Winter Birch Trees and African Clay Masks

Hello All!!!

The students are working hard in the art room! We are now learning about the art and culture of Africa! 

4th graders: Explored watercolors to create a beautiful sky and then had fun using cardboard and black paint to create these beautiful winter landscapes! We discussed shading techniques and students shading the trees to appear on the snow.

8th grade: Students explore techniques in clay to create these african masks.

African masks should be seen as part of a ceremonial costume. They are used in religious and social events to represent the spirits of ancestors or to control the good and evil forces in the community. They come to life, possessed by their spirit in the performance of the dance, and are enhanced by both the music and atmosphere of the occasion. Some combine human and animal features to unite man with his natural environment. This bond with nature is of great importance to the African and through the ages masks have always been used to express this relationship

Winter Projects/South America

Hello All!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

Below are two examples of the 5th graders ornaments! Sadly, I let them go home without catching a picture besides the two below! Students learned about analogous colors and used tissue paper and water to blend the colors. Students also experimented with oil pastels to create their realistic branches as well as adding the highlight to give the ornaments a reflection.

Kindergarten students were busy at work, working on their collaged snow penguins! Students focused on Shape and Cutting skills in addition to working on their glueing skills!










 1st gradecreated snowmen family portraits and explored what a snow globe was! Students had a lot of fun creating the falling snow using paint and a tooth brush! 


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2nd graders traveled to South American and explored the Amazon Jungle and created toucans using oil pastel!

7th grade used charcoal to create winter trees! Students focused on highlight and shadow to create realistic trees

Winter, Op art and little bit of South America!

3 finished projects to share with you all :) 

1st graders had fun collaging tissue paper to create these fun winter landscapes! For our sky, students created a water color wash and then used salt to create our snow effect!! Students learned about foreground, middle ground and background and how things get smaller as they go back!

 

OP ART!!6th graders learned about the art movement known as OP art. Short for optical art, this movement's main purpose is to use line and color (often black and white) to create an optical illusion in which we trick the viewer's eye! Students also explored complimentary colors. The complimentary pairs when next to each other cause the other to appear brighter and more vibrant. Complimentary colors are found across from each other on the color wheel! 

6th grade

 2nd grade learned about the Amazon Rainforest while traveling to South America. Students used oil pastels and we learned about blending and showing highlights and shadows  to create realistic toucans and leaves. 

 

 

More Toucans and Op art to come from Monday/Wednesday's classes! 

A little bit of this, A little bit of that!

Hello All! 

So I realized, I would explain my star student board I have outside the art room!! For those of you who do not have the opportunity to wander up and down the halls, I will start posting the board each week! How star student is chosen is based on a 2 main criteria: 

1. In Class Behavior: Demonstrating excellent art room procedures, participates in discussion, cleanup and has excellent time on task! 

2. Project Guidelines: Project selected met the objectives, demonstrated creativity and showed great craftsmanship. 

It rotates between grades each week since only 4-5 students can be chosen at once. Students are rewarded with various prizes as well as recognition in class. Younger grades receive a large sticker ribbon that they wear all day in addition to a pencil and fun eraser cap. Older grades receive a certificate/ bag of goodies. 

And we are off to South America!!

 

Kindergarten traveled to South America where they discussed and learned the history of the Peruvian textiles. The focus was on creating paper rugs which focused on pattern. Students worked on their fine motor skills and shape/line/color patterns. Students really enjoyed cutting their rug's fringe!

more to come!