Printing with alternative materials

The First grade artists also created these cool prints from unlikely printing materials. They used tennis balls, toilet plungers and bubble wrap.
This activity reinforces what happens when you mix the primary colors together. The artists loved using the toilet plungers to make art.

Mondrian

The First grade artists studied the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. They learned that Mondrian wanted his artwork to be as basic as possible and that for a period of twenty years he only used the colors red, yellow, blue, white and black. The student artists also learned that Mondrian did not like the color green at all! The student artists created artwork using horizontal and vertical lines and the primary colors. They also made a "map mondrian" from a map of Indiana. They had to trace the lines of the streets to create shapes. They painted in those shapes with the primary colors. The map project reinforced Mondrian's ideas expressed in his artwork Broadway Boogie Woogie. For more about Mondrian visit the Mondrian Machine website: www.ptank.com/mondrian . Check out this great Mondrian montage set to the music of Philip Glass: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fmiKOOvLUo

Turtle Mural

This is the all school turtle mural that was completed last spring. Why turtles? Well, here at Shamrock we have a turtle tank in the science lab and turtles in the outdoor lab. The mural is filled with all kinds of found objects, fossils, broken plates and coins. If you are at school with your child ask them to show you what pieces they put on the mural. I bet they remember exactly which pieces they put on.