Art Club Collaborates with Alliant Credit Union

The Prescott Art Club has been working on decorations they will donate to Alliant Credit Union Volunteers and the Fantasy Flight event hosted by United Airlines.  Each year, children from Chicago who may need support over the holidays are invited to O'hare Airport.  They board an airplane, taxi around the runway, and then arrive at a different gate that has been transformed into a winter wonderland.  They get to enjoy a fun event in celebration of the holidays.  Our art club has been helping to make decorations for this creative event.  It has been a lot of fun, and the kids love that it will be helping other students from around Chicago.

Read more about Alliant Credit Union Volunteers...

Good Morning and Goodnight!

Claude Monet's Rouen Cathedral Paintings

Kevin, Grade 3

Aria, Grade 3

Caylin, Grade 3

Giana, Grade 3

With the third grade students, I have been focusing on times of day and light.  They have looked at the work of Claude Monet, and they have found that he used opposite colors in the shadows of his paintings to keep colors vibrant and to add contrast.  They continued their study of skies and cloud effects by creating a watercolor painting for the background, and then they chose their favorite Chicago skyscraper for the foreground.  The buildings were brought to life with details that show opposite colors to the rest of the painting.  I am excited to see third graders using these color choices that seem unconventional.  They are really excelling with the projects based on Chicago landmarks.  They study Chicago history in social studies, so it connects to classroom learning.  They tell me every time they see a building they recognize.  In the fire drill yesterday, they got excited when they noticed the ad on the side of the bus stop in front of the school had a skyline image on it.  I hope that means they like the projects!

First Grade Fall Farms

Amari wanted to draw crows instead of a scarecrow...

Ermuun, Grade 1

Lauren, Grade 1

Mariah, Grade 1

Kimani, Grade 1

Maureen, Grade 1

I saw a lesson similar to this one online, but it was for 6th grade students.  I knew my first graders could handle it.  We talked about horizon lines, vanishing points, shapes, colors and lines.  They used crayons, watercolors, construction paper and glue sticks to build some fall scenes.  When I asked Amari where her scarecrow was, she pointed to the crows and said, "Ms. Ammons!  Can't you see the crows?  There is no scarecrow!" 

Printing Practice for Middle School

Geno, Grade 7

Isabella, Grade 7

Connor, Grade 7

Jacquie, Grade 8

Sara, Grade 7

Samantha, Grade 8

Celeste, Grade 7

Shouwayne, Grade 8

Kalyssa, Grade 7

Taylor, Grade 7

Arely, Grade 8

The 7th and 8th graders finished up their prints this week.  They were given the theme "faces", and they practiced linoleum block print techniques.  They drew a sketch, transferred it to linoleum, carved the positive space from the design with a gouge, applied ink with a brayer, and experimented with a variety of printing surfaces.  The examples here are only a few of many creative prints.  I was thrilled to see how they dove in and tried so many ideas.

Native American Dreamcatchers



Sample Projects from the 4th Grade

 The 4th grade students are working on a Native American Art unit.  They began by reading the legend of the dreamcatcher, and they learned to make their own using grapevine hoops taken from wreaths and weaving a web using twine.  They added beads and feathers to decorate their work.  It was tricky to keep the strings untangled, but it was a nice break from drawing and painting. 

Severe Weather Ahead!

The second grade students have been experimenting with watercolor washes to create some stormy skies.  They used wet on wet watercolor techniques and added salt to the stormy oceans to find some interesting effects.  They are learning about weather-related natural disasters in science, and they have used tornadoes and hurricanes as themes for their work.  After the backgrounds dried, they used markers to add silhouettes and contour lines to their work.  They were inspired by the amazing landscapes created by Turner, some of which are housed right here in Chicago!

Making Waves in the Second Grade



Ella, Grade 2



Cindy, Grade 2

Leslie, Grade 2

Christopher, Grade 2

Aiden F.,  Grade 2

After completing their lesson on types of clouds and weather depicting emotion, the second graders studied Hokusai's Great Wave Off Kanagawa.  They built the painting in layers, investigating lines in each layer.  They recreated the lines in their work, noticing the movement that these details add to the picture.  They came up with adjectives beginning in each letter of the alphabet to describe this famous work.  My favorites were T is for tsunami, V is for volcano (Mt. Fuji) and G is for gigantic.