Loving these flowers...

My third graders have been studying the artist Georgia O'Keeffe.  I had them draw close-ups of flowers then outline with oil pastel and paint.  We used Crayola 16 pack to achieve the nice blending colors.  We are going to use these paitings for our Art to Remeber Fundraiser.

View Full Album

Summer Art Camp...

This past week I taught art camp with my 3rd - 5th grade students.  The morning session was Painting and Printmaking and the afternoon session was 3-D Art.  I used a lot of ideas from my fellow bloggers.  A big thanks to http://plbrown.blogspot.com/, http://barbarasthoughtoftheday.blogspot.com/, http://elementaryartroom.blogspot.com/, http://sleepyheaddesignsstudio.blogspot.com/, and http://mrsmanzellastudentartgallery.blogspot.com/ for ideas and inspiration!!!

Here are a couple of pieces completed during camp.  Check out my school blog for more pictures....  http://dundeeart.blogspot.com/

Landscape of the courtyard at the high school.  Water-soluble oil pastels, watercolors and gouache. 

Folk art painting inspired by artist Karla Gerard.  Thanks Sleepyhead Design Studio. Students painted with tempera and acrylic.

Paintings inspired by Wayne Thiebaud.  We used acrylic and modeling paste. 

Group Mural inspired by circle painting.

Crayola air dray clay.  Unfortunatly a lot of the sculptures broke.  Has anyone else ever had trouble with this kid of clay? 

Wacky sculptures with model magic and wire (a Dick Blick lesson).  I never realized how well the primary colored model magic mixes.  I wish it wasn't so expensive. 

This coming week I will be doing the same classes but with 6th-8th grade.  I hope to share their projects soon.

Origami Pictures

 Third graders are learning about art around the world.  We recently studied Japan and the art or paper folding, origami.  As a class we created a cat and dog.  Then students were allowed to try other simple animals.  Then they turned their origami animals into a picture.  Here are just a few examples....

Check out this website for more origami ideas….

http://en.origami-club.com//easy/index.html

Magnetic Paintings…Inspired by James Rizzi

  The past couple months I have been running an after school art class inspired by the art of James Rizzi with 3rd and 4th graders.  One project that I was excited to try was magnetic paintings.  Since I had a small class of 12 students it was feasible. 
   First we looked at some of Mr. Rizzi’s magnetic paintings (Click Here).  What is neat about these paintings is that the viewer can interact with the work.  There is a background and then several magnetic pieces that can be rearranged to make different pictures. 
  Students used a 12x18 piece of tag board and made a background.  On each back corner we added a strip of magnet.  Then using poster board the students drew and cut out accessories.  Each item also had magnets put on the back.  Then the students arranged their picture on a magnetic surface. 
Below are my students’ examples…






  If I did this project in the future I would try to use stronger magnets.  At times we had trouble getting the small pieces to stick.  Overall, I thought it was a good project, and exposed the kids to new kind or art form. 
  Soon, I will be sharing  my students' Skype interview with James Rizzi.  Once, I get the huge file to upload to YouTube

Monet Mixed Media Masterpieces

      I have been having camera issues lately, so I have not been staying on track with what is going on in my classroom.  So….I thought I would share a lesson I did a few years ago with a 2nd/3rd class and then last year at my current school with 4th grade. 

    My first art job was teaching at a school that used the High Scope Philosophy of teaching.  In a High Scope classroom Active Learning is very important.  Students are given choices in their learning.  I found that this philosophy worked well in the art room and fostered creativity. 

    For this Project I introduced students to Monet’s waterlily paintings.  (If any one know how to share PPT on blogs I would be happy too.  I have lots of PPT that go with my lessons).  After looking at Monet’s art we used bleedable tissue paper and cover a 12x18 piece of paper with tissue paper and water.  The next class we took the tissue off and had a really neat background. 


   Then I showed students the above poster.  I told them that their project had to have the following elements: A waterlily, lily pad, something that popped off the page, and supporting details (grass or water detail ).  The students got to choose how their materials. 
Below are some different student interpretations….

Nesting Doll Creations

  Third graders continue to learn about art around the world and our latest stop on the map was Russia.  I was excited about this project because I have a collection of Matryoshka (mah-tree-YOSH-kah) aka Russian Nesting Dolls, that I wanted to share with my students. 

First, we looked at several different nesting dolls to get ideas.  Then I did a demo on the board showing simple steps to create the dolls. I modified a lesson from Deep Space Sparkle.  Check out Patty’s PDF Lesson Art From Around the World.  This lesson has a nice step-by-step handout, which I used with my students. 

  The students drew their first doll on 12X18 tag board  and then outlined with Sharpie.   Once they were done outlining, they erased their pencil lines and colored with markers. 

After their first doll was created, students made smaller versions.  I laid out different size tracers for the heads in descending order.  Students created smaller dolls, depending on time that was permitted (For example a snow day allowed one of my classes to only create one).  When dolls were completed, they were cut out and glued on a background. 

Students could stick to the more traditional doll design or come up with their own.

This student dressed her dolls in winter gear.  She made seven!

I also shared this video with my students….

UByK - "Matryoshka" Official Video [stop e-motion animation mix]

We “Heart” Art…

  I was reading the blog The Elementary Art Room! (which is a great blog) and Megan got me thinking about Jim Dine projects I have done in the past.   I have to admit, I was really pumped my first year teaching when I discovered there was a famous artist who painted hearts.  If I am going to do a holiday project, I want to make sure there is good content.

  

      This project I have done with 2nd and 3rd.  I show a PowerPoint with all Dine’s various hearts.  Then the kids use mixed media to create  there own.  The kids are very creative.  One year we started in tempera and then added finished designs with oil pastels.  Last year we used squirt bottles full of tempera to outline and add finishing touches.  When the bottles got near empty they  splatter paint and the kids liked that effect.

Another project I have done, and thought was successful, was using tissue paper pieces/squares to decorate a background.  Then the kids would take black oil pastel and  and draw a big  heart.  I also gave them white oil pastel to add a highlight.  This project is inspired specifically by Dine’ confetti heart.  Sadly, I can’t seem to kind a picture of this project

Just imagine colored tissue paper glued down with black drawn on top.  I guess Dine’s will have to do…hehe