2015 Art Show

Welcome to the show!

 This year we had the art show a wee bit early which was a good excuse to get out during the cold snap we had this February.  Every year I am happy to sit back and watch all the families come in with their students and appreciate not just their own child's artwork, but other students hard work with their art!
Here were some of the projects featured this year:

 4th Grade African Masks 

5th Grade Keith Haring Clay Figures

6th Grade Andy Goldsworthy Outdoor Sculptures

 4th Grade Dia De Los Muertos Clay Masks

 6th Grade Cubistic Faces

5th Grade Optical Illusion Boxes

 5th Grade Art History Reproductions 

 4th Grade Hero Character Traits

 6th Grade

Egyptian Sarcophagus

Now the art show has happened we can look forward to the snow melting (by June let's hope!), flowers growing, being outside eating ice cream in flip flops! I know I will be happy, my pup Rigby already is...look at that smile! 

5th Grade Optical Illusion Boxes

Optical Illusion Boxes

This project is one that has been cooking in my art teacher brain for a little while. Optical illusions are a good intro for students to practice with perspective. 6th grade is really when we focus on a perspective unit, but this project is a good introduction to thinking about making lines look like they are overlapping or moving back into space. Some students were able to apply different values (lights and dark areas) to their designs which was going above the project expectations. Our artists always are able to surprise me by rising to a challenge! 

After being introducted to the artist Bridget Riley (her artwork can hurt the eyes to look at, but really outstanding!), students were able to practice some different ways to draw lines in their journals before we started their final box design. 

Here is an example of the flat template students drew onto before the box was assembled: 

Once we were able to complete six different designs with colored pencil, we cut out the template and glued it into a 3-D box. Here are some of the fantastical designs the kiddos came up with! 

 Look at the complementary colors in this one!                              This reminds me of the 4th of July!

Some completed boxes...

         Boxes in one big box.... these are from Ms. Mayorska's class:

Overall success! Something I will be using in the future with other 5th grade classes in the coming years! 

Stay tuned because next week is our BIG art show!!! 

Happy New Year!

What have we been up to in the art room? 

Lots of good old fashion creative, messy, fun projects! 

Mexican Day of the Dead Clay Skulls 

Here are the final clay skulls made by 4th graders. We were able to paint them with acrylic paint after they came out of the kiln. The colors 4th graders mixed came out very well which is something we have been mastering in art this year! 

Native American Shields 

This is an integrated art project done with Ms. Mayorska's 

5th Grade class. We were able to take what students have been learning in Social Studies class and apply the art and history of Native American Shields by making our own! The goal was to add symbols with specific meanings to create a story on each shield. 

We used cereal boxes and oil pastels to add color and symbols. Watercolors were also another medium choice to add colors onto the shield. Feathers and yarn were added for  final details. 

6th Grade Hero Mirror Images

For the specialist integrated art project this year, we embarked on a theme based on heroes. In Library, each class brainstormed a list of character traits that represents a hero. Each class used their list of hero character traits to inspire the theme of their artwork. The goal of this project was to create a mirror image of the character trait students picked. Take a look, they came out very spectacular! 

 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!