Art Club Update

I want to take this opportunity to highlight a couple AWESOME Art Club projects.  Art Club is made up of 5th grade students who meet before school to work on extra projects.  The small group settings enables us to experiment with some sophisticated techniques and ideas.

After studying the work of Frank Stella, art club made individual abstract artworks.  These were combined to create an amazing 3-D group project.  WOW!

Art club began this project by making a mask out of clay....

and then embelishing with rafia, beads, ribbon, fabric, and other odds and ends.

Close up!

Close up!

Close up!

Close up!

Close up!

We Love Weaving!

We are practicing a new skill... weaving!  Weaving can be done in many creative ways with lots of different materials.  When we first learn to weave at E.L., we start by weaving paper strips.  As students get older, they learn to weave using yarn, string, ribbons, lace, and fabric. 

Below you will find photos of our weavings in progress.  You will also find a few color activities!

Kinders turned their primary painters challenge paper into super cute and colorful owls!

Whooooo knows about primary colors?  We do!!

1st graders learned that sometimes art can show feelings.  We discussed several famous abstract paintings and tried to decide what feeling the artist expressed with his color and line choices.  Students then used crayons to make lines that were happy, sad, excited, relaxed, etc.

We listened to different types of music to get us in the mood as we drew our lines.  It was fun!

After drawing lines with feelings, we discussed how colors can show feelings too!  We read the book My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss to help us figure out how different colors can give a certain feeling, and then painted our papers with watercolor.

Beautiful abstract art!  Ask your first grader to explain the feelings he or she showed in this painting.

2nd graders turned their primary painter's challenge papers into a beautiful woven artwork.  This was their first experience with weaving, so we started off by learning the "over-under-over-under" technique. 

After weaving their paper looms with strips painted paper, some students got creative by weaving ON TOP of their weaving!

3rd graders build on their knowledge of weaving by using some new materials- YARN! 

When we finished our weavings, we were able to remove them from the cardboard looms.  Our fiber art is now ready to take home!



4th graders develop their creative and problem solving skills during their weaving unit.  After creating individual decorative looms out of clay, each student chose several different types of materials to weave within the frame. 



Ms. May has a GIANT collection of yarn, string, lace, fabric, ribbon, beads, sequins and other materials to choose from, and sometimes it's tricky to figure out how to incorporate items without them falling apart.  Building our weavings took a lot of hard work, but we successfully completed them...  and they look BEAUTIFUL!

5th grade Rene Magritte project.  Look familiar?  We based our project off the famous painting "Son of Man".

This project gave us tons of good painting practice.  Students had ONLY primary colors (plus black and white) to create all the colors they needed for the portraits.

After students finished painting, we used oil pastels to create smaller details on top of the paint.

Primary Painter Challenge

After several fun learning activities, E.L. students' knowledge of color is put to the test... it's time for the primary painter's challenge!  Students are required to create several different colors using ONLY the primary colors (red, yellow and blue).  Younger grades focus on making the three secondary colors (green, orange and violet).  Second grade is even attempting some tricky intermediate colors during their challenge (red violet, blue violet, yellow green, blue green, red orange and yellow orange).  Fifth grade students have the hardest challenge of all- creating neutral colors!  Have you ever tried to create a perfect peach using only primary colors?  Or tan?  Or cream?  Not an easy task! 

Why not just buy a bottle of paint in the color that you need?  Why take the extra time to mix?  Mixing colors not only significantly deepens a child's understanding of color, but the mixed colors have a much richer look than paint straight out of the bottle.  Take a look below to see the subtle beauty of our blended color experiments.



Kindergarteners were challenged to make all the secondary colors... without making brown!



What a great way to experiment with colors!



1st grade reviewed warm and cool colors during this collage project.  Students chose whether to make a warm colored sky or a cool sky, and then used torn paper pieces to make clouds.

Students got some painting practice by adding a winter tree over the collage background.  We studied tree branches closely to make sure our paintings looked realistic.

2nd grade primary painter challenge!  I think I see some blue green in this one!

2nd grade primary painter challenge.

2nd grade primary painter challenge.

3rd grade takes a break from color to begin a weaving project.  These kids LOVE to weave!!

4th grade clay projects are all painted.  Next step:  weaving fiber and textile designs in the middle.

5th grade color mixing project.  Students did a great job mixing the colors needed for their portraits.

What a gorgeous paint palette!!

Color Continued.....

English Landing students are in the midst of an exciting color adventure!  Take a look below to view some photos of our color activities and projects. 

Kindergarten experimented with color mixing by overlapping pieces of primary colored tissue papers.  When water is added to the tissue, the colors mix together!

Kindergarten used their tissue paper project as part of a winter wonderland collage.  So beautiful....  and sparkly!

1st grade color wheel activity.  We used primary colors icing to mix all of the secondary colors.  After that, we frosted cookies with our colorful icing, and arranged them on our color wheel place mat.  Yum!  What a delicious project.

Completed Yummy Color Wheel seconds before being devoured by 1st graders!

 

2nd grade collage project.  We used our warm and cool paintings to create an ocean and sunset, and then added sailboats.

3rd grade tint and shade painting makes a beautiful background for a graceful winter tree.

4th grade takes a break from color to begin a clay project.

4th grade clay project in progress.

5th grade begins a complicated color project.  For the first step, they review tints and shades by creating this apple painting. 

Using tints and shades to paint the apple gives it a realistic, 3-dimensional look.

Crazy About Color!

It's that time of year!  Students at E.L. seem to leave the art room a little more paint-smudged than usual...  Ms. May's sink is overflowing with paint palettes, brushes, and water bowls...  bottles of magic potion (that's right, MAGIC POTION!) cover the tables.  We are learning about COLOR!

Wow, are we excited!  Color is one of the most complicated (and fun!) art elements.  Younger grades are discovering color mixing magic by using the primary colors (red, yellow, blue) to make the secondary colors (orange, green, violet).  Older students will build on this knowledge as they study the color wheel.  They will learn about several different color schemes (warm, cool, complementary, neutral, analogous, monochromatic, etc.), and how to create tints, shades, and intermediate colors. 

Take a look below to see our introductory color activities and experiments.  These kids are on their way to becoming color geniuses!

Color mixing MAGIC!  Kindergarten watched Ms. May use primary colored magic potion to create the three secondary colors.

After reading the book Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh, Kinders got a chance to mix secondary colors from primary colors.  Great job, kiddos!

In the book Mouse Paint, the mice decide to jump into puddles of primary colored paint.  They jumped so much they mixed them into secondary colors! 

Our finished Mouse Paint projects look awesome!
Media: tempera paint and sharpie marker.

1st graders read a book about color called Painting the Town, by Denise Minnerly.  After the story, each student painted his or her own town.  They only had primary colored paint (red, yellow, blue) on their palettes, and look at all of the fabulous secondary colors they were able to create!

 The outlines and windows were printed with a piece of cardboard and black tempera paint.

Painted Towns.

Beautiful!

2nd grade is learning about cool colors (blue, green, violet)....

and warm colors (red, orange, yellow)!!  We will use these lovely painted papers for a collage project.



3rd grade used tints and shades to create a painting of a moonlit nighttime sky.  Such a beautiful background for our winter trees that we are currently working on!



Finished 4th grade Op Art project.  I am proud of 4th grade for working sooo hard on this project!!

How I Got to School Today project.  5th grade created the illusion of space in these creative projects.

How I Got to School Today.
Media: colored pencil.

How I Got to School Today.
Media: colored pencil.

How I Got to School Today.
Media: colored pencil.