Snowman Paintings

Kindergarten students have been focusing on safely and responsibly using paint and brushes. We have been practicing first painting a shape, and then painting inside the shape. Students added details to their snowmen with markers.

 

  

Matisse Mobile

Second grade students learned about Henri Matisse. They discovered, through the book, "Drawing with Scissors" by  Keesia Johnson and Jane O'Conner, that Matisse could draw and paint very realistically, but he chose not to. First he tried a style of painting calling Fauvism. When he got older, he got sick and couldn't stand for long periods to paint, so instead he "drew with scissors" while sitting or laying down. They learned to differentiate between organic and geometric shapes. Students learned that Matisse favored organic shapes. Students created a collaborative mobile using organic shapes.

 

Carmen Lomas Garza Narrative Art

4th grade student were inspired by Carmen Lomas Garza. Students read "In My Family" a book by Carmen Lomas Garza that showcases her artwork and the accompanying stories. They learned that artists sometimes make art to record history. In the case of Carmen Lomas Garza, she paints memories she has of her childhood. The 4th graders made dioramas that detailed a special memory they have.

 

 

Mummy Sarcophagus

5th grade students studied mummies and created their own mummy sarcophagus. They learned that the Ancient Egyptian mummified their dead in preparation for the afterlife. They learned that the Egyptians would put money, food, favorite items and even pets in the coffin (or sarcophagus) to have in the next life. The name of the mummy was written in hieroglyphics on the sarcophagus. This is called the cartouche. Students also created a cartouche on their sarcophagus. Students also learned that the person's face was often painted on to the sarcophagus so the person's spirit would recognize it and could get the items saved in the sarcophagus. Students  learned that many symbols were used to bring protection to the mummy (like the Wedjet eye) and to depict important events in the mummy's life. Students created their own mummy sarcophagus out of clay and painted it with tempera paints.


The students did such a fantastic job painting these, however, the metallic paint makes them very hard to photograph.

 

 

Cropped animal portraits

1st Grade students used viewfinders to zoom in closely to a photograph of an animal. They saw a demonstration of using photo-editing software to see how to crop a photo. They learned that sometimes artists crop a photo or artwork to show emphasis (or what the artist thinks is the most important part of the artwork).

Students cropped a photo of the animal of their choice and then drew what was in the viewfinder very large. Then they wrote clues to help people guess what animal they zoomed in on.

Deer 

Cockatoo

Giraffe

Owl

Picasso Portraits

Third grade students looked at artwork by Pablo Picasso and read a book about his life. They learned that Picasso could paint realistically, but chose not to. They learned that Picasso was the inventor of cubism, and painted many of his artworks with shapes such as squares and rectangles. Students learned that many people didn’t like his artwork at first, but now it is some of the most famous artwork in the world. Students drew a cubist portrait and painted it with tempera paints.

Clay Owls

1st Grade students created these awesome owls out of clay. Students first made a circular slab of clay and then folded the wings in and the head down. They used clay tools to carve in details. After they were fired in the kiln, students colored them with oil pastels and dipped them into a "bath" of watered down tempera paint.

Wire Sculptures

 Fourth Grade students used wire to create sculptures of people or animals showing movement.

O'Keefe inspired Butterflies

Third Grade students looked at artwork by Georgia O'Keefe and read various books about her life. In one book, "My Name is Georgia" by Jeanette Winter, students discovered that Georgia O'Keefe created large artworks of small things like flowers, partly because she wanted people to see things the way she saw them. Students then drew and colored another small thing; butterflies. Students looked carefully at a picture of a butterfly and tried to capture as many details as they could. They colored their butterflies with chalk pastel. 

 

 

 

Don't let the pigeon...

Kindergarten students have been learning about the roles of authors and illustrators in children's books. Students read the book, "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!" by Mo Willems. Then students had an opportunity to see what it is like to be an illustrator and drew the pigeon from the book. Then students had an opportunity to see what it is like to be an author by writing a new rule for their pigeon. Finally, they painted their pigeon with watercolor.

Don't let the pigeon ride a horse.

Eat candy.

Grow a ponytail.

Eat corn. 

Fart on the bus.

Paint his toenails.

Clay Leaves

4th grade students created these beautiful fall leaves by rolling a slab of clay, pressing a real leaf into the clay and then carving the shape out of the clay. They used a drape mold to curve the clay into a bowl shape while it dried. Then, after the clay leaves were fired in the kiln, they used glaze to give their leaf a fall color.

 

Emotional Monsters

 

First grade students learned how faces can show emotion. They discovered eyebrows play an important part of showing emotion. They chose an emotion for their monster, and created a cut paper collage to show this emotion on their monster’s face.

 

 

Collaborative Urban Landscape

 

Second grade students created a collaborative urban landscape in the style of James Rizzi as part of their study of rural, suburban and urban landscapes. Rizzi is known for creating cityscapes that feature buildings that have human characteristics like hair, arms, and faces.

Second grade students have been comparing characteristics of rural, suburban and urban landscapes. They discovered that Kalamazoo has all three of these areas. Urban areas have museums, tall buildings, and not many houses. Students decided that the area around Bronson Park and the Kalamazoo Mall could be considered urban. They discovered that suburban areas have many houses, parks and schools. They decided the area around El Sol could be considered suburban. They learned that rural areas have a lot of farms and barns. They discovered that Kalamazoo even has areas like this! If you get on the highway and drive for only 10 minutes, you will see farmland and barns!