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Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Fauvist Portraits

Third Grade students explored the work of Henri Matisse.  We focused on the contour line portraits he created and made our own using his art as our guide.  In the following class we discussed the art movement Matisse helped to start known as Fauvism.  Artists in this style are known for the wild crazy colors they use in their art.  Students added their own wild colors to their portraits by coloring with marker on tin foil, spraying with water, and printing on top of their drawing!







Gaston Chaissac Portraits

Kindergarteners discussed the different ways to make a portrait--how some artist try to make them look real and others like to explore lines shapes and colors to make them more abstract.  One such artist is Gaston Chaissac.  Students looked at various examples of his work, drew their own portraits and collaged around them with shapes and color!

(example of the artists work)

Dot Day Mural

It's amazing what we can create when we all work together!!  I'm so proud of all of us!! Inspired by the wings of artist Kelsey Montague we put our feathers together to create our own set of wings at the Garfield school.  Students will pose with their art during our Dot Day celebration this year!!



Happy Dreamer

For Dot Day we are inspired by the author Peter Reynolds and his story The Dot.  We start every school year by reading this book.  After creating their beautiful paintings using values. tints and shades I shared another Reynolds story with students called Happy Dreamer.  The boy in the story is shown flying around as he is embracing his dreams.  We took inspiration from this and cut our paintings into various feather shapes. 
 Next we took inspiration from artist Kelsey Montague, who is known for her large angel wing murals.  Each mural also includes #whatliftsyou.  People photograph themselves with her work and are asked to share a positive message about what lifts them up and brings them joy on their social media.  Students discussed lines and patterns and using white colored pencils added a variety of these to their feather shapes!

(Purple feathers are 1st grade, blue is 5th)

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Look what I learned today!

K, 1, 2 and 3 listened to this song to review some of the basics about color
Grades 4 and 5 listened to this more advanced version of the song
This is one of my favorite post its from the end of class! :)


Overheard in the Art room...

I was so excited today when I heard a student say to herself- I'm going to think with a growth mindset instead of a fixed, as she started her art!

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Color, Value, tints and shades!

Students are starting work on their Dot Day project.  This year our focus is on collaboration!  All grades are creating a one color (monochromatic) painting.  We discussed how artists are similar to chefs...a chef needs to mix up all the ingredients to make their delicious creations.  Instead of butter and flour -an artists ingredients are the elements of art!  We started with color and then sprinkled in a little value (lights and darks) to spice up our paintings and make our art more interesting.  We listened to songs about color and value and learned how to blend our colors to create a gradient!  Stay tuned for the next step!