Cut Paper Penguin

First grade students practiced their cutting and gluing skills when creating this cut-paper penguin. They also learned how faces can show emotion. They discovered eyes play an important part of showing emotion. They chose an emotion for their penguin, and created a cut paper collage to show this emotion on their penguin’s face.

 

Clay Birdbaths

4th graders demonstrated their knowledge of creating pinch pots and using the score and slip method of attaching clay to create these clay birdbaths. They glazed them and added a glass bead to their pot which melted in the kiln and now looks like water in the birdbath.

 

 

Reduction Prints

4th grade students created these reduction prints of the animal of their choice. First they carved an animal into a piece of styrofoam and printed the entire printing block. Then they cut out their animal and printed only that part of the printing block (which is how it gets the name reduction print).

One Point Perspective

Fifth Grade students learned to draw realistic landscapes and cityscapes using one-point perspective. Students used a ruler to create a horizon line and vanishing point. They learned that objects appear smaller and less detailed the further they are away.  

Los estudiantes de quinto grado aprendieron como dibujar paisajes del campo y de la ciudad usando la perspectiva desde un punto. Los estudiantes usaron una regla para crear un horizonte y un punto de fuga. Ellos aprendieron que los objetos parecen más pequeños y con menos detalles mientras estén más lejos.

Circle Weavings

Third Grade students learned to weave on a cardboard loom. They discussed the many purposes for making art and that most weavings are made to be used in some way, whether as clothing or a blanket. Students learned that the loom is what we weave on, the warp strings are what we weave through, and the weft strings are what we weave with. Students used pattern and repetition in their weavings, as most weavings utilize these two elements of design.

5th Grade Sumi-E paintings

Fifth Grade students learned that Sumi-E means ink picture. This is a traditional Japanese style of painting. Artists practice their brushstrokes for years before painting actual pictures. The goal of Sumi-E painting is not to paint a realistic representation of an object, but to capture its spirit or soul in the painting. Students practiced three different kinds of brushstrokes and then used those techniques to paint bamboo, a traditional subject of Sumi-E Paintings.

 

2nd Graders' collaborative suburban neighborhood

Second grade students compared characteristics of rural, suburban and urban landscapes. They discovered that Kalamazoo has all three of these areas. This is their collaborative map of a suburban area.

Henri Rousseau Jungles

Second Grade students studied the artwork of Henri Rousseau, an artist who taught himself how to draw and paint. He loved to paint jungle scenes even though he had never  been to the jungle. Students compared Rousseau’s jungle paintings with traditional rural areas, and though we often think of farmland when we use the word rural, students agreed that a jungle could be considered a rural area.

Degas Dancers

Fourth Grade students studied the artwork of Edgar Degas, an artist who was interested in drawing and people people in motion, especially dancers. Students practiced gesture drawing by sketching many of their classmates striking a pose. Then they looked at pictures of different people doing different types of dancing. Then they drew that person doing the dance of their choice. They colored their drawing with chalk pastels and then outlined with ink.

Giraffes Can't Dance

Third Grade students looked at the artwork of Edgar Degas, an artist who loved to draw and paint dancers. He was very interested in drawing people in motion and spent a lot of time doing gesture drawings, or drawings of people moving. Students then read "Giraffes Can't Dance" by Giles Andreae. Students drew a giraffe dancing and colored it with markers. Then they painted a background for their giraffe, much like the illustrations in the book. They focused on the different values in a moonlit sky and painted the sky lighter near the moon, and darker away from the moon.

 

Textured Chameleons

Kindergarten students learned that we use the word texture when we’re describing how something feels. Students created texture rubbings with texture plates. Then they explored making texture with paint by using texture scrapers in tempera paint. Students saw a video clip of a chameleon changing color, and read A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni. Then they traced chameleons, cut them out of their texture rubbings, and glued them to painted texture background. Finally, they wrote about where their chameleon could be hiding.

Dinosaurs

First Grade students practiced observation drawings by drawing dinosaur figurines at their table groups. Then they added a horizon line and other details. Finally, they painted their dinosaurs with watercolors.  

Metal Tooling Masks

5th Graders learned about the art of repousse, also known as metal tooling. Students designed either a Dia de los Muertos mask or an animal mask. They embossed (popped out) parts of their image, which created a relief sculpture.  

 

 

Trapeze Acrobats Inspired by Alexander Calder

Third Grade students learned about Alexander Calder, an artist who created kinetic (movable) sculptures. He first created an entire circus from found objects. He also made the first mobiles, and liked how his art could change just by a breath of wind. Students created their own trapeze acrobats after watching a video clip of trapeze performers.

Molas

Molas are made by the Kuna people who live in Panama and Colombia. Women sew many layers of fabric together and then cut away layers of fabric in a design to show the fabric underneath. Then the women wear these fabric designs on their dresses. When they are tired of wearing that particular design, they cut off the mola and sell it. It takes the women from two weeks, to six months to make one mola.

Fourth Grade students designed their own molas, but created them in the opposite way of the Kuna women. Usually, the artist must cut away layers of fabric to show the fabric underneath. Instead of doing this, students glued layers of paper together, showing just a little bit of the color underneath.

 

Urban Landscapes

Second Graders discussed characteristics of urban landscapes, also known as cityscapes. Students drew a city skyline and then drew many urban details. They colored the sky with oil pastels.  

Creative Transformations

5^th grade students learned that graphic designers and graphic artists are artists who make people see everyday items in a new way. They looked at Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans and discussed how changing the colors on the soup can labels could make people really notice the soup and want to buy it. Students also discovered that there are artists who create new fonts to use on the computer. They chose one letter of the alphabet and transformed that letter to look new and interesting. They used common “systems” that graphic artists use to help them come up with new ways to look at their chosen letter of the alphabet.

Los estudiantes de quinto grado aprendieron que los diseñadores gráficos y artistas gráficos son artistas que hacen que las personas vean objetos cotidianos de una nueva manera. Ellos miraron las latas de sopa Campbell’s de Andy Warhol y hablaron sobre como cambiar el color de las etiquetas sobre las latas podría hacer que las personas realmente se fijaran en esta sopa y la quisieran comprar. Los estudiantes también descubrieron que hay artistas que crean nuevas tipografías para usar en la computadora. Ellos escogieron una letra del alfabeto y la transformaron para que luciera nueva e interesante. Usaron “sistemas” comunes que usan los artistas gráficos para ayudarlos a pensar en nuevas maneras de mirar la letra que escogieron.

 

 

Winslow Homer Seascapes

First Grade students looked at artwork by Winslow Homer. Like many artists, he painted what was around him. He lived near the ocean so he painted many seascapes. He also liked to show the power of the ocean, so many of his seascapes show waves crashing into each other and on the shore. Students painted two papers, one for the sea, one for the sky. Then they ripped the sea paper to create a jagged white edge, for the waves. They glued these to the sky. Finally, they created a sailboat with cut paper. They glued these boats to a popsicle stick to actually "sail" it through the waves.