Art Work at the District Office Building 2015

5th Grade Skeletons (Dia de los Muertos)

El Dia de los Muertos is a tradition that is celebrated in Mexico for over 500 years.  It is celebrated on November 1^st and 2^nd.  This is a time to remember and honor loved ones who have passed away.  It is not supposed to be sad or scary; it’s a time to celebrate life itself.  In Mexico on these two days people create altars that are filled with food, photographs, candles, skulls, flowers, etc. to remember all the great memories from those who have passed away.  Some Mexicans decorate and set up altars at the grave sites as well.  The calavera, or skeleton is an important symbol during Dia del los Muertos.  On these two special days there are many types of toys, food, masks and miniatures made to look like skulls or skeletons.  

5th Grade Birch Tree Landscapes

The 5^th grade students studied landscapes.  A landscape is a painting or picture of physical elements that are outside including mountains, people, animals, plants, trees, lighting, weather, etc.  They were able to look at many different landscapes that included birch trees.  We compared similarities and differences between an abstract landscape and a realistic landscape. Students also found the HORIZON LINE, FOREGROUND, MIDDLE GROUND and BACKGROUND in several different landscapes.  Students were able to use cardboard and paint to create texture on their birch trees.  We discussed how to create depth in a painting by putting larger elements closer and smaller elements farther back in their landscape.  Students were able to choose colors of their choice for their background keeping in mind the color wheel when they were mixing.  They wanted to choose colors that were right next to each other on the color wheel when mixing.  

4th Grade Victorian Architecture

The 4^th Grade students learned about Victorian Architecture and the characteristics of a Victorian style home.  Victorian homes where usually at least three stories high, were very large, had tons of windows, dormers, and arches, had large front porches, and either a tower or turret.  Students had to design their own Victorian style home and had to have these characteristics in their home when designing them.  Students also learned what a landscape is and how to create foreground, middle ground and background in their landscape to create depth.  Students were able to add creative details to their landscape.  Finally we talked about how artists create different moods/feelings in their art depending on which colors they use.  Students were able to use the color black to create a more night time/spooky mood in their art. 

1st Grade Leaf Prints

The first grade students learned about the changes that happen to a tree throughout the year from the book, Sky Tree.  After reading the book we discussed the different changes that happen and students had a chance to share which image in the story was their favorite and why.  Students then learned what texture is by feeling the texture on a real leaf.  Students were able to learn about the printmaking process and how when you print something you can get the same image over and over.  Students used white paint to print leaves throughout their paper.  Students also learned about the warm and cool colors.  Students used the warm colors to outline their leaves and the cool colors to print and fill their background space.  Students also learned that when you mix white to a color it gets lighter or called a tint.  Finally students were able to add some gold metallic paint to the veins of their leaves to make them pop out!

2nd Grade Eric Carle Caterpillars

The 2^nd grade students learned all about Eric Carle.  They learned that he is an author and illustrator of several books including: The Very Hungary Caterpillar, The Grouchy Lady Bug, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and the list goes on.  Students watched a short video clip on Eric Carle’s process of how he illustrates his books.  He does not just paint the pictures; he creates various pieces of painted paper with several different textures and then cuts out shapes and collages them to create him images.  Students were able to be Eric Carle Artists by creating their own textured papers using different colors and printing tools.  Then they cut out shapes to collage a caterpillar onto their textured background.  We also used contrasting colors so their caterpillars would stand out!

Gustav Klimt Trees

Gustav Klimt was an amazing artist!  He was born and lived in Vienna, Austria with his family.  His father was a gold carver and engraver.  He had two brothers and four sisters.  His family did not have a lot of money growing up, so he was able to get a scholarship to attend the Vienna School of Decorative arts.   He did this at the age of 14 for seven years.   When he finished school he opened his own studio with a friend and one of his brothers, and they began to paint murals.  They started to get paid for their work and soon Klimt began to become recognized as an artist.  He started to paint portraits of women with elaborate gowns and blankets as well as landscapes.  His father’s work also influenced his art because he began to use the color gold in many of his paintings. He used a lot of organic and geometric shapes, lines and patterns.  Students learned the difference between organic and geometric shape and found examples of each in Klimt’s art. Gustav Klimt is one of the few artists we’ve studied that actually sold his artwork to make a living!

RAINBOW Self Portraits

I cannot take credit for this idea but I thought another great collaboration project would be for every single student to draw a self portrait and then use different colors for the rainbow to color them in!  The kids had a blast drawing and coloring these!  Students used lines, shapes and colors to create a self portrait.  We also discussed what a mural is and how they were each making a little piece to a giant mural.  It looks amazing hanging down the whole hallway!  This was also a great assessment me tool for me to see what students drawing abilities are to start the school year!

WELCOME To the 2015-2016 School Year!

It's always an exciting time to be back at school to see all the kiddos smiling faces and them all in their new school clothes!  The first week I always love to do a school wide collaborative project so that I can get artwork up in the hallway after the first week!  I always tell my students the only thing I dislike about starting the school year is the bare, boring, empty hallways!  So the first week we looked at the artwork of Australian artist: Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  Each class that came in did one step on the mural and then by the end of the day I had 5-6 murals painted and ready to hang in the hallway!  They really during out great and every grade 1-5 had a part in helping!  A great way to start the year off with a little TEAMWORK!