Winter Mini Watercolors

Jen Arnayi was the perfect choice for a one day project the week before holiday break.  Her illustrative style offered simplicity and yet a very colorful mini painting.  Fourth grade students painted on a round format using 4 x 4 scraps of watercolor paper that were left over from a previous project making this a win-win.  I saved some small pieces of paper avoiding waste.  The lesson began as a directed draw with instruction to draw a line of pointed mountains across the center area of the circle.  A horizon line was drawn under the mountains curving downward to the bottom area of the circle.  Based on personal interpretations, all of the projects began to develop their own style at this point.  Later discussions included adding a 3D dimension and texture to the mountains.  Students then shared previous knowledge as to what the cool colors are as they began to paint the area above the mountains.  Everyone was excited to tape a mat on these and take them home to share with family for the holidays. 

       

1st grade Mono printing

I discovered this great post over on Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artist the other day for Northern Light mono prints and I immediately knew I wanted to try this approach to mono printing with my first grade students.   I reviewed the steps as they were given and every student experienced success.  Our approach was just for a winter scene that reflected what we could see around us after a recent snow storm.  Here are a few photos of student work.

 
  

Peter Max ATC

One of the lesson plans from this past summer's Art of Ed On-line Conference featured the work of Peter Max.  It was intended to be done with fluorescent oil pastels included in the swag box but with no budget in the beginning of the school year I could not order additional oil pastels to pull the project off with my students.  So I adjusted by using fluorescent tempera paint and some scented markers to create a mixed medium ATC card.  These were done by 4th grade students.  We are really excited to have this work included in the Mini Matisse ATC exchange this spring.
 
  

Organic Shaped Monsters

Student Work - Flower Monster

I have been trying to come up with a color mixing project for my students using model magic for a while.  I have made pumpkins for many years with 1st and 2nd grade students but wanted something else that would connect with my curriculum for students a bit older.  After a unit on Organic Shapes where students tore paper to create a shape and then turned it into a monster, (here it is) I had a light bulb go off.  What if I followed up with a sculptural project that revisited the organic shape, this time in 3D?  An so...this project was born.  It worked great to reinforce learning and the kids loved it.   My only expectations were for them to make their monster's body using a secondary color, they had to mix it using two primary colors, and that the monster's body was an organic shape. These are made with Crayola Model Magic.

Student Work - So many teeth!

Student Work - Sooo many eyes!

Here are some more of the fabulous creations by 2nd grade students.

Student Work - Monster with a Bow

Student Work - Orange monster

Yayoi Kusama

https://youtu.be/U3kIvXaEPjYMacy's Balloon by Yayoi Kusama

Imagine my excitement when I discovered a few weeks ago that there was a Yayoi Kusama balloon being created for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I had introduced 3rd grade students to Kusama in the early fall.  They created many difference colored pumpkins covered in finger printed dots to reflect their learning about her style of art.  We had read the book "Yayoi Kusama From Here to Infinity" to learn a little background information about her and her art.  We discovered that she is currently one of the most famous living women artist of our time.  Yeah, I had no idea.  We received so many compliments on the bulletin board display of the completed pumpkins; people really love them.  And now, she will have a balloon in the parade.  I'm excited to see it and thanks to Artsonia was able to send a newsletter link out to families with the hope that all my 3rd graders would know about the balloon in the parade.  So, better late than never, here are some 3rd grade works as we celebrate Kusama's continuing success and the THE BALLOON!

First Graders are weaving

4 1/2 x 2 " cardboard

 So, I wanted to transition my first grade students from paper weaving to something a little more functional.  I don't have enough of those big card board looms you purchase from the suppliers that are pre notched but I do have some donated heavy cardboard from a colleague.   I decided to re purpose this into tiny looms for my students.  First, I cut this up into 4 1/2 x 2" rectangles as shown on the left.

Holes punched along each side

 I added small punched holes on each end in an odd number.  To attempt to space them fairly evenly without having to measure, I started with a hole in the center, one on each margin and then attempted to place one in the middle of each of those.  I had marked my punch with a sharpie to attempt to line them up as evenly as possible.

Create slops for the warp threads

 Cutting from the edge, I cut to each hole to create a slot for the warp threads.  I did the warp with some light weigh embroidery weight thread and gave students a plastic needle and yarn for their weaving.  These are small enough that they can easily be completed in two class periods which is all we had left for the school year.  It was a great re purpose of donated materials, an easy transition to traditional weaving and an easy take home to complete if students didn't finish before the end of the year.  They can be taken off by cutting the warp threads on the back or can be left displayed on the loom.

A completed weaving

The Clay Box

Summer is just around the corner.  I know many of you would like to keep your little ones busy with some hands on activities.   Check out my friend, Ruth Post, from The Clay Box.   This is a subscription service that sends all the materials for you to complete a project.   I have used some of the materials as well as the lesson instructions and found them to be easy to follow and work well. 
Ruth is a retired art teacher and this is how she is using her time in retirement.  I don't think you will be disappointed with the program.  https://www.theclaybox.org/  I'm not getting any type of kick back for this; I just think it's a great program!

Really Big FlowersOil

Oil pastels on felt


2nd graders recently viewed some of the works of Georgia O'Keefe and discussed how she focused on making small details really big.  We then engaged in making really big flowers that you would have to look at and pay attention to.   Here are a few of the student's completed projects.

Student's work 2nd grade

Student Work 2nd grade

Coil project for Kindergarten

Kindergarten clay snails

Hot glue was used to secure the pipe cleaner and eyes into place

I am totally in love with these with clay coil snails.  I must admit, this is not my original idea and I have no idea where I first spotted it or who I "borrowed" it from.  But kuddos to them because this was a slam dunk project.   My kinders created two coils to form the snails.  One is for the base and head the other is for the body.  After they went through the kiln for a bisque firing, they were completed with liquid watercolors, a pipe cleaner and some googly eyes.  Two class periods for completion but super easy and a great way to experience the process to make a coil.  This will definitely be a repeat lesson.

I used a straw to put holes in the head for the placement
of the pipe cleaners prior to firing

students twisted their own pipe learners.  Some were
more savvy at this than others.

Jim Dine in 2nd grade

I located this project in an old Scholastic's Art magazine recently when looking for a new approach for Jim Dine and decided to give it a go.  The heard was done more as a directed because I was approaching dark and light values for the first time with 2nd grade.  They turned out amazingly well.  The background is tissue paper on card stock.  Drawing was completed with oil pastels.  This was a two week project.

Sculptured Donuts

One of the presentations in the Art of Education Winter Conference was sculpture donuts presented by Sarah Engel.  I immediately knew this was a definitely project to include in my Art club plans this winter.  Sarah suggested referencing Andy Warhol and Pop Art as a historical connection but it really spoke Wayne Thiebault to me.  So that is the approach I used.  This took two 45 minute sessions.  Week one they formed the donuts out of newspaper and covered them with Rigid Wrap.  Students created 2 or 3 donuts.   Week two they were painted with a light brown paint, iced with the glue and shaving cream mixture and covered with art foam sprinkles.  To finish them off, after they had set up a little, we placed each donut on a doily and 6" plastic plate.  The kids were so excited with anticipation of pranking their families into believing they were really donuts!

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A winter wonderland

2nd grade Student Work

Pinterest recently led me over to a post on Kitchentableclassroom.com demonstrating how to do evergreen trees with markers and water.  I was drawn to the originality and knew immediately I would switch up my next lesson on the Element, Space and incorporate the trees into the project.  We began with a directed draw for the trees and discussed size and placement to demonstrate the illusion of Space.  Students followed along on day one to draw the trees, a few lines to show hills and the horizon using sharpie markers.  Day two concentrated on diagonal lines to denote the needles of the evergreens using water based markers.  They also added a little blue along the hills and horizon to represent snow shadows.  Those that had time painted with water in the areas of the watercolor markers.  For day three, students personalized their compositions with a emphasis on overlap and size to further demonstrate understanding of space.  I was thrilled with how creative my students became as they planned their compositions. 

Student Work

Student Work

3D Habitats

Polar Bears and Penguins near icebergs

I'm loving the imagination visible in these 3D Habitats by first graders this past week.

Arctic Habitat with a Narwal

Seals, Owls and Arctic Hares

Arctic Fox