Kindergarten -- Space Drawings

In our kindergarten classes we read the book, "Dogs in Space" by Nancy Coffelt.  The story is about a group of dogs traveling through space and visiting other planets.  After reading the book, we discussed facts about the planets in the solar system.  From there we envisioned that we were launched into space and began our own journey.  Some of the students drew what planet they were visiting, or what they were doing on the moon.  Others imagined that they traveled so far into outer space that they discovered a new planet.  They then visually described what was on that planet.  The students used crayons to color in their drawing.

Clay Club -- Great Horned Owls

Today in clay we learned about the Great Horned Owl. The students also learned how to create a simple slab by rolling a ball of clay and flattening it with our hands. Some of the students even took it a step further and used a rolling pin! We used clay tools and markers to create the owl features and textures. Next week we will glaze these owls!

Clay Club -- Sesame Street Muppets

Today the clay club students received their Sesame Street muppets back. Last week they choose glaze colors that matched their muppet, or some decided to use different colors not normally seen on that particular muppet.
Great job!

1st Grade Owls

Our first grade students started this project by using a pillow box template. They traced that template onto a colored piece of construction paper. From there, they painted a blank sheet a paper, with values that matched the construction paper color. We discussed the meaning up tints and shades, and also demonstrated different ways we could make texture in our paintings. Once the paintings were dry, the students used spools to trace circles onto their painting. The students cut those circles out and used them as the owl feathers. The students created other key features that the owl would need (wings, beak, feet) and assembled them with glue. Come check out the owls in person. They are located in the glass display case in the lobby.

5th Grade Notan Designs

Notan is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark as they are placed next to the other in art and imagery. We viewed many examples of artists who have created Notan designs. After discussing the process to create the notan design, the 5th grade students drew a design in their sketchbooks. From there they choose a colored square, cut out all of their designs, and created the positive and negative placements.

4th Grade One Point Perspective

Perspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface (such as paper), of an image as it is seen by the eye. The two most characteristic features of perspective are that objects are drawn:
* Smaller as their distance from the observer increases
* Foreshortened: the size of an object's dimensions along the line of sight are relatively shorter than dimensions across the line of sight

After the 4th grade students learned about perspective, and more specifically one point perspective, we began drawing on 12 x 18 paper. The students made a dot to represent the vanishing point. Streets, sidewalks, buildings, cars, etc all lined up according to where their vanishing point was. This allowed the city view to start out bigger and become smaller and you look further down the street. Students had many creative ideas to develop their buildings.

3rd Grade Paper Mosaics

A mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral. Small pieces, normally roughly quadratic, of stone or glass of different colors are used to create a pattern or picture. As a class we looked observed a PowerPoint with many ancient mosaic examples. From there, we looked at more modern examples such as space invaders created by street artist "Invader". The students planned an image in their sketchbooks at first, then followed out their plan by creating a paper mosaic. Most created small square tiles with the use of a pencil and ruler. The paper tiles were attached with white glue.

2nd Grade Matisse Unit Part II

For our second project based on Matisse, our students focused more on Matisse's "Beasts of the Sea." We started out by choosing a colored piece of construction paper, which was the split in half. The students then created many geometric and organic shapes to collage onto their background pieces. We discussed overlapping, contrast, curvy lines, straight lines, and movement as well. Once their two background pieces were completed, we attached them to a bigger sheet of paper to create a border for their artwork.

Kindergarten Picasso Portraits

The kindergartners started this unit by created a digital Picasso head on the internet. From there, our next step was to create an individual Picasso style portrait out of construction paper. The students learned about the word silhouette, and we used our projector to trace their silhouettes onto. The students cut out their silhouettes after they were traced. Then they glued the profile silhouette halfway to the front silhouette. From there we trimmed off the excess paper and created facial features. We discussed again how facial features did not have to look realistic nor be the correct spot. Once the pieces were attached and dry, the students took permanent markers and outline their facial features.