St. Basil's Cathedral - Oil Pastel

Our last art class at the Ladera Rec focuses on St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia.

Rainforest Tree Frogs

A trip to Latin America to create Rainforest Tree Frogs

Amate Bark Paintings

Ladera Art Club learns about Mexican Folk Art, and makes our own, using neon paints.

Pysanky Egg Paintings

Art Club gathers for art, stories and the tradition of beautifully painted eggs.

Japanese "Wood-Block" Prints

We stayed in Japan for another week, introducing the wonderful art method of wood-block printing.

Japanese Buddhist Temples

Our Art Club took a journey to Japan.

Greek Vases

Great turn out with these Greek Vases!! This 2 week project started its focus learning about the architecture of Greece - including terms like column, capitals: doric, ionic, corinthian, Kraters and other kinds of Greek ceramics.

Amate Bark Cut-Outs

Today we learned about the art of the Otomi Indians of Central Eastern Mexico. We looked at the bark cut out designs, and learned that they represent spirits that protect or are a threat to the Otomi daily life.

These spirits are very important for many agrarian cultures who depend on certain weather patterns, cosmic alignments, and Mother Earth working with them (and against them) to survive. These artworks are traditionally made of a certain tree bark.

Tap-Tap Cars

This week in Art Club we took a "trip" to Haiti, briefly talking and learning about the detriment and destruction of the earthquake in 2010. I told them that my brother is part of a Club ("just like we are!"), The Haiti Solidarity Club, through Los Altos High School. They are going back to Haiti coming up this February 2013 to contribute to the re-building projects. Here is a snippet about the student efforts in Haiti. This project is dedicated to my brother's voyage as well as the efforts of the teachers! and other students of the Solidarity Club.

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!

Mehndi Hands

The tradition of Mehndi is used in India and other Eastern traditions, usually done to women's hands during their rite of passage into marriage.

Adinkra Cloth Printmaking

Kids love to do printmaking...To see the transformation from their hand-drawn symbol design on foam sheets, to the print it makes using black tempura, it's just fun AND academic all in one project.

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.