Color!

Here is a little catch up on what we've been doing.

After finishing their entries for the Reflections contest, students studied color.

1st and 2nd grade worked with water color paint to create some awesome color wheels.

 

The fun here is that they mixed their own colors on the page. For most of the kids, this was their first experience doing this on their own. Their reactions were priceless.

 

The 3rd - 5th grade classes did their own versions using tempera paints. 4th and 5th grades had the additional challenge of using a compass to draw their own circles and then divide the circles into 6 parts. 5th grade was the most fun...I had the tables covered in paper and they painted directly onto the table with paint that was squirted right onto the paper-covered table. All classes mixed the paint directly on their paper, so there was no mixing on the pallet and transferring over. This seemed to be a new experience for them.

 

The next week 1st and 2nd grade worked on a quick water color resist. 1st grade spent the week learning about spiders, so we made spiders in Art, too! They created a spider in a web using oil pastels, then washed over their drawings with watercolor paints. They loved it when a white web came through the wash! 2nd grade did spiders, too... they have been talking about animals that build their homes, so spiders fit right in!

 

The 3rd and 4th grade spent some time learning about tinting and shading. Ask them about it! We used a little lesson I found here for that.

 

All of these were simple, one-day projects. Not all classes got to participate. After camps and musicals and absences and Mondays off and Reflections, everyone will be starting on the same page this Monday!

 

Time for some Chihuly...I'm so excited!

 

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will do my best to take lots for the next post.

Lines, Lines, and More Lines!

This week was all about lines! 1st and 2nd grade received two squares of paper. One square needed curvy lines and one square needed straight lines.

This was very tough for some of the kids who were just too tempted to draw anything they wanted and to mix straight and curvy. 

Many of them were very successful, but this was really quite a challenge.

I love displaying the artists' work. The kids walk by and can't wait to seek out their own art work.

The 3rd - 5th grades worked on lines, too, but they are not finished with their pieces yet. I'll be sure to update you as they finish up...We have some other projects to start for the next few weeks, so their line works will get completed slowly in their 'extra' drawing time.

Up next week... Pinwheels for Peace!

The Butterfly Effect

It was a fun, fun, FUN first week of school! 

After going over the "Art Rules", the students were introduced to artist David Kracov, that's pronounced "Kray-Cough". We specifically looked at his 'Metal' work. It was great hearing all of their reactions to his work. After looking at David Kracov, we took a look at real butterflies by searching on Bing.com. We talked about symmetry and outline.

Each student was given only one cut out of a butterfly (Thank you, thank you volunteers for your cutting skills!). They used markers...and occasionally a pencil to decorate their butterfly. The two rules I asked them to follow while making the butterflies were to use symmetry and to put an outline around the edges of their butterfly. Some of them got it, some of them didn't quite make it. ;) We'll visit both concepts again when we aren't so rushed and when we can have more that one try.

To display the butterflies, I used two pieces of pipe insulation to make a heart, then I spray-painted it white.

The beginning...

After filling the heart it was time to add some flying butterflies around the edges and down the hallway.

I almost had to take a break at this point...

 I didn't do a final count, but I think there are around 560 students, so about 560 butterflies!

The finished product.

A close up of the finished installation.

I really think the kids are going to enjoy this. Hopefully they will be able to spot their butterfly. We talked about how each element in David Kracov's work is it's own work of art. I hope they can see that this was a team effort that couldn't have been done without each one of them participating.

Next week we will work on some line projects... They should be a little simpler to display. ;)

Mrs. Bibb

Welcome

Welcome to Art at Rattan! This first week of school we will be creating an all school piece based on David Kracov's (that's proununced Kray-cough) work, "The Butterfly Effect". Each student will use markers to color a butterfly to be added to the sculpture. We will discuss line, shape, bilateral symmetry and more! I can't wait to meet all the artists.