Pop Art Perspective

The fifth grade classes have been learning all about SPACE during second quarter. We've talked about atmospheric perspective making landscapes, foreshortening self portraits, and then we applied the mathematical skill of drawing in one-point perspective. We discussed the vocabulary (horizon line, vanishing point, orthogonal, parallel lines) needed to understand perspective drawing. Then we had a chance to practice using squares, circles, even stars and the letters of our name! But the final project for this technique was this awesome Peter Max-inspired art. We created a landscape in the style of pop artist Peter Max and then filled the sky with geometric shapes. We used one-point perspective to make the objects appear three-dimensional. Finally, we used neon paint to really make our projects POP!

Letter Value Studies

I'm always looking for that perfect "First Project of the Year" project. The one that's not too stressful or complicated, but sets the tone for learning and thinking creatively. Oh, and it has to be fun for the students, too! Fifth grade was a struggle for me, but I think this project, inspired by a lesson from ArtEdla,  fits the bill. We started by creating a grid on our paper with a little bit of math (STEAM anyone??). Then we added the letters of our names, starting in the first box, and adding letters to each box until we came to the end. Then we started over at the first box, adding letters until there were two overlapping letters in each box. The students then had to color in each box using crayons, pushing to create different values of each color. They turned out pretty neat, and it was a good way to start the year with a successful project!

Tree of Life Weavings

Sometimes new projects flop. They take too long or not long enough, they are not engaging or they don't teach the right lessons. But then there are projects that are absolutely perfect and I fall completely in LOVE with them. The fifth grade students made these incredible "tree of life" weavings last semester, and I just now got around to figuring out how to display them. They were going to go in our public library, but then the library roof caved in. Bad news. But they look pretty good displayed in our hallway too. This project was inspired by some other tree weaving projects I found floating around on pinterest, here and here. I put the two ideas together and this beauty was born.

We began by looking a tree of life images from around the world. Then we painted a heavy duty paper plate with metallic acrylic paint. You don't want the flimsy cheap plates for this, splurge for the good stuff. I created a template with notches cut in the plate for the string to be wrapped, and the students used my plate to mark and cut their notches in the same places. We taped thick yarn to the back and began wrapping front to back and around until all the notches were filled. We gathered the center of the yarn together with another color to create a trunk for the tree. Then we used multicolored yarn for the weaving. Cassie Stephens has a much better tutorial for how to do the step-by-step on this project. I had the students snip and fray some of their 'roots' and add beads if they wanted. They look so stunning when they are finished!

Winter Evergreens

  Welcome back to school! After a nice winter break and an extra day off due to cold temperature, I am ready to get back in the school routine! We are easing back in with a fun and high-success project with the fifth graders, inspired by one of my many pinterest pins. We discussed value, the darkness or lightness of a color. We looked at how there can be many values of the same color. Blue is blue. But it is also navy, baby blue, sky blue, royal blue, etc. We can change the value by adding black or white to a color. Adding white creates a tint. Adding black creates a shade. We used tints and shades of a single color to create a quiet moon lit landscape. We used black to create a silhouette of evergreen trees, and finally stamped on some snow for a little drama. They all turned out so fantastic! I love projects that get "oohs and ahhs" from hard-to-impress fifth graders! They look stunning in our hallway, but I'll also be happy when the weather warms up and we can break out the spring projects.

Something's Fishy in the Art Room

Why no October entries?? Well, for the last few weeks, the elementary students have been hard at work making "fishy" art work to decorate the lobby of our auditorium. The middle school put on the play "Little Mermaid Jr." and asked us to help decorate. Each class made a different project, and all were hung on the walls, windows, and doors of the lobby and down the halls. It's amazing how much space 400 pieces of art can take up!

These beautiful fish rainbow fish were created by each kindergarten class. After reading about author Marcus Pfister's "Rainbow Fish" had to share his shiny scales to make friends, each student made a scale from a paper plate and covered it in shiny glitter. We attached all the scales together to make a huge rainbow fish for each class!

The first grade students read the book "I am the Best Artist in the Ocean" about a very confident giant squid. Each student made their own squid, complete with long tentacles, and wrote a quote about what they are best at.










Second graders used liquid watercolors and white crayons to make these amazing underwater jellyfish scenes. We were inspired by this project I discovered on pinterest.

In third grade, we have been talking about unity and variety. To make these coral reef pictures, we used opposites: big and small, near and far, high and low, in front and behind, etc. The water effect was done with plastic garbage bags and liquid watercolor.

These beautiful fish were made by 4th grade students who first used glue to design their fish, and then colored with analagous and complementary colored chalk.

Finally, the 5th grade used watercolors to complete these colorful fish.

The display was hung by parent volunteers. What a great show of teamwork to show off our schools' talented artists, musicians, and actors!

Contour Line Shoes

 The first project of the year for 5th graders is complete! Our first class on this lesson was a practice in contour line drawing. We are so used to drawing from our imagination that it takes practice to get good at drawing what we actually see. The students drew several practice drawings of a seashell. They had to draw a blind contour-drawing without looking at their paper and a continuous line-drawing without picking up their pencil. These exercises make us better at using our eyes to help draw a picture. The following class, the students did a contour line drawing of their shoes. The drawings turned out so good, we decided to add some color. Today, they finished their shoes by choosing a color scheme. We added a background color that fit our scheme. They make a pretty impressive display in the hallway!

Bad Hair Days!

I always like to start the year with a review of lines. Every grade level does a project that reintroduces all the different ways to make lines. By 4th and 5th grade, we are ready to turn those lines into something really amazing! These projects are partially inspired by the many "zentangle" lessons out there, but I don't actually teach the zentangle method. I have the students start with a line pattern and then fill it with doodles. We focused on contrast-making some areas dark, and some light. I love when I look around the room and tongues are hanging out. That's how you KNOW the kids are concentrating!

 We started this project by taking a digital picture of each student, then cutting off the hair and attaching it to a piece of cardboard. These long pieces of poster board were donated to my classroom last year, so we put them to good use! The kids used eraser and pencil to plan the shape of their hair, then used thick and thin sharpies to divide into sections and create the patterns. We used colored markers to create the background and help the line designs stand out.

4th/5th Grade Bad Hair Days

 You guys, my students are amazing. They seriously impress me and surprise me every day. We began this project in art class, and I sent them to their classroom with the expectation that they would finish their black and white patterns on their own in their classroom. Not only did they finish them, but they came back BRILLIANT! We finished the marker background today in the art room.