his protractor series:

Now keep in mind, that while I love to study the "Masters" in art, I rarely encourage copying artists' work. I introduce the students to famous works of art & art movements and share some of the artist's ideas about the art they created but I encourage them to take some of the same ideas & create their own masterpieces.

Here are some of the paintings that are in mid-progress (these are 16x20 paintings)...

These is one 4th grade painting. They finished these because they were on 12x12 paper - much smaller than the 5th and 6th grade paintings. And, we used white crayon with watercolor and I thought I'd like these better, but I'm not so sure anymore...the watercolors don't seem to fit with this particular artist. It's all trial and error, isn't it?

Versatile Blogger Award!!!

2011-04-19T10:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, I feel honored to receive this award. Thanks, Hannah from Art.Paper.Scissors.Glue!

Frank Stella

2011-04-15T14:03:00.000-05:00

SFMOMA | Explore Modern Art | Multimedia | Video | Frank Stella on abstraction

This is the beginning of our Frank Stella series that I plan on displaying at our Fine Arts fair. I was searching for a video that describes abstract art and Stella's idea of "reshaping" the canvas - making the shape of the canvas play an important role in the final piece of art. Here are our beginning drawings:

Next week, we will cut out around some of the circles to transform the shape of the "canvas".

And here is the PowerPoint I showed the kids:

Frank stella

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Painted Birdhouses

2011-04-15T12:09:00.001-05:00

This time of year, I always have my windows open in my classroom to feel the warm breeze, smell the freshly-cut grass, and listen to the chirping birds. Or, in today's case, smell and hear the Spring rain showers :) This morning, I decided to change my plans and have the students create their very own birdhouses. I taught this lesson a few years ago, but like the simplicity of it. In the past, I have had them draw and paint the birdhouse and leave it at that. But, this time I wanted to add another element...the wallpaper birds.

Birdhouses

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I finally figured it out!!!!

2011-04-14T15:47:00.003-05:00

Graffiti art

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I DID IT!!!! I have wanted to share some of my slideshows with you for some time now, but I couldn't figure out how to do it. So, I am using 'slideshare' at www.slideshare.net as my vehicle to embed the slideshow into my post. Now, granted, this is a very basic slideshow, but I will have better ones to come. You just wait :)

Now, about making a 'button' for my blog...

Optical Illusion Drawings

2011-04-14T13:43:00.000-05:00

I love teaching the kids how to use simple lines and shapes that create illusions :) For this project, we started with an X, drew a vertical line through the middle, and then a horizontal line. I use food terms a lot when giving demonstrations b/c it's something we can all relate to. For this one, I talk about pizza crust and toppings. I say, in the first slice of pizza, draw a crust that goes out (a line that curves out). Then, in the next slice of pizza, draw a 'crust' that goes in. We repeat this pattern all the way around our 'pizza'. Next, for the toppings (or, the lines inside of the pizza), I tell them the toppings have to match the crust...if the crust is a line that goes out...the toppings have to curve out and vice versa. It's also important to emphasize that the toppings have to connect from one slice of pizza to the next.

We used oil pastels to add color and to create the 'highlight' in each space. I show them that using shadows and highlights makes objects look like they are receding and advancing off the page.

Rainbow Finger Painting

2011-04-13T10:22:00.000-05:00

I read this adorable story with my Kg.-2nd graders today. Then, we did dot painting with our fingers. I like to do this with the younger students because they like to get paint on themselves anyway but I show them that they can have fun, create art, and get messy at the same time :) Believe it or not, when the kiddos are 'allowed' to stick their fingers in the paint, they are much cleaner and controlled when I tell them not to stick their fingers in the paint...go figure. Here are some of our paintings:

Attempted Tessellations...

2011-04-12T14:11:00.001-05:00

Okay, I thought...I have this Tessellation video that we got about a year ago that I'll show my 5th and 6th graders, they'll really like it, they'll think tessellations are cool. Ha ha. This video couldn't be more boring! I'm sure they could have found a slightly more excited artist to talk about tessellations! Or, even add some background music, or maybe some really cool examples! Come on! Art is supposed to be fun, isn't it? Well, needless to say, I stopped the video 8 minutes into it and we got right to work on our very own designs. Now, if anyone out there is looking for an artist to do art demonstrations for videos, CALL ME! I will take the $$$ and produce something much, much more exciting than this video:

Watercolor Landscapes & Blotter Butterflies

2011-04-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

To finish our Blotter Butterfly project, students created landscape paintings using watercolor paint. We talked about where butterflies like to live, what they like to eat, and so on - just to refresh their memory from the video we watched last class period.

To begin this project, I had to re-teach the techniques of using watercolors ~ sigh. I had to bring out the brand-new Prang paints :) they were so beautiful! Let me emphasize 'were' so beautiful. We had to go over all the basics...water the brush, then choose one color to dab the brush in, wash the brush out each time, do not dig the brush into the color or scoop the paint out.

I also had a slideshow going on the TV depicting various landscape photographs so students could get an idea about horizon line, composition, color schemes, and so on.

Art Party!!!

2011-04-09T18:53:00.000-05:00

My 10 year-old actually said to me, "Mom, is this party for me, or is this party for you?" She couldn't have said it any better :) I was honest, and said, "Honey, I would have LOVED to have a party like this for my 10th birthday, so I guess I am living my dreams through you :)"

Here are some colorful, fun decorations and activities we did last night with her friends:

Paint-filled water balloons:

My daughter/mini-me:

Melting Crayons (I love menting stuff):

Canvas painting time:)

Graffiti Art

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

This was a really fun lesson to do with my older students. It started out as a 5th grade Art Club project, but snowballed into a 4th-6th grade art lesson because when the students saw what Art Club was working on they were begging me to teach them how to make graffiti letters. And, I gave in to their requests. However, when they began the project, they learned how difficult it was to make the letters and use the oil pastels, the success rate for this project was low :( The students who were successful at this project were those who work hard and diligent during class time.

And this was my teacher sample: (of course I had to join in on the fun)

Fly, Fly Butterfly

2011-04-06T10:32:00.001-05:00

We began our unit on butterflies by watching a scientific video that explores the difference between butterflies and moths and also shows the life cycle of a butterfly. The students really liked watching this video and learning about butterflies. To expand on their learning, I had each student write 4 things that they learned about butterflies, moths, or caterpillars. This worked well because I was able to assist each student individually on their blotter butterflies while the other students worked on their writing. They need help with the blotting part because if they try to press the paint themselves, it usually looks like a big blob :)

Here are our blotter butterflies:

Stay tuned for our finished projects next week :>)

Sailing into the Sunset

2011-04-06T09:19:00.000-05:00

This is a great lesson to emphasize warm and cool colors and simple shapes. I did this lesson with my Kindergartners and my 2nd graders this year. I love this because it is a no-fail lesson with stunning results. We first discussed warm and cool color schemes and painted a horizon line across the middle of the paper. For the water, students were only to use cool paint colors and for the sky, they were only to use warm colors. For the sailboats, I have three stencils on the table that they can trace onto sheets of wallpaper and cut them out. Older students can do this without tracing, but my little ones still need the practice tracing and cutting.

I also utilize this time to teach the students proper use of watercolor paint. I don't know about your students, but mine need several reminders on how to use this art medium correctly. They tend to think that paint needs to be dark and heavy and to achieve the best results, they 'scoop' out the paint instead of dabbing their brush into the paint wells. So, I do a thorough demonstration every time we use watercolors. Now, don't get me wrong, there are always a few students who don't use enough water, use too much paint, or try to mix all of the colors together. And for this student, I breath a big sigh, and remind myself to reteach the watercolor lesson yet again.

Handprint Bunnies

2011-03-31T13:20:00.000-05:00

After reading the story, Hopper Hunts for Spring, students came up with a list of words that rhyme with "Hop". They wrote the words around the frame on the colored sheet of paper. Next, I came around and helped them make a handprint in the middle of their gray paper for the bunny's head. We used construction paper crayons to make the bunny's body and background images.

City Silhouettes - finished!

2011-03-30T14:04:00.000-05:00

These are some examples of stellar student work:

The city silhouettes were added after we were finished with painted the Tinted City Skies. This is a project that takes 3 or more class periods to complete, but the results are stunning! We talk about positive and negative space, architectural details, contrast in size and shape, and composition. I had a slideshow playing on the TV showing the silhouettes of several different cities.

The Bee Tree

2011-03-29T10:02:00.000-05:00

This is a great story about finding adventure, excitement, and wisdom through reading. I read this story to my students and we discussed the main idea of the story before beginning our art lesson. Students first drew a landscape depicting their very own Bee Tree using crayons. Next, in an empty space on their paper, they used their pointer finger to stamp yellow bee bodies and their pinky finger to stamp the heads. When the yellow paint was dry, they drew lines in the bodies, wings, and stingers. I like the way that their swarms of bees show movement in their artwork.

Splatter Art - Jackson Pollock

2011-03-18T14:49:00.000-05:00

I found this great video on the MOMA website showing the techniques of action painting. http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/123/687.

I decided to go out on a limb and try this with my 2nd and Kindergarten classes. Am I crazy or what? Well, Spring Break is next week and I might as well go out with a bang!

Ocean Mural Finished!

2011-03-18T14:00:00.000-05:00

Finally, after 2+ hours of installation, the ocean mural is complete :) The students are in awe as they walk through the front foyer of the school. They all point out, "That's my shark, turtle, fish, etc." I first hung up the large 2-D paintings and then attached animal cut-outs with foam core dividers so some of the animals pop-out. Next, I hung the jellyfish and soda bottle fish from the ceiling. The last thing I plan on doing is putting up samples of student 'academic' work above the mural, because my theme was "Come SEA what we've been learning".

Picasso's Hands with Flowers

2011-03-17T13:42:00.000-05:00

This is a great one-day lesson for the young artists. For the older artists, they can handle drawing the hands, but the little ones like making hand prints :) I really like how striking these look in contrast with the white paper. The students used oil pastels to draw their bouquets and signed their names like Picasso did, right on the front of their artwork.

Chalk & Oil Pastel Still-Life

2011-03-16T13:46:00.001-05:00

Students in 4th Grade worked on still-life drawings for the Fine Arts Fair coming up in May. These drawings are a big hit with parents and faculty because they are so vibrant. It is a really simple project! First, we look at and discuss still-life paintings, draw a simple vase and table, and add at least 4 simple flowers in the vase. Some students got really creative with their vases and flowers! We used an oil pastel to draw with and filled in the spaces with chalk because the chalk wipes right off of the oil, leaving a nice black line outlining the shapes.

Cherry Blossom finger-painting

2011-03-16T13:21:00.000-05:00

Every Spring, I do a little lesson to celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. The story about the cherry trees is a nice way to encourage the students to think about friendship and emphasize good deeds. Just research the history of the cherry trees if you are interested in teaching this lesson in your classes. I have a slideshow that I play showing photographs of the cherry trees around the Capital in D.C. while the students are working. I vary this lesson depending on grade level - kinders paint the tree and use fingerprint dots as the blossoms, 1st and 2nd graders paint the tree using the Japanese Sumie technique and paint finger dots in an actual blossom (four dots w/ one in the middle), 3rd and 4th graders paint the trees using the Sumie technique and cut small circles out of pink paper to create their blossoms.

Kindergarten example:

1st Grade example (close-up branch painting)

Tinted Flower Paintings

2011-03-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

This is a great lesson on color mixing, as well as teaching about tints, shades, hues, and even free-form shapes. I make it super easy for the 3rd and 4th graders by walking them through painting free-form shapes to create a flower by placing one shape in the middle, and painting flower petals around the shape. Next, I give each student one brush for their color, one for the white, and one mixing brush. I had them paint the end of the petal white, the bottom of the petal with the color, and then in the middle, they put one dab of color and one dab of white and mixed it together with the mixing brush. Breaking down the project like this, makes it simple enough for the younger kids to learn how to blend colors together.

4th Grade examples:

3rd Grade examples:

Tinted City Skyline Paintings

2011-03-09T10:25:00.001-06:00

To sum up this painting project, I can only say "Trial and Error". I love the results, but it has taken me a few years to 'perfect' my teaching strategies to ensure student success. Lesson learned: try and try again. The basic idea is to simplify it to the extent where students are allowed one large 'puddle' of white paint in the middle of their palette. They are allowed to use only one color. Next, I demonstrate the mixing process and tell them to trust me, even though it looks like the color isn't changing, we are going for a gradual effect. They have to mix just one dab of color into the entire white 'puddle', leaving no swirls of color or white paint. We start with a white circle, which is the light source and each ring around that circle is just slightly darker each time. Today after four people had to start over, I went ahead and told them that they have to mix the dab of color 15 times into the white 'puddle' before painting the next ring, because if they don't mix the color well enough, the ring is much darker from the residual paint left on the paintbrush. Like I said...trial and error! These are just the beginning of some very stunning, visually appealing works of art:

Next class period, we will begin our city silhouettes using black construction paper:

Recycled Magazine Flowers

2011-03-07T13:26:00.000-06:00

I can use magazines in every season and for every occasion. For this assignment, I had the students cut out colorful squares from magazine pages, fold them three times to get a small triangle, and cut a petal shape out of the top of the triangle. We tried to find magazine pages that were contrasting in color, to make the layers really "pop". Next, we rolled a whole page (preferably a green page) and glued it closed for the stem. I had some jars that someone donated years ago that I thought would be the perfect place to showcase our boquets:

Deep Blue Sea Mural - Day 3

2011-03-04T11:21:00.000-06:00

The glue dried on our jellyfish and we were ready to add the tentacles with tissue paper and ribbon. The 6th graders did a great job with their creations! I like the color variety in the jellyfish.

The 4th graders used construction paper to create some aquatic plants to glue down on our mural. Here are some students working hard: