Friday, September 27, 2013

I Spy Collaborative Art

Last year I talked to the students about some things they have done at school that they really loved. I gave everyone post-it notes and asked them to draw their ideas. We then put all the post-it notes on the board to study them.  From all of those notes I choose some images to put on a large canvas.
I had four very large canvases that I enlarged the student's drawings onto. I also added a few of our guiding principles and the date. We started painting the canvas mural last spring at Celebration of the Arts night. I had a few fourth graders acting as painting facilitators to help the youngsters paint.
The entire piece is like a giant Eye Spy. See if you can find images of Glow, shark dissection, music class, planets, growing sunflowers in third grade, snow day, walk-a-thon, the fourth grade versus teacher basketball game, the fire truck at field day and more. 

Original post- it art.

Copies of post-it art.

More post- it art.

Working on the Canvas mural at Celebration of the Arts.

Even older students helped paint.

First half of the mural.

Second half of the mural.

The entire mural.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Kindergarten Field Trip

There is a worm in my apple! The kindergarten artists went to Stucky Farm today for their annual pumpkin pick-apple fest. They were late coming to the art room after the trip so we took a break from our Paul Klee artwork to create an apple. We discussed how apples are not one solid color but how they might have yellow, green or brown on them. We also made our apples have a surprise in them, a squirmy little worm!





Color Theory

The third grade artists experimented with color today. They each got a cup of red, yellow and blue food coloring and and eye dropper. They got to create as many different colors that they could, mixing the colors with the eye droppers into other little plastic cups. They could have spent hours doing this. They also dropped samples of their colors on watercolor paper. When the paper dried they could really see the colors they created.






Family Date Night?


This would be a fun thing to do October 11th. If you have not been to Columbus Indiana to check out the scene, it is happening. Great architecture, great food and now the IUCA+AD -check it out.

 

Friday, September 20, 2013

Color Theory


We like to do experiments with art and since the third grade is starting working with some color theory we decided to do a simple color experiment. If you are interested in some simple STEM activities for your art room check out Arvind Gupta's Toys from Trash web site. If you want to know more about this incredible man watch his Ted Talk.  The third grade artists loved this activity and had a fun time explaining to each other what was happening when they spun their color wheels.




Artists are also Athletes

An odd thing happens to some boys in art class around fourth grade. They start thinking it is not cool to like being creative. As if somehow loving to color and paint is not what they want to be known for loving. Often these boys (and sometime girls) are really getting into sports. So to show them they can be both athletic and artistic I tell them about some artists I know. I tell them about Chris Cooley, tight end for the Washington Redskins football team, he is a ceramics artist and has his own studio. I tell them about the ex-Knick Patrick Ewing who loved painting so much he wrote a book about it. I don't think anyone laughed at Patrick when they discovered how much he loved art. There is Vernon Wells' dad who was also as athletic as his new York Yankee son until an injury ended his sports career. He is now a full time artist with clients like CC Sabathia who owns two of Wells' paintings.
But let us not forget the grandfather of the athletic arts movement Mr. Rosey Grier. He was the only known textile artist in the fearsome foursome. Perhaps he taught his buddy Deacon Jones how to embroider?  Don't know who Rosey Grier is? Better go ask your mom, dad or grandparents.




 
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Today in the Art Room 9/17/2013


Fourth grade draws from life.

First grade makes giant butterflies.

Third grade works on rotational, reflective and translative symmetry.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

New Book for the Drawing Station

I am very excited about the new book we have for the drawing station. Check it out:



We Are Different, Yet We Are the Same

I find the kindergarten artists most challenging. At the beginning of the year they are all at different artistic levels. This project combines the study of shapes, figures, gluing and has a little bit of acceptance thrown in. We also learned about the horizon line. We talked about what makes people different: Skin color, clothes, eyes, families. We talk about what makes people the same: We all have heads, we all have teeth, we all have feelings, we all want to be treated nice.  The artists were very excited about their successful works.




Monday, September 9, 2013

First Day of Class

Back in August on the first day of class we watch a short video on the importance of art. Even thought some of the themes were to much for the students to understand they were still captivated by the images of students creating. The Radiohead sound track doesn't hurt either. Then the artists had to finish a simple sentence, When I make art I feel.....
We talked about how art is different from math and language arts, and how it is the same. The artists took time to consider why they feel the way the do in art class. Then the artists finished the sentence on an index card and stuck it on the bulletin board.






 
The artists really surprised me with their answers. We used these ideas about ourselves to really get the most out of their time in the Art Studio