Abstract Face Sculptures

    4th and 5th grade students studied the contemporary Georgia artist Kimmy Cantrell, who creates asymmetrical face sculptures with clay and found objects.  Many of the faces are based on memories and the titles help tell the story behind them.  In preparation for the big renovation over the summer I started collecting scraps and small objects that I didn't want to pack; these recycled objects made great inspiration.  Students started the project discussing asymmetry then they created a sketch of an asymmetrical face that was based on a theme or word. Can guess what these themes are? Then we used lots of glue to build the faces that were sketched, making sure to create dimension and visual texture.  We used SAX Versa Temp Pearl colors to paint.  These paints have a beautiful sheen and cover so well.

                                   

                                        

                                     

                                        

                                    

Kindergarten Self-Portraits

    Kindergarten self-portraits from the end of the year .  They have come so far!  They drew their bodies then backgrounds and had to use their imagination to create an exciting location.  It took quite a few days to finish painting and then the details were brought back with Sharpie outlines.

Coil Pots

Action Self-Portraits

More art from the end of last year!  These are action portraits by very active 1st graders (now 2nd grade).  We started by reading and acting out Eric Carle's book From Head to Toe. This got everybody on their feet and moving their body! Then I demonstrated drawing a figure in motion by drawing bent elbows and knees.  When students began I encouraged them to stand and make the pose so they could see where their arms and legs bent.  Then they drew backgrounds, painted and outlined. 

Hearts: inspired by Jim Dine

      These hearts weren't created for Valentines Day but for Jump Rope for Heart (a PE program about healthy hearts).  After discussing symbols and meanings of hearts we viewed and discussed the art of American artist Jim Dine, who created many sculptures, paintings, and prints of hearts.  Students painted hearts, covered them with vibrant patterns, and then wrote sentences to go with them.

Picasso: Blue Guitars

This was a really fun project to teach value and mixing tints and shades.  2nd graders learned about Pablo Picasso and looked at his abstract guitar sculptures and collages. Then they built guitar sculptures out of poster board.  The next time we focused on Picasso's 1903 painting The Old Guitarist. We discussed how Picasso conveys feeling of sadness through the painting.  Then students learned how to mix their own tints and shades of blue to paint their guitars.  The next time they added Sharpie lines and patterns.

                                   

Atmospheric Perspective

   Finally a chance to update my blog!  I have a student teacher hard at work and I thought I would use this time to post work we did at the end of last school year then I can focus on this year.
  At the end of the year 4th graders did these landscape paintings with tints and shades.  After looking at real life examples of this natural occurrence students drew layers of a landscape, then mixed value from lighter to darker. You can find more scientific information including how Leonardo DaVinci used atmospheric perspective at http://legacy.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InvestigatingAerialP.html.