Artsy Screen Time

I have been using several websites to reinforce classroom lessons.  I always tell the students to check my blog for links to the sites, so I wanted to create this post to describe the sites and provide links for students eager for some artsy screen time.

First grade is learning about Egypt, and I found this site that offers activities, quizzes and guided readings about how mummies were made and pyramids were built.  It is by the Children's University of Manchester.

Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Making Mummies

The second grade is learning about Picasso and Matisse.  We started with a study of cubism, and we are moving on to Matisse now.  They will focus on organic vs. geometric shapes and on patterns and props common to his paintings.  I love both of these sites for studying these topics:

Picassohead.com

Matisse for Kids

Third Grade is working on COLOR THEORY!  The color wheel can be tricky, but they are mastering it.  Here are some sites to practice mixing colors...

The Colour Wheel

Painting with Curious George

Interactive Color Wheel  (A little more advanced)

Rainbow Rolls and Free Birds

Middle school students began their first multidisciplinary project combining art and poetry for this year's art show.  Just like last year, we will have a spring show highlighting student work based on poetry.  This project began with a study of Maya Angelou's poem Caged Bird.  I tried to have them reflect on how this theme applies to Black History Month, their lessons in Social Studies about the Great Depression and the Holocaust, to current events like Trump's border wall proposal or refugee regulations, and just to them personally as kids.  We watched a few different animations of the poem created by different artists, and I showed them prints with birds and bird cages to get their brainstorming process started.  After sketching a free or a caged bird, they transferred their images to a block and began carving their design.  When we started inking, they went straight for the neon colors.  After a few prints with these bright inks, they are now beginning to think more deeply about what color of ink and what type of paper would best communicate the message of the poem.  I added some pictures of prints and of the students working.  I look forward to see which final prints they choose to present as their final products.  To read more about printmaking, check out MOMA's interactive tutorial:  What is a print?

 

Alex has transferred his image and is carving his block.

Daivion is carving a few more details into his block after a trial inking.  You can see how they experimented with the bright colors and mixing them with the brayer to create gradients.  

Lily has pressed her first print and is checking to see if she inked evenly.

After playing around with the bright colors, most students are trying more subdued colors on different papers, seeing what combination will best illustrate the theme.

Jacob started with rainbow rolls and went to a black and white color combination more appropriate for the theme.

I love how peaceful and simple Gabe's turned out.

Melanie printed on rice paper.  I like the transparency of the paper with the dark backing.

Ryan is beginning a "Rainbow Roll"

Mark Your Calendars for the Annual Auction!

Each year, the Prescott artists donate large, collaborative paintings to the annual school auction.  This year, one generous donor donated all 12 of the canvases to our cause!  She is a friend who grew up with me in NC, and follows our students' work on Facebook.  I feel so proud of our Prescott painters, and it makes me happy that others enjoy seeing what they create and recognize how important it is for them to have art as part of their school experience.  Once we had the canvases, I created a Pinterest board of ideas that seemed like they would be possible for the kids to do in a collaborative way and that would look interesting from the perspective of student artists.  Then we got to work! Here they are!

Mrs. Edward's 5th graders just finished our last painting of the 12 paintings!  They don't have art class until 4th quarter, so we did this one in stages.  I had a few girls work on the background:  Aria, Ivana, Michelle and Karla.  Then, Wendy, Giana and Sean all created skyline sketches on poster board.  I cut their sketches into a stencil with an exacto knife and pieced them together.  Today, I took paint up to Mrs. Edwards's room, and all of the students added the paint!  They worked together so well, and Noah and Keshawn even helped me clean up when I spilled paint all over the hallway... I love this one... 

Mrs. Phares's third graders painted this city skyline during the first quarter when they had art class.  We were studying the art of Chicago, so we included some Chicago architecture!

Grades 7-8 had help from the Art Club and from the 6-7th Graders on this piece.  It took much longer than anticipated.  Students rolled magazine pages to create the circles, and we glued them in a gradient from yellow to white.

Mrs. Bigby's 2nd graders created a collage of Chicago Landmarks.  Emiliano and Alyssa worked on the Field Museum, Yaniel made Picasso's sculpture, and Jada made the Willis Tower.  Yaniel made the Bean, Sheridan and Yaquelin made the Watertower, Haley and Caden made Buckingham Fountain, and Angel, Emiliano and Rodrigo made Wrigley Field.  Scarlett and Samara worked on the Ferris Wheel.  Emma made the trees, and I had Greg paint the Chicago letters.  Several others worked on the background and on details.  

Mrs. Blundy's 2nd Graders made these balloons with construction paper and oil pastels.  I had Konrad, Jacob, Jeffry and Caleb paint the grass and sky, and then I showed them how putting all the small balloons in one spot gave the picture some depth.  I glued down the balloons with Mod Podge.  It makes me think of Dr. Seuss...

Mrs. Smith's 4th graders created this collage of Wrigley Field.  Chris, Leslie, Grace and Jaren began with the background buildings.  Christa, Gael and Adilene worked on  the stadium (Gael made the flags, Adilene the sign, and Christa the stadium structure.  Olivia made the balloons, Briana the airplane, and Cindy made the dog walker.  Jaren and Ian made the letters, Ian made the guy with a ticket, and Ava and Madison made the hotdog carts.  They worked so well on this, and we had so many little details that I had to let them make their own collages to add the extra people and carts to so that they weren't upset they wouldn't all fit!  

Ms. Stefan's class created this Chicago-themed painting.  Jasmine,  Landra, Mia and Mariah all made city skylines, and I cut them apart and collaged parts of them together.  Gerniah and Shamaya made the paintbrush, and Landra created the texture for the bristles.  Nate, Jack and Jaylon worked on the background, and Jack and Charlie helped me add the tissue paper as the paint.  

Mrs. Stewart's first graders took turns painting "LOVE" on this canvas, and then painting hearts in some empty spaces.  Every student got at least one turn working on it.  I did the spray painting on the top layer.  

Mrs. Kirshner's students did this painting so quickly!  Brenna, Ava,  Jack K and Abby worked on trees.  The others painted in the colors and collaged tissue paper to create texture.  

This painting was started by Ms. Gow's 6th/7th grade homeroom.  I had Mallory and Jasmine work on it in Art Club (Jasmine added the flock of birds).  I did the outlining for them to sharpen up the image.  I love the clouds in this one.  

Ms. Lindsey's Kindergarten class made this painting.  It was the first one we did, so I have trouble remembering who did which parts, but I know Annabelle did the star stamps, and Jonny did the splatter painting.  All the kids made sheep, and I just picked the ones that were the right size to add to the painting.  Jillian K, Jillian H and Stephen worked on the patterns in the grass, as did Oliver, Eli, Kyle and Marius.  I know they all got a turn because they worked so well independently while we did this!

Ms. Szarnych's Kindergarten class made this piece.  We had just finished our Charley Harper bird project,  so they had been collaging shapes into birds for a couple of weeks prior to this.  I cut up origami paper for them, and they worked for 2 classes just making whatever birds they wanted.  I put them all in a pile and just picked out the ones that looked finished and arranged them, sealing it with Mod Podge.  

We Heart Jim Dine!

Pop Art by American Artist, Jim Dine

Pop Artist Jim Dine uses colorful, playful brushstrokes to create his bright paintings that often have the image of a heart.  I love teaching about him in February when we celebrate Heart Health Month and kids have Valentines on their minds.  We reviewed warm and cool colors in this project, and noticed how Jim Dine used contrasting warm and cool colors to create the heart shapes in his work rather than outlines.  They created watercolor and wax resist paintings on paper to start.  They cut out a heart shape and saved the negative space to glue down to a second painting.  They experimented with stamping tempera paint on top to create an extra layer of paint.  Here is Jim Dine's work, followed by the work of our talented Kindergarteners!

Sample of Dine's work that inspired our project

Kyle, Eli and Jonny showing off their work

Kassandra, Kindergarten

Max, Kindergarten

Olivia, Kindergarten

Emmit, Kindergarten