Symbolic Self-Portraits

Students in 3rd Grade discussed self-portraits made by Frida Kahlo and thought about the symbolism she used in her artwork. They each created a self-portrait out of symbols to represent things they liked. The head was to be their favorite sport, eyes were favorite food, nose was favorite candy, mouth was favorite fruit, hair was favorite color and shirt was favorite season.

More monochromatic self-portraits

Monochromatic Self-Portraits

Students drew themselves using one-color and discussed the meaning of monochromatic. They were able to use markers, colored pencils and crayons to get different values of their color. Students in grades 1, 2, 4, and 5 created these portraits.

More Blue Dog

Blue Dog

Third Grade students watched a video clip about current artist George Rodrigue. They saw different paintings of Rodrigue's "Blue Dog" and then drew and painted their own Blue Dog using the color of their choice. They had to use tints and shades of that color to create variety within that color.

Amate Bark Painting

Second Grade students learned about Amate Bark Painting. This is a traditional form of painting from Mexico. Students learned how artists used bark to make paper. Students looked at different examples of Amate Bark Paintings and discussed what they saw. Students noticed that many bright colors were used, with white being added as an accent. They also noticed that animals were often the subject matter. Students drew and painted birds and created a border as well.

Sumi-E paintings

Fifth Grade Students learned about Sumi-E Painting, a style of painting common in Asian countries. Students learned a little history behind Japanese Sumi-E paintings as well as learned how to use different brushstrokes. All students painted bamboo, a traditional Sumi-E subject. They also created a "chop" or signature (the red square with Japanese characters) to sign their painting.

Tar Beach

Third Grade students read Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. In this story, the main character flies over many of her future dreams, and in so doing, makes her dreams come true. Students discussed dreams they had for their future and drew themselves flying over their dreams. They included a "quilted" border, just like Faith Ringgold.

Starry Night

First Grade students were introduced to Vincent Van Gogh and his Starry Night. They learned about Van Gogh using dots and dashes in his paintings instead of smooth brushstrokes. Students emulated Van Gogh's Impressionist style and created their own version of Starry Night. They painted the sky with tempera paint and created the landscape on black paper with construction paper crayons.

Cityscapes

Kindergarten students looked at different images of cityscapes and discussed what they noticed about the buildings. Students discovered that most buildings were rectangular and were close together. Students used cut paper and crayons to create their own cityscape. Emphasis was placed on overlapping shapes to show depth.

Shape Robot

First Grade students discovered shapes in everything they see! They made a robot out of shapes and painted it with tempera paint. They wrote what their robot did to help them.