Circle Painting

I've seen quite a bit recently about group circle painting and I knew I wanted to give it a try as the school year finally started to wind down. Seemed like a perfect one-day, end-of-the-year lesson. I was really excited to give it a shot, but not so sure about a collaborative circle painting effort amongst classes. At this point in the school year, tension is running high and many students need their personal space so-to-speak. I opted for everyone to make their own circle painting instead. I allowed everyone to choose a piece of 12x18 paper in a desired color. Before students arrived, I placed two cups of paint at each table. The rules were simple: 1) Only two people at one color   2) Move around the room with care   3)  Brushes stay in the cups.

I asked students to begin the paintings with 5 or 6 small circles scattered on the paper. The rest was up to them! It was very successful. Several students wanted to make more than one. It was very nice to see the kids get into a concentrated groove and I think that most found this to be a very peaceful and intuitive way to make art. 

Teacher Workshop: Gelatin Prints

We had a printmaking workshop for teachers in the big green room yesterday! It was just what the doctor ordered for this time of the school year. This project was found at Cassie Stephens blogspot, so I owe all the credit to her! Making the gelatin for this printing project was not complex. I did store it in the refrigerator the first night after preparing it. The gelatin was poured into cookie sheets that I bought at the Dollar Store. So far, the gelatin has survived overnight without refrigeration after our first day workshop. Another group will be trying it today after school. The results are breathtaking! I really urge you to try it!

A few bulletin boards

There is so much going on in the art room these days and not enough time to post as frequently as I would like. I have so much to share and just realized I never posted any projects from our school art show back in March on top of our current multicultural units. I will slowly start adding one project at a time. For now, I will share a few bulletin boards that have been a success.

The Vincent van Gogh Sunflower bulletin board was made by piecing together paintings created by Kindergarten. The kids loved this project, and I really enjoyed the simple supply list, but it entailed quite a bit of work on my end since I had each student paint their sunflower on really heavy, thick paper that became grueling to cut (it made me realize I can be such a glutton for pain sometimes). This was large paper too, about 18x24.

The next bulletin board is comprised of paintings made by 1st grade. I found this Matisse-inspired still-life project on Artsonia years ago and have used it quite a bit. The success rate is always high and it enforces warm and cool color families, plus printmaking. I get a kick out of the bird's eye view of the apples on the plate and the kids always love the professional look they can create just by adding the simple shadows. This year, I tried changing up the color palette for one class. In the background we used turquoise, green, yellow and brown. Forgive me, I didn't take pictures, but I was pleased with the results. The red apples really popped against this color combination!

1st grade Snoozin' Portraits

  

First graders combined portrait drawing and weaving to make this collage. We even mixed in a little mosaic work to finish it off. I found an image on Pinterest which led me to a great website: Ms. Motta's Mixed Media. Rachel's student artwork was the catalyst for this assignment! I wish I could say that I had dreamed it up myself (no pun intended!).....

Day #1: We discussed paper weaving and students got to work using a piece of 9x12 paper and 1" paper strips. When finished, the paper strips were glued into place.

Day #2: Students learned about portraiture and we talked about how our faces look different when we are sleeping compared to being awake. We used simple shapes and lines to draw a sleeping face and then traced it with Sharpie. Crayons were used for the skin tone, hair and other details. 

Day #3: Students selected a large piece of 12x18 paper for the bed and a small 4.5x6 piece of paper for a pillow. Portraits were cut out and glued down along with the pillow and weaving (which had now turned into the blanket or sleeping bag as some students decided). Paper mosaic squares were added to finish the piece. 

4th grade Clay Succulents

If there is one clay project that I have really enjoyed over the years, this would be the one! I was inspired by a post at Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists. I loved the idea of making a plant that would literally never die :) and knew we had to try it out!

Day #1-Students spent time creating a pinch pot and forming it into a desired shape. We looked at a handout that I had created with lots of pictures of succulents and discussed why they are different than other types of plants.

 Day #2-Students began creating the plants for the clay pots. For this step, students were encouraged to try molding, pressing/cutting and rolling their pieces to form the plants. I demonstrated and gave as much assistance/encouragement as I possibly could, but next year (I plan to repeat this lesson because it's great!), I will have them spend some time drawing out ideas for the plants or practice with Play-Doh to get the hang of it before actually creating with the clay. We spent two weeks building the plants.

Day #3-Acrylic paints in fluorescent colors! A coat of acrylic gloss medium for a sheen if desired (Modge Podge would also work).

I love how the pieces look together as a group!!