Grade 6 Life Sized Egyptian Sarcophagus Designs

Here they are: finally! The sixth grade has completed their Egyptian Sarcophagus designs they have been diligently working on for the past two months. Their commitment to undertaking such a large piece of artwork was evident in their enthusiasm for each class they came in. I am pretty sure we could have kept going and creating even more details and designs onto these life sized masterpieces. Here is a quick glimpse into Mr. Putnam's class working on their last day to complete this project.

Collaboration was the main goal of the project. Creating a final piece of artwork that had everyones ideas and designs! 

Students were able to use acrylic paints, Sharpie markers, and oil pastels to add details.

Students added Egyptian symbols and hieroglypics to connect to their lessons in Social Studies about ancient civilizations. 

2016 CSDA Awesome, Amazing, Art Show!

What an outstanding art show this year! 

It is an absolute pleasure for me to watch this event unfold each year and hear feedback from families about the projects that have been happening in the art room. 

Of course, the best part of the job is watching students show off their projects to families and friends that come along to see their hard work. The support that surrounds our art program at CSDA is obvious by the turn out and excitement during this specific event. This being my fourth art show at CSDA, I can see the connections that have been made for myself with various families. I have taught multiple children from one family and even some students whose families are connected to my own life outside of CSDA, and it is a true pleasure to be involved with teaching creativity to an entire generation of each family that comes through the doors of CSDA. Cheers to another successful art show! 

6th Grade Recycled Cubistic Portraits 

 5th Grade Keith Haring Clay Figures

4th Grade African Masks

4th Grade Kente Cloth

 6th Grade Enrichment: What is Art?

4th Grade Leaf Prints

5th Grade Optical Illusion Boxes

5th Grade Gothic Castle Prints

6th Grade Candy Compositions

5th Grade Optical Illusions

6th Grade Recycled Cubistic Portraits

5th Grade I am Art Reproductions

Grade 5 :  The 5th grade recreated  four famous pieces of artwork.  Students were asked to put a picture of themselves into the picture and give the picture a creative spin to it. There were four pictures to choose from:

Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowers    Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Edvard Much, The Scream

Monet, The Bridge

Here are a few examples to see what our fantastic fifth graders did to their reproductions: 

How creative are these kiddos? Each picture came out with a one of a kind way to incorporate not only their idea, but a new way to look at famous piece of artwork. What a refreshing way to look at art history!

4th Grade: Drawing to Music

Fourth Grade was able to listen to six different songs and create lines to match the rhythm and beat of each song with various lines. After we created out lines with oil pastels, we added watercolors on top of the lines to create beautiful pieces of art. 

What is ART?

What is the big question for 5th and 6th Grade Art this year?

These are some of the answers that students came up with: 

6 Leafe:

What people use to express themselves

Colors put together to make a pretty picture

Anything that person makes

The world

Everything

Visual imagination

5 Doucet:

Everything

A bunch of colors put together to make creativity

Masterpieces

Beauty

A bunch of NOT colorful things

Letting your mind go crazy

Designs

Creativity

Imagination

Sculptures

Anything you call art 

Mrs. Gagne:

Art is creative

Art is making a mistake

Art is musical

Art is imagination

Art is thinking out loud

Art is visual

Art is an experience

Art is full of color

Art makes a statement to those that don’t have a voice

After we brainstormed, students came up with a visual way to show what they think art is. Take a look at these outstanding examples they made...

Dot Day!

On September 15th CSDA celebrated International Dot Day!
What is International Dot Day you ask?!? Well good question....
The day is based on a fantastic book  with a fantastic message ...

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

This story focuses on a girl Vashti who finds she "cannot draw" anything in art class and with a little help from her art teacher, she starts to make dots as her signature style. Of course I LOVE this idea of a student who feels like they cannot draw who pushes through the challenge and takes a mistake on paper and makes it into beautiful art...

Students were asked the big question after reading this story: HOW WILL I MAKE MY MARK IN THE WORLD?
And some great conversations happened over this one question, dots were made, and more risks are being taking on paper in the art room this year!

Ready for an awesome art year?!? 

2015-2016 here we come!

Now that everyone  has had some summer adventures and time to relax it is time to get back to work getting creative in the art room at CSDA.
This summer, I was lucky enough to bring my daughter Lilly into the world which has given me a new life perspective as a mom and as an artist.  Having a newborn to hang out with all summer has helped me find enjoyment to being in the moment and watching a small human grow right before my eyes. This experience brought me to thinking about the simple questions in art: What is creativity? What makes me feel creative? What is art? Why do we make art?
These questions are what have started conversations in the art room this year with the focus on having students thinking about taking creative risks this year and not just always drawing what comes easiest to them.

 Here is where the creative magic happens! Nice and clean at the moment but once the kiddos get painting it will look very different...

New addition to the room! 

This coming week we will be celebrating international dot day at CSDA- so stay tuned!