Time Flies!

Wow, I can't believe that this week's class was the last one for 2011! Please forgive me for the delay in updating, the holiday season is upon us and everyone is trying to get last minute meetings and appointments out of the way it seems, which left me very little time last week and I didn't get the chance to update the blog. For that I am truly sorry.

This week we finished our work in the area of Cubism. I like to think that the students had a lot of fun with this project. However, I am also certain that it vexed a few who thought that creating this way would be easy. The pictures came out beautifully, as per usual, and once again I am overjoyed to have these students working so hard.

The 3rd/4th grade class spent their time wisely this week and were able to finish some unique and beautiful works. Although a few of them are not technically cubist in style, I am still delighted that they were able to create something that they were proud of.

The 5th/6th grade class were working on self-portraits in the cubist style. This was a hard thing for many of them to do because I was asking for the students to represent themselves in a way that was completely new to them. They still did a bang up job though!

The Kindergarten class learned all about how to use simple shapes to make up a person. They were great at picking shapes that worked well together! They had a wonderful time deciding what colors should go where on their pictures too!

By and large, I think I am most impressed with the work I saw in the 1st/2nd grade class on this project. These kiddos are so mathematical and inquisitive I just knew that the geometric shapes would appeal to them. Their work speaks for itself for sure!

  

I hope that all of you have a wondergul holiday season! See you in the new year!

Cubist in training

Hello all, we are now getting back in the swing of things after a wonderful Thanksgiving break. It was good to see my students again, and they all seemed eager to get started on their new art projects. This makes me so happy!

For this three week period before the end of the year break we will be studding Cubism, which was popular from 1907-1915. It took me many years to enjoy this movement, and now I find it to be a very important part of the art making process. I believe it takes a great artist to train their minds to be able to create something that is abstract and beautiful, it is an entirely different way of thinking. At first it seems easy to do, just throw some shapes on the paper and hope they go together well, when in fact it takes a lot of patience and practice to make those shapes look intentional. The students are just starting to figure this out.

The 1st through 4th grade classes are recreating a piece that is based off of Picasso's Three Musicians.

The objective of this project is to use geometric and organic shapes to represent the figures, and then use a simple color palette to finish their pictures. Cubist art is usually done in Grays, browns, creams and blues. It wasn't until toward the end of movement's popularity in 1912 that other colors were used. The 1st and 2nd graders were able to start their pictures this last week while the 3rd and 4th graders are going to start their pictures this coming week. Hopefully my camera will be working and I will be able to get pictures, this last week the battery was dead and I wasn't able to take any.

The Kindergartner's are going to be creating a piece based off of Picasso's Man with Sword

This project will have the students creating one figure that has a cubist style face and body. They will be starting this project this week as well because they were on a field trip this last week.

Finally the 5th and 6th grade class are working on 2 different projects, one is a practice on the computer at a website called Picasso Head http://www.picassohead.com/ The students are able to create as many pictures as they want and save them to the gallery. This will give them some ideas for their actual paper projects based off of Picasso's self portrait.

This week I will get pictures of all the projects and include them in the next post.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Wild Beasts

For the past 2 weeks we have been working on Fauvist inspired projects. The older grades are working in a project called " A Room with a View" and the younger grades are working on a couple of projects based off of some of the collages made by Henri Matisse.

The Fauvist movement is one of my absolute favorite points in art. The artists' that considered themselves Fauvist's (which means Wild Beast) adored vivid colors, free treatment of form, and a resulting vibrant and decorative effects. Meaning they liked patterns, bright colors and simple shapes. The works done in this style always make me happy.

As I stated before, the K-2 grade classes did two collages based off of Matisse's works. The first was based off of the piece called "The beasts of the Sea" 



The basic idea was to think of shapes that represent animals and their environments. The students were a bit literal with their interpretations, but I still think they did a bang up job using the space on the page wisely as well as using lots of color:

The second collage that the students created was based off of the piece called "The Clown".

The students had to create a collage that showed a human form moving in some way. They also had to incorporate symmetry and color (minimum of 3 different colors). I feel like they did a wonderful job on these pictures!

The older grades are working on a piece based on Matisse's "Harmony in Red"

Their room had to show an interior and exterior. The interior had to have something to make it look like the inside of a room, such as a table, chair or some other type of furnishing. The exterior had to show all 3 parts of a landscape (foreground, middle ground and background). The students also had to use bright colors and patterns in the same way as the Fauvist's would have. The rooms are unique and beautiful and I hope that they will be finished in the first part of our next class, this way we can move on to  Cubism.

 I have also assigned a sketchbook project for the 3-5 grade classes that is due the Tuesday after break. The students have the outline, they should bring it with them to do the work. I will also post a copy of it here.

Tres Bien, c'est magnifique

The students finished their Art Nouveau projects this week, and I must say they look great. The 3rd and 4th grade class did a wonderful job coming up with designs and patterns to make their pictures unique. I believe they are as pleased with the results as I am.

The 5th and 6th grade class are almost done with the scratch board project. Mrs. Gelatt is going to give them a little extra time during read aloud to finish. Thanks Mrs. Gelatt! So far they look wonderful, the students are mastering the techniques of scratch board quickly and the results are well worth the effort.

You may have noticed in the pictures that the students all have paper towel under their hands. That is to protect the matte finish of the scratch board from the oils in their skin. It shows up on the board as smudges and is next to impossible to get off again, so the paper towel helps!

The Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classes finished their tree pictures. They turned out well. I think next time I might have to tweek the materials just a bit to give them access to more colors. I still think that this was a fun project and so did the students! 

 The next 2 weeks before break are going to be filled with Henri Matisse. He is one of my favorite artists! He was a big fan of color and pattern. I think the kids will enjoy learning about him as well.

Until next week!!! À la prochaine.

Bling and things

Sorry for the delay on updating the blog. Last week was crazy busy and by the time Monday rolled around I figured I would just do both weeks together.

So, last week we started our unit on Art Nouveau. The Kindergarten and 1st/2nd grade class are creating a picture based off of Gustav Klimt's "Tree of life". I taught them how to create a "V" tree, which allows to the students to create a tree with limbs and branches and not just leaves. You start by drawing an eleven with about 4 finger widths between the lines. The top of the eleven should NOT go past the middle of the page, then you draw a 'v' in the middle of the eleven (this will be the split for the branches). You use one of the lines from the v and one of the lines from the eleven to create the next branch and so on. The branches normally end in points but for this project I had the students end them in swirls, because that is how Klimt has his branches in his picture. The students then added patterns and designs to the inside of the tree and the space around it, just like Klimt: 

Anyway, the students practiced this on plain white paper first and then did their pencil drawing on the gold paper. It was hard for them to see the pencil on the gold because there was absolutely no tooth to the paper, it was shiny and perfect for markers and paint.



This week the students added color by using markers on the gold paper. So far the pictures are turning out very well and the students seem to be having a great time!

These projects will be finished next week. I am very excited to see how they turn out!

The 3/4th grade class and the 5/6th grade class are doing similar projects to each other. The are creating an Art Nouveau inspired portrait collage with cut out heads and arms from magazines. The younger of the 2 grades is using an additive method where they are using markers to make their designs and backgrounds. They started on gold paper and are using black marker. 



The older class is doing a similar project but they are using a subtractive method to create their designs. They are working on scratch board that is black with a gold under it.



These classes will also have next week to finish their projects. I am so proud of the work that they are doing!!

Also, I handed back some of the art that the students have done so far this year. I have also kept some of the pieces for the spring art show, so if your student didn't receive all of the projects back, that means I am considering it for the show. At this time I am still in the process of thinking of ways to allow for more than one 2 dimensional piece to be displayed. I think I am going to be using refrigerator boxes as my boards, which will hopefully give me more room. If you are someone you know is planning on getting a new fridge some time soon, please save the box for me, I would like to have 6-8! Thanks for the support!