Art at the Library

English Landing art is on display at the Riverside Mid-Continent Library!  If you stop by to check out some books, you just might find your artwork on display!

Starry Night on display at the library.  Mrs. Wright's 2nd grade class.



Close up of Starry Nights.  New work coming soon!



5th Grade Art Show and Musical



The 5th grade musical, The Hundred-Year Snooze, will be performed tomorrow night!  In addition to witnessing this fantastic performance, you will also have the opportunity to view 5th grade artwork.  The artwork is displayed in the hallways on the way to the gym, and every 5th grade student has work on display.  Make sure you arrive a couple minutes early so that you can view it! 

5th Grade Music Program is at 7:00 pm on Thursday, October 20, 2011.

Art show preview: wire sculptures and figure drawings displayed in the case.



Art show preview: beach still life drawings

Plaster Masks

In honor of the Halloween season, 5th grade art club is working on plaster masks.  This project is a tradition at English Landing.  It is super fun... probably because it is super MESSY!  My younger students always come in and look longingly at art club's work on the round table, so I thought I'd include some information about how to create this project at home! 

Plaster Masks in progress.  Soon, they will be removed from their plastic molds, painted, and decorated!

This site explains how to create a plaster mask of your own face!  However, the same outcome can be achieved using a plastic mold (and it won't get your face into a gooey plaster mess).
http://www.artlex.com/ed/Maskmaking.html

Getting in Shape

English Landing students are getting in shape.... the art element of shape!  Take a look at some of the projects we have been working on to deepen our understanding of how to use shapes in art.  It's fun to see how we build on our prior knowledge of shapes at every grade level.

Kindergarten created shape collages.  After reading the book The Shape of Things, each child received a shape, and used imagination to turn the shape into a creative picture with markers.  I asked each student for the title of their artwork so that I could write it down.  These always make me smile, so I had to share a few.  Above: "Paint Holder".

Circle turned into a "Segway"

Circle turned into a "Meteor"

Triangle turned into a "Vampire"

1st grade learned about printing.  Each student created a stamp out of modeling clay.  They printed the stamps with tempera paint to create the shapes of leaves for their apple trees.  Clay and paint in the same day?  What a fun lesson!

Clay printing on display.

2nd grade revisits the art element of line while creating these 3-dimensional collages.  They challenged themselves to make curved, zig-zag, and even spiral lines!

3rd grade began painting their abstract Picasso portraits.  To prepare for this lesson, we learned about geometric, free form and organic shapes.

4th grade watercolor landscapes.  We created the building shapes with masking tape before we painted, and then removed the tape after the paint was dry.  Students used colored pencil for the details of the buildings, grass, trees, and water.

5th grade added color to their still life drawings with chalk pastels.  We made our shapes appear 3-dimensional by adding shadows and highlights.

Field Trip to Kemper Art Museum

My second graders and I are so lucky!  We were able to visit the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art yesterday.  We learned so many cool things on our tour, and got to see some incredible art!  I definitely recommend that you take the time to visit.  Admission and parking are FREE!

Check it out at http://www.kemperart.org/home.asp



English Landing students critique an abstract painting.

2nd graders love spiders!  This bronze sculpture by Louise Bourgeois was one of our favorite pieces.