Art Room News

Magnet Mania and other news

Magnet projects are on the way home. You have the opportunity to purchase a variety of objects that will have your child's artwork reproduced on it. All proceeds from this fundraiser will go into the PTSA general fund for teacher grants therefore benefitting your child.

In other news - I actually have work piling up in the classroom that I want to display on the school walls. Kindergarten has just finished a watercolor painting of themselves and their best friends. Those images are a traditional hit at our school.

Monkey Madness has overrun the first graders. We learned of a young Chinese artist who loved to paint monkeys. We tried many different techniques. We used bamboo brushes, inks instead of paints and practiced writing some Chinese calligraphy. We learned it takes practice to properly paint with a bamboo brush.

Second graders are finally finishing up our Japanese fish kites. They will be home in time to fly on Children's Day which is May 5th.

Third graders are flying over their most favorite place in the world and claiming it to be theirs. Just as in Faith Ringgold’s story quilt of

Tar

Beach

.

Fourth graders are offering compliments to each other and the complimentary pairs - Hopefully we will be working in the computer lab on some of our images.

Fifth grade has been producing some amazing work – Our non-objective pieces focused on the elements of art. Currently we are recreating some highly decorated medieval letters in metal.

Magnet Projects on Display

This year the Original ArtWorks fundraiser run through PTSA is going to be handled a little differently than in years past. This project is referred to as the MAGNET PROJECT by myself to the students. Instead of preview magnets being sent home, all artwork has been placed on display throughout the halls of the school. After the March PTSA meeting, artwork along with order forms and price lists will be sent home. If you decide to order something from Original Artworks, you will then return the order form, the artwork along with a check written out to STILL PTSA by the end of the month. PTSA will place the order and everything should be back by Mother's Day.

I have come across one problem though - artwork is JUMPING OFF the school walls - If pieces have fallen off, I am holding on to them so they do not get ruined.

Where are we headed...

We are more than halfway through the year, Ms. Stoddard is off looking for her own artroom and we are keeping busy. Also unfortunately, I have been holding on to a lot of work, so very little has made it home. We are planning a schoolwide art show in March, so my stacks are growing.

Congratulations to Ms. Strudthoff's class who actually caused it to snow. Third grades were making MOBILE art, actually snowmobiles (not the kind you drive). To tie the lesson all together, we created a class poem about winter, put some movement to the words, and when we put it all together and practiced it out loud... the next day it SNOWED! Was it magic? Prayers to Mother Nature? or the power of positive thoughts. Ask a third grader. Soon we will be putting our hands on some clay.

Speaking of snow... Kindergartners have been collaging people. The focus has been that people are made out of shapes, not sticks. Everybody had the chance to add a part to our person using the artrooms PROMETHEAN Board. That was very cool! Then Ms. Duhn heard from the K-teachers how to make snow.  A mixtuere of Elmers glue and shaving cream puffs up to become snow for our collaged people. They are hanging outside their homeroom doors.

So why would anyone think that art containing just lines, sqiggles and colors be considered art? Fifth graders have moved passed the abstract and into the world of non-objective. Soon our work will be on display in the halls. Come in and tells us what do you think.

So what is the difference between REAL and ABSTRACT? First graders have been making some comparisons. We come up with the idea that ABSTRACT is when your IMAGINATION goes a little wild. Colors in paintings are a little off, parts aren't where they are supposed to be. REALISTIC is like PHOTOGRAPHIC. It looks real. You might have a real peacock hanging on your fridge soon.

Fourth grade enjoyed the trip to the High Museum of Art in December. I enjoyed hearing the students share their knowledge of reading a picture. On display in our cafeteria are our beautiful faux stain glass windows. When the sun shines thru ... OHH what a site!

The work of KEITH HARING inspired our second graders to create some big, super-sized, enormous, large, huge (can you think of another synonym) hat. We brainstormed a long list of different types of hats that we could possibly draw. Collaged them and made them fancy and framed. They to can be hanging on your fridge soon.

Where has the time gone...

We have been keeping busy on all grade levels - Ms. Stoddard will be leaving us Dec 5th. The children have enjoyed working on lessons that she has implemented. To recap what grade levels have been doing we start with:

KINDERGARTEN - Has been working on recognizing the four seasons. How can each be depicted differently. How do we dress for each season. We also had the opportunity to 'write' on the Promethean board in art. We were studying lines and then created our own colorful LINED LIONS. Ms. Duhn has held on to these as a possible magnet project.

FIRST - Why does an artist work abstractly? Or ask your first grader to show you an abstract face. We looked at the work of Paul Klee and created our own watercolor faces - Then have you ever seen a face made out of FRUIT? Giuseppe Arcimboldo is known for his 'fruit faces'. Instead of drawing fruits and vegi's, we stamped with them. So take a closer look at your vegi's and see what you see.

SECOND - The focus has been tied to their classroom study of Native Americans and the functional art work they produce. We created beaded necklaces - Did they tell you the story of when they were brave and their new Indian name, we gave them? We also looked at Zuni pottery and listened carefully for voices as we sculpted our own pinch pots. Navajo Weavings are the next focus which will take us up to the holiday season.

THIRD - Revisited the Australian Outback, looking at symbols and handprints. We then combined the style of an ABSTRACT Picasso face with the techniques of printmaker Elizabeth Catlett. Our prints have multiple colors and because the are a limited edition of 3 are very valuable - also a possible magnet project.

FOURTH - Who said artwork couldn't be UGLY? We have working in clay creating 'ugly jugs' based on the artwork that was produced in the region of South Carolina. What would you hide in your jug? We are also preparing for our trip to the High Museum of Art. We will be concentrating on READING pictures, which happened to be a large focus of our photography project last year.

FIFTH - We have brought home our medieval gargoyles even though some of them look more like shiny, metal robots then stone creatures. We have also been working on our magnet projects which are based on the work of Albrecht Durer. We used patterns to create highly detailed textures on an animal.

What's Happening...

So you haven't seen any artwork coming home... Well, we have been busy. Sometimes our projects take more than one class period. So here is what we have been doing...

First grade has been working with the PRIMARY Colors, red, blue and yellow and learning how when we mix them we can create the SECONDARY Colors, green, orange and purple. We read a story, about a wizard who mixes up these colors and now we are creating our own dragon in a color wheel.

Kindergarten has been hunting for textures. We have been talking about our five senses especially the sense of touch and taking texture rubbings. We will use those rubbings to create a collage.

Second graders have been spending "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grande Jatte"  with artist George Seurat. We have been discovering concepts of depth as well as Mr. Seurat's painting technique. "What's the Point?" ask your second grader.

Fifth graders have been concentrating on the medatative properties of a MANDALA, except ours are burning bright with a sunface in the center. All of them will be on display for the 5th grade performance during PTA.

Value or the concepts of light and dark has been the focus for our Fourth grades. We have been exercising our eyes by looking at forms that are spotlighted. This is a technique that all artist grow from.

Third graders have been working on two projects - one involves creating a pinwheel that will go on display outside on Sept. 21st for International Peace Day. www.pinwheelsforpeace.com Then, we will be traveling to the big city to see the different shapes of skyscrapers.

Ms. Stoddard and I have been sharing teaching duties and also introducing the students to the Interactive Promethean Board in the room.

Thanks to those that have brought in supplies to the art room.

New Year - New Look

I am very excited to share a new art room with all the students. The best comment I heard from a first grader during our first week of class was "I feel like a professional artist in this room." It is my hope to inspire your child to try something new - take a risk - alter a 'mistake' and become confident that we are all artists in some way.

We are also fortunate to be hosting a student teacher from Kennesaw State University for the first half of the year, Ms. Carolynn Stoddard. She will bring new ideas and concepts into our classroom.

Our first week in art is not only an introduction of the rules and expectations but also a traditional lesson in drawing a self-portrait. Your child did not bring home this piece because I tell them I like to hold on to them so I can learn what they look like. It has been my tradition to then display these portraits during the last couple of weeks of their fifth grade year. It is always a treasure to witness their growth and development.

Remember you are always invited to come in and spend some time with us or just stop in to see the inspiring new space!