Art Education

With all the talk about budgets, deficits, and budget cuts, I think this video is relevant despite political associations. 

Support the arts! Support the future!

Jim Dine for Valentine's

I have been saving these lessons for elementary classes all year!

Finally, it was the perfect time of year... Valentine's Day.

For these lessons, the students studied pop artist, Jim Dine. Dine painted common objects such as clothing, tools, and for our inspiration: hearts!

Here are the results...

Kindergarten through 2nd grade:

3rd and 4th grade:

We used a variety of processes with paint, glue, and oil pastels. 

They make me so happy!

Literacy in Art

To some, reading and art don't necessarily relate. But alas, I'm here to tell you different!

Example A:

7th and 8th grade "Illuminated Text"

Way before the printing press (think late antiquity to the Renaissance) books were only for the wealthy. During this time, they were elaborately illustrated, often with gold leafing, by a special person, the illuminator. It was very much considered an art form. The students brainstormed theme ideas for their illuminated text and practiced drawing letters. After four rough drafts, they executed their drawings with color pencil.

Example B:

5th grade "Book Cover Redesign"

The fifth graders had the choice to redesign Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or The Wizard of Oz. Before diving in, we talked about the role of a graphic designer, the function of a book cover, and characteristics of book covers. Students colored their final covers with colored pencils or crayons.

Example C:

"Elementary Illustration"

With K-4, we discussed illustrators and what an illustrator does. After a couple of examples of illustrations, I read to them Eric Carle's The Tiny Seed. After reading the story, the students illustrated their favorite part. For the display, I pieced together the different parts the students drew to create the full story. It really worked out nicely!

Who says there is no reading in art?

Winter Mural

In the couple of weeks before we let out for Christmas Break, the elementary students created a Winter Mural. I wanted to do something different with a wow factor. I saw on a couple of art teach blogs that I follow, murals done by their students. They were fabulous! I knew Corner School could do it right!

The mural is still located at the elementary entrance of the school (near the teacher parking lot).

This is the break down of the mural:

- Kindergarten painted the sky and snow

- 1st grade drew, colored, and cut out leaves and small trees

- 2nd grade drew woodland creatures and made snowmen

- 3rd grade made houses, cars, and penguins

- 4th grade made snowflakes and carolers

I just LOVE it!

Drawing What We See

... NOT what we THINK we see!

On any given day in my classroom, you will hear me saying preaching this to my middle school students. Draw what a tree, person, vase actually looks like and you will be much happier with the end result!

Using this philosophy and the amazing book, Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain, I created a drawing unit for the 7th and 8th graders. We drew without looking at our paper, drawing the space around the objects, just the outline of the objects, and upside down. At the end of the unit, the students put what they learned into a final still life drawing. This drawing combined the negative/positive space relationship, blind contour line drawings, and the art of drawing what you see! The results are beautiful!

 

 

 

This was also the first time for the students to experiment with chalk pastels. Messy and fun!

Time to Catch Up!

Whew! It has been a busy past couple of months! 

But now, it is time to catch up!

5th grade spooked us all with these "Spooky Trees":

 

Learning to draw a more realistic trees is one of my "things" for art. Most students (and adults too) draw what I call "ice cream trees": rectangle trunk, fluffy top. So, I have made it my mission at Corner School to eliminate "ice cream trees"!

 

We started this drawing with a tree drawing lesson. We discussed the anatomy of the tree and also some objects that are spooky. Students then choose some spooky objects to accompany their tree and did a rough draft or sloppy copy before executing their final drawing.

Students covered all their pencil lines with black oil pastel and added color with watered down tempera. We also used this time to review on cool and warm colors and composition.

These drawings were displayed outside of the lunch room.

 

It's all Abstract!

Kindergarten through second grade learned about Abstract Art.

After showing some examples of artists' works and discussing what they learned in previous classes about line and shape, we dove right into creating our abstract pieces.

 To get a variety of work and textures, some classes used oil pastels, chalk pastels, paint, or collage to make their first piece. After the first piece was made, I cut the artwork into 2 in squares. After the initial shock of seeing their artwork cut up, the students then glued their squares on a new piece of paper to make a finished work of abstract art. 

The students not only learned about abstract art, but they experimented with different materials and used their listening and direction following skills. This was a really fun lesson for me and the students. I think the variety of work was awesome!