Tints and Shades Ice Cream

Students learned to create tints by adding white to any color. Then students learned to create shades by adding black to any color. They used this knowledge to create ice cream cones featuring tints and shades.

Kandinsky!

 

First Grade students looked at artwork by Wassily Kandinsky and discussed how the artwork made them feel or what the artwork made them think about. They also looked at his famous artwork "concentric circles" which is a color study to see which colors look best next to each other. Students did their own color study on six circles. They experimented with the way colors look next to each other. The next week students revisited Kandinsky's artwork and discovered that Kandinsky often painted while listening to music. Then they listened to different kinds of music to paint the background.

Monster Cityscape

Kindergarten students discussed the meaning of cityscape, as well as what shapes we can find in pictures of cityscapes. Students drew their own cityscape with oil pastel, and painted it with tempera cakes.

Then students read “Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli” by Barbara Jean Hicks. They drew a monster and created the monster’s skin by pressing legos into stamp pads.

Fifth Grade explorations with abstract expressionism

5^th graders tried their hand at abstract expressionism, also known as splatter painting, which was invented by Jackson Pollack. Students learned that this style of art is controversial because many people believe it does not take talent. However, after painting in this style, many students had a much more positive view of Jackson Pollack and his style of painting. After all, it is very messy and fun!

O'Keefe Inspired Insect

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; insects. Students looked carefully at a picture of an insect of their choice and tried to capture as many details as they could. They colored their butterflies with chalk pastel. 

 

 

Northern Lights

Fourth Grade students discussed the phenomenon of the Northern Lights, and watched a time-lapse video showing the Northern lights. We read the book, "Once Upon a Northern Night" by Jean Pendziwol, and then created our own Northern Lights with cut paper and chalk pastel.

Dessert Prints

Second Grade students discussed the difference between printing and painting. They learned that prints can be made multiple times. Students designed their own printing block featuring dessert, after studying Wayne Thiebaud, an artist who is known for his dessert paintings.  They drew their dessert on a piece of styrofoam and then colored it with markers. Students then printed those desserts by spraying a piece of paper with water and blotting the paper with paper towel. Then they printed their dessert on that paper. Students were able to make multiple prints.