Sunny Sunflowers

Martha's Bouquet

Alana C's Flowers

Charlie's Sunflowers

Cooper's Flowers

Teige's Flowers

Ozzy and Jack V.

Mariah and Dasha

Harrison and a Sunflower

Jack P. and Nate found some space on the floor.

Grey and his Sunflower

Sharing the Fun

The Kindergarten classes have been studying Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers.  They studied his famous paintings, and they learned about Vincent and his artwork.  They investigated some real sunflowers, noticing some details that they didn't know about the flowers.  Using brushes and also some finger painting, they did their own versions of the famous painting.  They also heard stories about Vincent, Gauguin and Vincent's brother Theo.  Be sure to ask them about Van Gogh to see what they can teach you!

Pop Art Perspective

Danny at Work

Ayla's Work

Oil Painting by Roy Lichtenstein, 1963

Melanie, Grade 3

Lily, Grade 3

Alex, Grade 3

Analiz, Grade 3

Olivia, Grade 3

Vaughn's Boom

Jadelyn's Moo

Khalil's Basketball

Danny's Explosion

Hannah's Oink

Marlon's Zap

Amanda's Popcorn

 The students in Mrs. Phares and Mrs. OrRico's classes are beginning to learn about 1-point perspective.  Creating lines that gradually unite at a single point on a horizon adds depth to artwork.  The students have been experimenting with this concept as they try to make letters seem 3-D.  Roy Lichtenstein created colorful pop-art paintings in the 1960s that my students have always loved to learn about.  The comic book style of his work is something they really like to try to use in their own artwork.  In this project, the students combined 1-point perspective with pop art.  They chose an onomatopoeia similar to the ones in some of Lichtenstein's works and used perspective to bring the sound words to life.  They added details to match their chosen word.  I included a few great examples of successful project from the classes. 

Make Spring Break an Art Break

Spring Tree by Vincent Van Gogh

Spring Tree by Ian, Grade 1

Spring officially begins tomorrow, and Spring Break begins next week!  I hope you all have a relaxing week off, and I look forward to all of the projects we have planned for the spring when we return.  I wanted to share a link with you that will tell you about ongoing activities at The Art Institute of Chicago.  They have a lot going on that would be a fun way to spend your time next week.  Middle school students could try to go find some of the paintings they are learning about in art class and see them in person.  Younger students could take advantage of some of the family activities or the education center.  I plan to go visit the new Picasso exhibit one day over break.  We're lucky to live in a city with a huge collection of art from all over the world!

http://www.artic.edu/visit/visiting-your-family

Vikings Don't have Horns!

One Background and a Few Characters for the Viking Video

My favorite art class story of the week is from Mrs. Kirshner's 1st-2nd grade class.  They are creating backgrounds and characters for a video that will show what they are learning in social studies.  They will be presenting information about vikings to the school at next week's celebration of learning.  I offered them visual examples of vikings and boats to use as resources for their work, but I made the mistake of printing pictures of vikings wearing horned helmets.  They were all very shocked and offended that I would suggest that vikings had horns.  They informed me that vikings drank from horns, but they did not actually wear the horns.  My historical inaccuracy was quickly pointed out and remedied in their work.  They are obviously excited about their social studies lesson!  I love to see them happy to learn (and to teach). 

Winter Trees Right Before Spring

The first and second grade students created some beautiful winter trees this week.  They reviewed the connections between cool colors and emotions.  They discussed how wintertime can be cold and grey, and they chose blues and lavender to set a chilly tone in their work.  They reviewed the types of paintings, and they decided these would be considered landscapes.  Because many students thought the winter trees looked lonely, some of them added red cardinals to create contrast and to break the mood.  Next, we will paint spring pictures to celebrate the end of the long winter season!

Maya, Grade 1

Noah, Grade 2

Paloma, Grade 1

Rejhan, Grade 1

Sean, Grade 2

Isaac, Grade 2

Illuminated Manuscripts

Illuminated Stories by Ms. OrRico's Class

 

Ayla's N

Danny's G

Jackie's O

To follow their projects on Gothic architecture, the 4th and 5th graders wrote stories about their Gargoyles.  They studied Gothic texts, many of which were written in an illuminated style.  The first letter of an illuminated text becomes an illustration.  The letter can visually represent aspects of the story.  It was fun for me to read their stories, and some of them even crinkled and tore their papers to make them look like they were hundreds or thousands of years old.

Gothic Architecture and Rose Windows

Danny's Rose Window

Ayla's Rose Window

Maryanne's Cathedral has gargoyles, flying buttresses and spires.

 

Marlon's rose window shows radial symmetry.

Jackie's cathedral with lots of details

Ibrahim's cathedral even has details inside the front door.

The 4th and 5th graders completed their Gothic Architecture unit by creating some silhouettes of Gothic cathedrals.  They added gargoyles, which they learned about in their last lessons, and they designed buildings with several common features of Gothic churches.  They used flying buttresses, spires and pointed arches in their designs, and they used radial symmetry to design a central circular window known as a rose window.  We discussed how these geometric designs are common in the art of most religions including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.