Painting the Sky

Tomie De Paola's book The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush is a story about a Native American boy who is different from the other boys.  He is a talented artist.  He makes beautiful artwork confidently, until he tries to paint a beautiful sunset.  None of his paints seem bright enough.

This legend explains the beautiful colors of sunsets by telling of how the young artist used wildflowers to paint the bright colors.   I decided to read this story to the K-1 Multi-Age class as part of our Native American unit.

We compared this legend to one we read last week about Egyptians. They believed  a scarab moved the sun.  We compared how the boy made his paint and canvas to our lesson about the Book of Kells.  Celtic monks made paint from natural materials and canvas from animal skin, just like the Native American character in this story.  We compared the storytelling element of Native American art to that art of Aborigines in Australia.  It is fun to see them make connections between all of our cultural projects.  It's great for them to see how very different cultures can have similar traditions.  

I had the students paint a colorful background with watercolors, having them notice warm colors mentioned in the text. They used a wet on wet wash of warm colors for their sky.

I then had them use pipe cleaners, green tape and yarn to create their own wildflowers.   I had them imagine the flowers as paintbrushes.  They had fun "painting" the sky.

I attached the flowers down using hot glue.  

They got practice using fine motor skills.

They reviewed warm colors.

And I think they had fun!

Avnita with her "paintbrush"

Marco wrapping his tape

Daniel with his "paintbrush"

Niylah Finishing a Flower

Enter the Earth Day Art Show

Happy Spring Break!  

I hope you all have a restful and fun break this week.  If students have spare time, it would be a great time to make an entry for this year's Art and Engineering Show:  STEAMed About Climate Change.  The show will highlight work and research done by our Middle School students in Science and Art.  They have been studying issues relateing to the health of our planet, and their art and engineering projects will show their views.  Plan to see their work!

When:  Friday, April 20

5:30-7:00 PM

Where: Prescott School, 2nd Floor

Part of this year’s show will be an art-making challenge for the K-5th grade students. Students are challenged to use recycled plastic bottles to make a piece of original art.

Guidelines: 

• Use only plastic bottles (bottle caps are also fine) and adhesives of your choice.
• Art will be exhibited on a tabletop, and each project should take up no more than 18x18 inches of table space.
• Attach a label to each entry with the title, student name, and student grade level. See Ms. Ammons if you do not have one.
• Entries are to be made at home and are due to Ms. Ammons in the Art Room no later than April 16th.

All entries will be exhibited at the art show, and ribbons will be given for the top 3 most creative entries in grades K-2 and 3-5.  Be creative! Contact me (Art Teacher Ms. Ammons) with any questions! eaammons@cps.edu

Need some inspiration?  Read about the art of Veronika Richterova who makes beautiful sculptures from recycled plastic bottles.

Veronika Richterova                                                         

Go See the 8th Grade Art Exhibit!

The 8th graders will have paintings on display for 2 months, beginning March 15.  The exhibit will be at Goddess and Grocer, located at 1649 N. Damen Ave in the Bucktown neighborhood.  The work on display will be acrylic paintings that were completed by the 8th graders in the fall.  They reviewed acrylic painting techniques such as compositional balance, color mixing, and brush techniques while designing their own individual paintings.  I love how their work shows different styles but also how they go together so well as a group.  They seemed to be very comfortable with this medium after having used paint for their art show pieces the past few years.  It's great to see how far they have come!

STEAMed About Climate Change

The middle school students are preparing for the annual art show.  This year's theme is climate change.  They have been learning about climate change in science class and in art class, and they are working on art and engineering projects that both highlight and offer solutions to problems associated with this growing problem.  Below are some works in progress.  The art show will be April 20th at Prescott from 5:30-7:00.  Students in grades K-5 are also encouraged to enter the show by creating art with recycled plastic bottles.  See Ms. Ammons for details!

8th Graders built working wind turbines and turned them into artistic mobiles.

7th Graders are creating Chihuly-inspired fire sculptures with research facts on the base.  Their research and the sculptures will be an installation about how climate change is contributing to an increase in frequency and severity of forest fires.

Nate painted this artistic tree that shows a struggle between  nature and industrialization.

Manuel is illustrating a quote about seeing the reality of climate change  rather than ignoring the problem.

Zitlhaly is showing air pollution by painting a masked Lady Liberty.

Klaudia is showing melting ice and pollution in her painting.

Prescott's Auction Art, Year 6!

It's hard to believe this year was the 6th annual Prescott Auction.  As usual, the art students worked together to create art to donate to the event.  Each homeroom completed a collaborative art piece.  Most of them are collage projects, but some were solely paintings.  Below are some photos of the kids working on the pieces as well as the final products.  It's always fun, and they seemed to be a hit again this year.

Ruth Cutting Lightbulbs

Landra, Nate and Maleah Painting Windows

Isabella, Alissa and Rhea adding Cars

Elyza, Sydney, Isabella and Justina Adding "Drips"

Mrs. Reilly's Class, Grade 5

Mrs. Blundy's Grade 2

Ms. Clemens' Grade 4

Mrs. Stewart's Grade 1

Ms. Gow's Grade 7

Mrs. Schuster's Grade 5

Ms. Birnbaum's Grade 2

Ms. Lindsey's Kindergarten

Mrs. Phares's Grade 3

Ms. Stefan's Grade 3

Third Grade Rock Stars

Have you heard? Kindness rocks!  Have you found rocks in your neighborhood painted by artists, but left to be found by strangers?  Prescott's Social Worker, Nancy Hannah, mentioned The Kindness Rocks Project to me this summer, and she asked if I would collaborate to try the project at Prescott. The daughter of one of my friends was participating in the project through her school, and she was telling me how excited the kids were to participate.  Mrs. Hannah and I decided to plan a day in art class for the third graders at Prescott to participate in this project.

Mrs. Hannah came to third grade art this week, and the students designed rocks with a positive message to place around the city.  The hope is that a stranger will find the rock, and it will brighten their day.  I hope that this is a social-emotional learning experience, considering the idea is for them to part with their own artwork to benefit a stranger.  The kids just have to trust that their rock is found by someone who appreciates it!  Here are some photos of their work.  If you would like to read about the Kindness Rocks Project, check out this link.

Giotto and Fresco Painting

As 4th grade's final Renaissance project, they learned how frescoes are created.  They watched a video about Giotto and his frescos illustrating St. Francis and his life.  Here is an example of one of Giotto's frescoes showing him preaching to the birds.

Frescoes are painted onto freshly laid plaster so the paint and plaster dry at the same time.  The painting becomes part of the wall.  I had the students cover plates with spackling paste from the hardware store.  They used plastic knives and spread it onto the plate like icing on a cake.

I had them sketch drawings while the paste set.  I suggested fruit and had some sample photos for them to choose from if they needed a resource photo.  I thought this would keep the sketches simple and large enough.  Small details would be difficult with the watercolors.

Nate drew his grape sketch onto the plaster once it dried.

Maleah drew pears.

Madi is copying her sketch onto the dried plaster.

Once they finished sketching, they were ready to paint.  Here are some works in progress!