5th Grade Classroom Display

5th grade gets to put 2 pieces of artwork in the Art Show - but I thought they would love to have more of their work on display in their classroom for Open House! So much to be proud of here.

Da Vinci Self-Portraits

5th grade takes a look at Leonardo da Vinci's classical portraiture techniques to draw a portrait of themselves using chalk pastel.

Ceramics: Mayan Calendars!

5th graders were fascinated with Mayan Astrology back around Dec 21 2012. Apparently they were making a Mayan City as a lunchtime project (not sure about the details). I originally had planned to do Picasso Plates - but these are WAY more cool!

Georgia O'Keeffe Mural

5th Grade was studying Georgia O'Keeffe this year and one of the teachers asked if I could do a class mural. O'Keeffe is one of my inspirations so I was more than happy.

We looked at her painting, "Poppy 4". The class is a small group of about 10 - a fairly challenging group to get "interested" in a project. But I'll tell you - this project really brought the best out of all of the kids - mostly their spirits.

Gee's Bend Quilt Blocks

To end the 16 week program, I thought the kids would have fun making quilt blocks using postcards of the Alabama Gee's Bend Quilts as inspiration. It was also a fantastic way to use up all of the paper scraps and strips I save from cutting paper during the year!

Pinch Pot Fish

So it is my first year teaching ceramics, and I saw a bunch of ideas for animals with a pinch pot as the body. Super cute idea, not too hard... (for me to instruct at least). I did this with all 4 of my 3rd grade classes (roughly 100 kids + 1 Special Needs class - some pieces not pictured).

Van Gogh Irises

Learning about Impressionism and how to paint/draw like an impressionist is a great skill to learn.

Modigliani Self-Portraits

Modigliani is known for his portrait paintings with elongated, stretched faces and facial features, the almond shaped eyes. Which is why he's a great artist to study for a self-portrait lesson - gives the student a little wiggle room for fun, not striving for perfection.

Van Gogh Descriptive Line

I tried this lesson using Van Gogh's artwork,"A Fishing Boat At Sea".

Starry Night Watercolor

My students added watercolor to their contours of Starry Night, seen on another blog post a few weeks back, here.

Complimentary Hot Air Balloons

My 5th grade class at Castro Elementary needed some more practice understanding the color wheel, and how to make tints and shades of tertiary colors with paint.

Contour Seashells

3rd grade's contour was fun because everyone loves seashells.

Fall Contour Leaves

I brought my class some Maple leaves, I found on a hike. I brought a variety of sizes and colors, greens to yellows to browns to show them how leaves are affected by season change and the position of the earth, relative to the sun.

Calaveras Printmaking

Today November 1st is in Mexican tradition, Day of the Dead. We talked about the Mexican culture of venerating the dead, sugar skulls and the printmaker, Jose Posada.

Picasso Halloween Faces

Add a little Picasso to your life!

Paul Klee Letter Painting

What a great way to have an art project that combines spelling, math and learning about your students!...This was a hit!

Solar Systems

5th Grade reviewed the solar system while learning about blending and shading to render a 3-Dimenstional form.

"Great Wave"

I LOVE Hokusai's print of Mt. Fuji - and I thought the kids could have some fun drawing the ocean waves in his print, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa". The image has potential for imaginations to go wild, especially with the boats full of Japanese men who are about to be devoured by the huge ocean wave.

Opera Masks

Who would you be if you could represent yourself differently? A villain? A superhero? How can we look at the masks worn in the Beijing Opera for inspiration? Why are masks worn? How does a viewer react to a mask? What makes for a strong reaction? This lesson is a preparatory lesson for my classes, as they will be learning about Asian music through the program I work for, in the 2nd half of their school year.

Van Gogh Starry Night Contour

Impressionism is not only an important Art Movement to learn about, it introduces a new way of perception. Rendering impressionistic style loosens the artist into breaking up those intimidating, solid, defining lines. Sometimes students will focus on how their drawing is, "bad" because the basic contours are wrong, and it doesn't resemble what they are trying to illustrate. The student becomes frustrated and discouraged. This is why I chose to do Van Gogh's Starry Night.