4th Grade Dia De Los Muertos Clay Sugar Skulls

In Spanish class, 4th grade students were able to learn about the history of the Mexican Day of the Dead and the celebrations that take place in Mexico on November 1st and 2nd each year. We looked at some fantastic examples of sugar skull designs and created a plan in journals. Here is one of the creative designs that was created in a journal... 

And now the skulls that were made are drying and going into the kiln to cook at 1,200 degrees (don't put grandma's cookies in the kiln, they won't be so tasty!) Next week we paint them....I just can't wait to get some color onto these guys (I bet the artist of these beautiful creations cannot wait either!). Look at the teeth/ mouths on these examples from Mr. Vitulli's class, I wish they could talk! 

Finished products to come...stay tuned! 

What have we been up to? 

5th Grade: Hero Radial Character Trait Designs

The integrated art unit the specialist have been focusing on this year is based on heroes! In library class students brainstormed different character traits that make up a hero and in art we created artwork based on those character traits we came up with. There are some examples from Mrs. Stone's 5th grade: 

The big idea was to fit the words into the space allowed in each section of the square and creating different patterns in-between the words so they would stand out. Markers and colored pencils were used for some fantastic colors and I have to say, WOW! 

Back to School!

Welcome Back to the 2014-2015 School year! 

I am assuming everyone had some excellent summer adventures, rested, read a good book, ate some pancakes, and played outside ALOT! I know I did!

My summer adventures can be summed up in one picture:

I am lucky enough to still go to summer camp each summer as an adult STILL and work with kiddos who have Type 1 Diabetes ( just like me!) and run the programs there. It was a rewarding summer in the woods for me and always excellent to go away for about a month. I think my dogs and husband missed me a bit too much though, so it is good to be back at home and back to the drawing board at school. When I came home these were the faces I was greeted with: 

How do I ever leave home? 

We have been in school for one week already and working on our summer adventure collages in each class. Now we are working on coming up with a snazzy cover for our art journals. Next, each grade level will start to work on different units. One of my favorite units coming up is the Andy Goldsworthy unit that sixth graders get to work on....stay tuned! 

Here is what the classroom looked like one week ago: 

It is a little more messy at this point, but still look pretty spiffy at this point in time. I look forward to making many more messes this year and getting into our units of creative learning... so stay tuned! 

Art Show 2014!

I have been meaning to post some pictures from the art show which took place a couple weeks ago so here they are!
Another great turn out from the community and as always it is a blast watching students show off their artwork to their families and friends. I know it is such a busy time of year with baseball,  school concerts, graduations but it is always nice to see various faces come by for just a few short minutes to say hello!
Having the art show always makes me excited for the end of the year and moving into next school year and starting fresh with new project ideas. I have many lessons which I will keep, but I always try to at least try a new lesson with each grade for the year. This past year I focused on creating more clay lessons with students and I was able to integrate three new lessons and change one of the older lessons I have done with 6th grade (Cubistic Faces). I am always looking for new inspiration and often find it while talking with colleagues and anyone who is willing to listen to little old me talk about art (my husband gets to listen to my ideas the most and my dogs, although they just wag their tails and go along with anything I say!)

Lots of tables this year with the many clay projects we were able to create. 

The mummy wall! 

Zentangle Mural! 

5th Grade Keith Haring Clay Figures from the beginning of the year

5th Clay Gargoyles are a 5th grade favorite project! 

4TH Grade African Masks= messy, colorful, and fun! 

Sarcophagus Designs: The largest (literally) 6th grade project. I would be safe to say this is something everyone looks forward to seeing up in the hallways!

April Vacation Adventures! 

April Vacation was full of working out (double sessions for three days, boy was I pooped!), walking my pups, catching up on graduate school work, making some delicious scrumptious food for the hubby and I, and....most importantly, working on finding some new artistic inspiration for myself as well as my students! What more could you ask for on a windy cooler than expected vacation? Seriously?

I was lucky enough to whisk my Mom and Aunt to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I have not been there since July, so it was way past my time to be there being inspired. We went to the quilt show that is currently on display. Honestly, I did not think it was going to be my cup of tea, but the second I walked in the gallery, WHAM! My eyes were lit with big beautiful colors and designs on this collection of quilts!

My camera does not do justice to the colors in these quilts...

Hello complementary colors! 6th grade just learned about these in their Egyptian Unit! 

My wonderful Mom and Aunt loving these    quilts. Pretty sure they were going to move into the gallery for the night. 

Ready for my favorite quilt? Drum roll please...

That is the one! My Mom mentioned it looks like it is from the era of the 60's (stuff I am always drawn towards), and it was...from the 1860's! 

The neat part about this exhibit are not only the complementary color connections that are made in these designs, but the composition of each quilt and how it was laid out. The craftsmanship was not too shabby as well. I have a new found respect for quilters everywhere and the amount of effort they place into creating these wonderful pieces of artwork that keep us warm all those cool nights in New England! 

So...this exhibit inspired me....and here is what I have been working on...

I am a bit involved with mandala like designs and bright watercolors! I could do this all day! 

Oh and here are my pups, Rigby on the left and Abby on the right. They are asking me to go for a run which we did a lot of this vacation! 

Now back to school and off for the last 7 weeks of creative energy! 

Art Room Project Updates!

We are on vacation this week so what a perfect time to reflect on what we have been creating in the Art Room. 6th grade has finished their life sized Egyptian mummy designs. This project takes about 10 weeks from the start to finish. We learn about mummification then create a miniature mummy design for three classes,  and last take about a month (4-5 classes) to create a large mummy design with a partner. This is the second year I have offered this project to 6th grade and there was overall excitement and joy from the 6th grade students when I announced the unit was starting. My favorite part of this project was stepping back and observing students starting to collaborate with their partners as they worked on the final life sized mummy with lots of personal investment. I can step back and really see the enjoyment students put into working with their peers sharing their design ideas. A highlight was when we had the song by Pharrell Williams on "Happy" and literally students were dancing and painting at the same time. It was a priceless moment! I tell students that the main goal is to collaborate with their partners since someday, it will most likely be a skill they need to bring into their career. It is always good to practice effective collaboration skills, especially on a visual project that students have invested themselves into.

After assessing with students and receiving feedback, I found that if students are offered one more week there would be more symbols and details added. Next year, I will add the challenge to students to create a story out of hieroglyphics into their design.

The lone wolf sarcophagus

How creative are these students?  Cat sarcophagus designs! 

NH Clay Animals: Grade 4

The fourth graders have been busy drawing beautiful pictures of NH Animals and now are creating them out of clay! This is our first experience in clay this year and the method we used to build our animals was to pinch and pull the shape of the animal body and drawing into the face and body for features. We will paint them next week after they come out of the hot kiln to be cooked! 

 The Barred Owl

Wood Turtle

Van Gogh Starry Night Grid Painting: Grade 5

Starry Night Reproductions= Getting to understand the picture!
 

Oil Pastels and Watercolors did the trick to add color!
 

5th Graders have been busy bumble bees working the past three weeks on reproducing Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night and Night Over Rhone paintings. After they had a chance to get to know the picture they were going to reproduce into a large grid, each student has been able to paint a section of either the Starry Night or Night Over Rhone (depends which class they are in) in a 12 inch by 12 inch square. When we put them all together we will have our own Starry Night reproduction. I cannot wait to finish up the squares this week and post a final picture of the 6 food by 9 foot grid mural! 

In other news....Van Gogh only sold one painting when he was alive. How sad for Van Gogh, but what a good lesson to show that even if other people don't necessarily "like" the picture you are creating, doesn't mean you shouldn't create it! The Starry Night is insured for 100 million dollars and is in New York City at the Museum of Modern Art (how fun would that field trip be!), not too shabby for a gentleman who only sold one painting when he was alive. 

Oh! P.S- We watched this super fun interactive video of the Starry Night on Viemo. It is great to watch especially if you have even been in a museum and had to hold everything back in your power to NOT touch the painting! 

Starry Night Interactive

Egyptian Mummy Designs: Grade 6

An example (to the left) from one of the sixth grade students who created a mummy sarcophagus design on 12x 18 paper.

The goals

1. To create a symmetrical design

2. Students add their name in hieroglyphics 

3. Apply complementary colors

4. Add Egyptian symbols 

5. Add human facial features 

Once we learned about the process of mummification, ( sixth grade students love to learn about how the brains are drained through the nose!) we got to work creating a symmetrical outline for our mini mummy designs. Students were able to fold their paper in half, draw on one side of the design, then trace the outline on the other side. This brought up interesting discussions about why it is so hard to recreate the same line twice!

After we created our miniature mummy, students paired up and started to create a life-sized mummy with a partner. Students start by outlining one person in pencil on the paper and then start to collaborate with student designs from their mini mummy. The goal is to encourage students to collaborate and work together to create a large piece of artwork with both partners ideas combined and displayed. Once students have their outline in pencil finished, they start to paint and backgrounds and then go back over with details they added. We are just in the middle of this project, so in a couple of weeks I will post some of the final products. This project has been amazing to witness the engagement from students with each other and start to work together to create a large piece of artwork!

Changing the Atmosphere...

This blog was started as an area to construct assignments for a graduate course I was taking over a year ago...I figured it was time to use it as a way to document what I am creating in the classroom with my students....so here is goes!

Welcome to the art room...halfway through the school year! This is what my classroom looked like before the kiddos stepped foot into the room, a lot has changed since then since we have become so messy! 

I will move forward to post some of the new units we are starting to work on during this cold weather we are having by next week. Seriously, we might all become penguins and polar bears in our spare time this winter due to the fact that a warm day is 20 degrees this winter.  But that is why we create art, to keep us warm in our souls when the weather is cold or we are having a rough day, week, month, or even year. Art is the core to our heart. 

Which brings me to my next point, heart without art would just be....he....

Okay, maybe that does not work quite as well as Earth without art is just....eh...

So anyways, I attended a conference on Friday at Plymouth State University, which are my old stomping grounds, and was completely inspired and my "teacher brain" was full of new ideas and inspiration thanks to all the teachers around this state. I am always thankful when I can be apart of a day like the one on Friday up in Plymouth.