Sunny Sunflowers

After learning about the tragic and intriguing life of Vincent van Gogh, students experimented with his style. In class, we improvised and students drew with oil pastels to try their hands at using thick, multicolored, and active lines like van Gogh. After feeling comfortable with his style, we switched gears, and students built upon observational skills by looking at and drawing a vase and fake sunflowers. Then, students colored each sunflower in the style of van Gogh, creating a painterly characteristic.

Marc Chagall inspired Dream Paintings

Third grade students looked at the wacky and intriguing artist Marc Chagall. We discussed how he used his artwork as a way to share stories about his memories and dreams. Students found inspiration after looking closely at the ever famous “I and the Village” painting. Each third grader became the subject of their piece by drawing a self-portrait. Then, they chose an animal to share the limelight with. To top everything off, students told stories through dream images. I asked them, “What dream or memory might you have with the animal you chose?” and, “What dream could your animal have?” These questions encouraged students to push their imaginations. The icing on the cake: students painted their drawings with gouache paint and used wacky colors in the style of Chagall, himself. I must say, it was so exciting to see the creative results. 

Hardest Working Artist of the Semester

The results are posted on artscher.weebly.com!!! In the art room, students voted for their classmates who they believe deserve the Hardest Working Artist of the Semester Award. This award recognizes students who participate above and beyond in the art room with a tremendous ability to: stay on task, keep a positive attitude, demonstrate respect to everyone and everything in the classroom, and express creativity.

To see the winners for this semester follow this link, and click on the grade that you would like to see at the top of the page: artscher.weebly.com

3-in-1 Kinetic Drawings (Sol LeWitt, continued)

This piece of art may not move, but it sure does make you move. After exploring Sol LeWitt, students created three separate minimalistic drawings that explore three-dimensional shapes and design. The drawings were colored in using three separate color schemes: full-color, monochromatic, and black, white, and grey. Then, students created a base to hold the three drawings. There was a lot of measuring, folding, cutting, gluing, and taping that went into this project. The final result is a sculptural piece that has three separate drawings to be viewed by standing at different angles.

These photographs show the multiple views of one piece… 

Pinch Pots with "Feet"

Building upon ceramic skills from first grade, second grade students made pinch pots with an attached foot in art class. Students learned how to attach two pieces of clay together to become one piece. The trick is to score, slip, and weld both pieces together. Student chose between rolling a coil, and making 3-4 separate balls for a foot. Final touches included decoration and adding consistent coats of glaze.