5th Grade Henna Hands

Here are a few photos of our Henna Hand designs that 5th graders finished up last week. 

The first step was to trace five different hands on a 12 x18 white piece of paper. Then, the hard work goes into the hands with details inspired by traditional Henna Designs. Each student is so different about their approach to filling up their details. Some like to add details with symbols they love, others just relax and fill up the space with whatever comes to mind. It can become challenging by the last hand because ideas can run out, but it is a good test of perseverance.

The final step is to fill the background with watercolors to create contrast from the hands. The colors really make the picture final an add an extra pop! 

CSDA Annual Art Show

WELCOME TO THE SHOW! 

Glad you could be here! 

CSDA always has a great turn out for the annual art show. The best part of the show for Mrs. Gagne is to observe students showing off their artwork to their loved ones. I always see the pride students have for their final products inside the art room, but to watch students show off their product on display for everyone to see is priceless and is the ultimate part of my job. 

We had many great projects on display and a lot of three dimensional work out on tables. my goal is to get at least two pieces of artwork out for each student and this year grades 4 and 5 had three pieces of artwork on display. I also was able to display some pieces of art for the upcoming Lion King theater production happening in a few weeks here at CSDA.  Take a quick look to see what was on display! 

Wilderbeest Masks for the Lion King: Grade 6 

African Sunsets: Grade 4

African Masks: Grade 4

The art room door! 

Mandala Designs: Grade 6

Keith Haring Clay Figures: Grade 5

Kente Cloth Weaving: Grade 4

Ugly Mugs: Grade 6

Leaf Prints: Grade 4

Art Reproductions: Grade 5

OP Boxes: Grade 5

Ugly Mugs: Grade 6

Hyena Masks: Grade 6

Thanks for visiting the show! 

Keeping it Creative: Early winter update!

4TH GRADE: African Masks. For the past month we have been building masks! This is a great project for kids who love to build and work on something that does not involve a lot of drawing but a a lot of mess! This is one of my all time favorite projects too, who doesn't like to work with lots of messy materials! 

 Masks from Mrs. Calkin's 4th Grade

Building the masks!  The masks take about four to five classes to build. This is day two of building, adding the tissue paper and mod-podge over the paper mache layer. This helps make the masks very strong and full of color. 

 5TH GRADE: Keith Haring Clay Figures. We finally were able to paint our clay figures we made which were inspired by the artist Keith Haring. We made the clay pieces back in October and then started an Optical Illusion Box project (see some pictures of those below!). Now we are finished those boxes and could paint the clay figures this week.

 

 6TH GRADE: Cubism!
We were able to study some of Picasso's cubistic faces like the one above ( The Weeping Woman, 1937) and look at the different ways he broke down the face. There was sometimes a side profile, which is what Cubism is; breaking down an object into different perspetives. Students were asked to draw a side profile of anyone they wanted (even a made up person!) and use some recycled materials to build a face. Here is one of the building days with Mrs. Hick's class:

5TH GRADE: Optical Illusion Boxes

This project definitely challenges students to think about making lines to trick the eye and move back into space.  There is lots of patience involved with this particular project. There is always lots of effort and energy put into making unique designs. The best part, watching students teach each other how they came up with a new pattern or, how they figured out to create their own.

Time for an Update!

 5th graders were able to jump into some art history and learn about the artist Keith Haring and his subway artwork that made him famous in the 1980's. The great thing about Haring's artwork is that students can relate to his bold lines and colors that tell a specific message. We were able to tell our viewers a message that represents their school : CSDA!  Our school statement is Create, Share, Dream, and Achieve. Students could pick one word to represent of all four and make a statement about our school through images and characters like Keith Haring's.

 6th Grade Mandalas

Our first project in 6th grade we focused on the art of mandalas and the idea of creating a design that becomes  visually pleasing because it is symmetrical and has details that draw your eye into the design. Here are some of the 6th grade creations that students came up with: