Picasso Portraits

You can't end a school year of art without learning about Pablo Picasso! I am constantly telling the kids that so many artists are famous because they were the first to do something new, innovative or exciting-Picasso is definitely one of those artists.  At the end of a period of classical art, Picasso came out and began doing abstract art unlike any other- founding Cubism. As a class we read a brief Biography of Picasso as seen here.

We then read a fun book called "Picasso and the Girl with the Ponytail" which is actually a true story that features a lot of Picasso's artwork!

Then, using a face template we divided it into angular shapes, learned how to color using nice, clean craftsmanship, and Picasso-ed away!

Chayse is a looker! 

Loving the hair, Emily!

It looks just like them!

Ruth is the sweetest, even in cubist format!

Way to go, Lillian!

This was a 2-week project and I loved that the children remembered so many terms, details, and facts about Picasso and his legacy from week to week! 

This is a lesson meant to stick!

Analogous Color Organic Pop-Art

Color is the element of art I could probably spend the most time on, because there are SO many color schemes to focus on! For our first project I will admit I went a little out of order. Generally one would start with Primary colors (Red, Yellow, and Blue) and then branch out from there, but I feel my students generally know how to mix colors, etc.  So, we jumped right onto analogous color schemes. I like to call these colors "next door neighbors." Analogous colors are those that blend into one another on the color wheel (as seen below).

For this project our primary objective was CRAFTSMANSHIP. It sounds silly at this age but I think it is SO important for students for be able to cut a smooth even line. For future presentations, scrapbooking, matting, framing, really... anything, craftsmanship is crucial because the presentation of an idea or item is everything. Drawing back upon our knowledge of organic shapes, our students designed a abstract, organic shape and color scheme, and then cut layers upon layers of paper getting a little larger each time with even borders. Then, they literally made their artwork POP! Using small squares of cardboard the students glued each layer raised off the surface of the next. All together they make for a very exciting art installation! 

 

Make sure to stop by the hall across from the office and check it out!

Colorful Kandinsky

To help us learn about the famous Russian abstract artist, Wassily Kandinsky, our students implemented bright colors, sharp lines, and various shapes! They followed close directions to create rythmic patterns, and excelled at it! Our younger grades embraced their inner artist to create vibrant shapes inspired by the artist's famous circle paintings.

Here, Jaramiah and Janeya focus hard to remember the color pattern we learned...

 

Alone they looked cool, but all together- magic.               

4th/5th grade: 

This was actually a 2-class lesson. The first class was spent focusing on creating the design and learning color theory with color mixing.  It was cool to see how the same 3 primary colors were used, but because of the different ratios the students came up with various shades and tertiary colors! The second class was spent finishing painting the colors and giving the painting a final bold black outline.

Again, seeing them individually is nice, but altogether is the best! I love my colorful classroom!

Shape Food Collage

In our middle/high school Elements of Art class we have begun learning about organic and geometric shapes, something we learned about last fall with our elementary classes.

To do this our students created a paper collage of their favorite foods while implementing elements of organic and geometric shape, along with the principles of art-proportion and balance.

Can you say "YUM?"

We know what Marie would choose to have for breakfast!

And ice cream seems like the perfect compliment to pancakes to me... right Annie?!

I'm seeing a pattern, and Chloe agrees that you can't go wrong with hot chocolate and ice cream!

Such attention to detail, Emil!

The variety was amazing with this project. I was always feeling oddly hungry at the end of class though... Great job everyone!

Shape Owls

As a final shape project (a million and two years ago) our elementary classes created owl paper collages using organic and geometric shapes. As a refresher: Geometric shapes are shapes that can be measured with math and have formal names (ie: square, circle, etc.) and organic shapes are shapes that are made naturally and that cannot be measured with math like the shape of spilled milk or a leaf.

We made these back in early November so fall was still in the air.

Our kindergarteners and 1st graders ripped paper to create organic shapes.

Our 2nd and 3rd graders did a combination of organic and geometric shapes.

And our 4th and 5th graders focused on geometric shapes!

As our final project focusing on the element of art, shape, I thought they turned out wonderfully!

Of course, it helps when your students are as great as mine!

Shape Creatures!

When learning about the Element of Art, Shape, the elementary classes have focused on two categories of shape: organic and geometric. We learned that organic shapes are the kinds of shapes found in nature like clouds, leaves, and rocks. They are shapes that don't really have a name, and whose areas cannot be measured perfectly using math. Geometric shapes can be identified with names (ie: square, triangle, oval) and their areas can be accurately measured with mathematical equations.

To help convey this idea, we created wild "creatures" using various types of shapes!

We read the book Where the Wild Things Are, and then with the use of our big imaginations, got to work.

Our kindergarten and 1st graders had to reeeeaaach under the table where a wild forest had "grown" (just like in Max's bedroom in the book!) and capture a wild creature. The thing was, only they could see it! So, they had to create a portrait of their creature for everyone to see. They chose a main shape for the body, and then added features with small geometric shapes.

After naming their creature, their portrait was complete! 

Are you dying of cuteness overload here, because I sure am! Words cannot express how happy I was to have these little guys staring back at me for a few weeks :)

Our grades 2-3 also created "Wild Creatures" but focused on organic shapes instead of geometric. With watered down paint, they selected colors and then blew the paint around on their papers with a straw. We pretended that they stepped on these invisible creatures on the way in, and that's why they are "splatted" on the paper!

Hyrum C's puzzled Cyclops and Lucy M's surprised 4-eyed creature.

 In our 4th and 5th grade classes we continued to used paint to create organic shape creatures, but with a technique that created symmetry on both sides of the paper. Students scooped paint into the center of the paper and then folded it in half. The cool thing about this was that you never knew exactly how it would turn out! A few eyes and mouths later, more creatures were born!

Daniel's buck-toothed friend

Waylon's cool-colored creation

It goes without saying that we had a WILD time learning about shapes in art!

9-Square Quilt Squares

Something that I love about Art is that it is the perfect class to reiterate concepts learned in other subjects for better understanding and recollection. This is because art is A. EVERYWHERE and B. includes aspects of Science, Math, History, Language Arts, and the list goes on...

With our 2-3rd graders learning fractions, it was the perfect opportunity to illustrate the fact that math, like art, is everywhere! 

I started by sharing a story about how when I was little, I hated math. I thought I just wasn't good at it, so I did not like it! I loved drawing, however. The more I drew, and the better I became, the more I found I had to use math (whaaaaaat?!) So, I decided to take a break from drawing-because come on- there was math, and I hate math. With that, I tried my hand at cooking. I baked and experimented and measured.... and tried doubling recipes. As I'm sure you could guess, there came the math. Ew. Time to move on. Finally, I decided to learn to sew. I took up some quilting, and to no surprise there was A LOT of math. With this I realized it was time to come to terms with my rocky relationship with math. Eventually, I learned that math, like art, reading, writing, and sports, is not something you are simply good or bad at-it's something that you have to practice and improve at! 

With this story I showed some quilts I made that included a 9-square quilt pattern, and how different arrangements of shapes created different patterns.

As a class we discussed how to identify a numerator and denominator, and counted the fractions of various colors in sample quilt squares. We also identified the symmetry of quilt squares, and that if you cut the square down the center, it is a reflection on each side. We took 3 squares, and cut them in half. Then, we counted them identifying how even though were now 6 parts or shapes, they make up 3 whole squares. After selecting their colors, the students created their own!

After cutting and gluing their "quilt" squares, our students counted and recorded in their Art folders how much of their squares were each color.

Artist and mathematicians; they are children of many talents.

After putting all the squares together we had a beautiful class quilt!

And suddenly, the classroom felt like home :)