Second Grade's Starry Night

                                     

Second graders painted a master study of Van Gogh's Starry Night. We first analyzed his thick use of paint and expressive brushstrokes that seem to swirl and dance around the picture. They looked carefully at his painting and tried to replicate his vibrant blues and yellows and greens.  We listened to Don McLean's Starry Starry Night while painting and Josh Groban's rendition. I'm such a sap! Above is my Van Gogh bulletin board along with first grade's Sunflowers that you can see here.  What a beautiful mind Van Gogh had to paint this scene, and to think he considered it a failure! 

First Grade: Sunflowers Inspired by Van Gogh

First graders learned about Post Impressionist Vincent van Gogh and drew sunflowers inspired by his painting, making sure to layer their oil pastels to get a thick, rich color that characterizes van Gogh's work. I set up vases with sunflowers at each table so students could have a real reference.

First-Third: Topographic Models

Third grade

First grade- "I want mine to look like a heart!"

Third grade

Second grade

Second grade 

Elementary students were learning about landforms in their classroom so I thought a fun way to tie in art was to make topographic models. I showed them a slideshow of topographic maps and models and we discussed how the repetition of contour lines progressively becoming smaller or wider creates the illusion of depth and height. Topographers can also use color to show change in the features. To begin, students drew a contour of an imagined organic form, cut it out, traced it onto another sheet of paper and drew a smaller version, continuing this method until they until they went as high as they wanted.  I got a lot of help from Small Hands Big heart!  I think I'm going to have students make a name for their island or mountain and write it on a mini flag. 

In progress.

All of elementary collaborated in a Louise Nevelson-inspired assemblage. Using found objects that they collected from home, students glued together their assemblage and painted them in our school color- blue. I can't wait to see this hanging up on the wall!

First Grade: Tinted Ice Cream

It's not summer anymore, but it's never too cold for ice cream! First graders learned about tints in the form of ice cream scoops. They folded their papers and in each space painted the color, or "flavor", of their choice in different tints. They also painted a color chart that I cut out and combined into one big chart that I'll use for future lessons. 

First grade: Turtles with Lines

First graders drew swirls, zigzags, and cross hatches on their colorful turtles. They painted their turtles with tempera and when dried, drew their lines in oil pastel. 

First grade- Birch Trees in Autumn

I came across Simon Fairless' Silver Birch in Autumn painting and had to make a lesson out of it. It's so stinkin' beautiful! and perfect for Fall even though it doesn't actually start feeling crisp until January here in SoCal. This lesson was great for elements of art terms such as: repetition, lines, and space. We discussed how Fairless made some of the trees appear to be farther back by painting them darker and how the dark background contrasts nicely with the white trees.  After our discussion, students drew pairs of vertical lines across their page with short marks to distinguish the birch from the background. Then they mixed a dark gray and painted between the trees.  For the second class, students painted a few of the trees a light gray to push it back into the space. Once they were dried, they painted black dash marks on the bark. The leaves were created by dabbing a corner of a sponge in warm Fall colors. I love how they turned out.

Although I'm happy with them, it could have taken less time. This lesson took four classes, but I think it could have easily taken three at the most if I had given students colored sulphite paper. However, the background wouldn't have been as interesting.

Art Gala 2014

 Dale Chihuly sculpture made out of plastic bottles in honor of Earth Day. 

 The downstairs hallway was transformed into a prehistoric cave art exhibit. Students had drawn animals on brown paper and made torches with lights inside. As viewers walked through the dark cave, they held their torches up to the wall and paintings of horses, bison, mammoths, and deers were illuminated. 

Kindergarten's paper mache mushrooms.

First grade's studies on Rene Magritte, Aboriginal Handprints, Edgar Degas, Gustav Klimt, and flowers.

 All of Elementary learned about the Terracotta army and each student sculpted a warrior out of terracotta clay. 

Fourth and fifth grade's Lichtenstein inspired self-portraits, value drawings, and Frank Stella paper sculptures. 

First Grade- The Flower Seller

Students drew Diego Rivera's The Flower Seller using oil pastel and collaged flowers. After reading about the artist from a children's book, students followed a step-by-step drawing lesson on the painting before coloring everything with oil pastel. The calla lilies were made by cutting out heart shapes and smudging pastel in the middle. 

First grade: Sky above Clouds III

               

Sky above Clouds III, 1963

I saw a great lesson at Painted Paper on this beautiful cloudscape painting by Georgia O'Keeffe and thought it would be a good example on perspective, tinting, and shading color. I first showed students other examples of her artwork, including her famous flowers, and then had students guess what this painting was capturing. I heard very interesting interpretations (icebergs on water, lily pads, rocks, etc) until a student finally guessed they were clouds. Then I had them think about how it was even possible for Georgia to see a cloudscape from that high and it didn't take long before they guessed a plane.  It's always fun pulling students into the artwork, to relate to them, and to the artist. They also remember the paintings much better this way as opposed to just telling them facts and dates, although that is very important also! 

For the execution part, students first sketched a horizon line at the top and painted the background starting from shades of blue by mixing with black. As they painted towards the top, they mixed tints of blue by adding white. The key was to blend the colors so they didn't just look like stripes. Once the background dried, we talked about how objects that are closest to you are big and objects that are farther back are small.  Students sketched their clouds with white chalk pastel (so if they need to change something, they can just rub it off or use an eraser) and gradually made their clouds smaller. This was challenging as they also had to retain the same shape for the clouds so the whole image would look organized. Overall, I thought they did a successful job!