mARTch madness continues!!!

We had so much fun with mARTch madness that I decided to keep it going with a teacher version.  Many of our teachers participate in Paint Night events or evn create art on their own time at home.  Teachers/Staff were asked to submit their own art for a friendly teacher competition.  To avoid a popularity contest names won't be revealed until the end!  Check out our madness wall to see which artworks win each day!

mARTch madness!!

mARTch madness was such a success that I can't wait to do it again next year!  Students looked forward to voting each day and it was exciting to see which artworks would advance to the next round.  We had 4 categories of art.  Portraits, Landscapes, Still Life, and Sculpture.   Ultimately, the  Garfield School decided that Starry Night was our favorite artwork!  I can't help but wonder if students were influenced by our large bottle cap mural of the same picture that's on display in the lobby...

mARTch Madness landscape/seascape/cityscape

 After voting between portraits for 2 days we moved on to landscapes, seascapes and cityscapes.  Stella's Brooklyn Bridge won against The Great Wave and The Starry Night really swept it against Boston Common at Twilight.

Next up will be still life!

mARTch Madness is here!!!

 What is mARTch Madness you ask?  Each day this month students and staff will be voting for their favorite artworks.  There will be 4 categories: Portraits, Landscapes/Seascapes/Cityscapes, Still Life, and Sculpture.  The winners in round one will then compete in round 2 until we have one artwork that will be named the champion! (our favorite piece of art at the Garfield School).  I thought this would be a fun way to expose our students to some famous works of art!

 Our first 2 artworks to go up against each other were Norman Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait and the Portrait of Paul Revere by John Singleton Copley.  I thought Revere was a good first choice considering our city is named after him but sadly, Revere lost to Rockwell's painting.  (Although it was very close!)

 I'm happy to see how excited everyone is to vote each day!!

Our next 2 artworks were Four Seasons in One Head by Arcimboldo and American Gothic by Grant Wood.  Apparently, our school is intrigued by the unusual, because Arcimboldo took this one!

Be sure to check out the display each day to see if your artwork made it to the next round!!

Line Mittens

After creating line sculptures, kindergarten students explored lines in a different medium by drawing a variety of them on mitten shapes using oil crayons.  A watercolor resist was applied to add more color and the mittens were collaged together with other shapes to make the finished piece.  I only got the chance to do this project with two classes until the weather got too warm and it felt silly to be making snowy mittens!  I've got some other line ideas ready for my other classes:)

Line Sculptures

After discussing lines by reading Lines That Wiggle Kindergarten students made their own line sculptures.

Victorian Homes

Third grade students discussed what the word home means to them...a place to feel safe, to rest, where you feel comfortable.  In the Victorian Era (the time during the reign of Queen Victoria 1837-1901)homes became a reflection of your status and wealth.  American Victorians thought of their homes as a way to show off what they have accomplished (their wealth) and the stability of their family.  The American dream became an individually owned home on a nice piece of land.  Many people in this era thought of their home as a status symbol.  Building a large, impressive house was a measure of success and your social status.
After studying the details on these impressive houses students set out to design their own.  Each student created a pop up and drew the details of their home.