December & January ARTNOTES

  December & January 2012 ARTNOTES

General Art News: Registration Forms for Summer MOREART Sessions will be coming home in backpacks on December 13th. Keep your eye out for this infomation.

School-Wide Study of Art Around the World: We are completing our tour of several countries in which we compared a variety of painting styles (The United States of America, Mexico, Australia, India, and Japan). In addition to various class projects, the students enjoyed creating a group of panels (seen above) inspired by Aboriginal Dreaming Symbols. Everyone (PP-3rd grade) had an opportunity to contribute to these panels. You can now see them displayed in the back of the Big Room. Many classes are now moving on to the inspirational images of the animals in Kenya. They will be drawing, printing, collaging with African textiles, and creating their own work inspired by these magnificent creatures!

                *************************************************

Primary:

Paintings Inspired by Aboriginal Symbols from Australia

 
                                             Inspired by Mandalas from India

                    *************************************************  

Kindergarten:

Ink and Watercolor Paintings Inspired by Japanese Watercolor  (Ink & Watercolor Paint)

  

 

Aboriginal Dreaming Symbol  Paintings (Tempera Paint):

                                                 

*************************************************

First Grade:

Mixed- Media Fall Trees (Tissue Paper, Hand-painted Paper, and Buttons):

Concentric Circle Tile Designs Inspired by Mandalas from India

(Ceramic Tiles, Glass Beads, and Buttons):

   

                    **********************************************

Second Grade:

Aboriginal Dreaming Symbol Paintings Inspired by paintings from Australia

(Tempera & Acrylic Paint):

 

                

 

Watercolor Trees Inspired by Japanese Paintings (Ink and Watercolor):

**************************************

Third Grade:

Mandala Designs Inspired by Mandalas from India (Oil Pastels and Colored Pencils) :

*******************************************************

Winter Break Ideas for Home:

Paper Snowflakes:

• Take some plain white printer paper and cut it into a square shape.
• Fold it into a triangle, one two or three times, depending on how thick it gets
• Use scissors to take "Alligator Bites" out of the folded edges
• Unfold the paper and see what you created!
• It's fun to tape the snowflakes on your windows and glass doors as decorations

Or, if these directions aren't enough for you, you can watch this youtube video and follow their directions. They get a little fancy with ironing the snowflake flat (not necessary!)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTBh8pLfaFs

 Stay warm and enjoy the holidays!

Jan

Art Around The World: Mexican Bark Painting & More



General Art News: We are getting ready for the CHS Auction! Please join us on Saturday, November 10th as we celebrate the CHS community and raise funds for the school. The children's decorations will add a colorful touch and remind you about the purpose of the evening. Don't miss this much anticipated Fiesta!

Registration Information about Winter and Spring Afterschool MOREART Classes, as well as MOREART Summer sessions, will be available in November. Keep your eye out for a notice. It will be in an email and/or in the Thursday Messages.

********************************************* 

School-Wide Study of Art Around the World:

As we continue our study of Art Around the World, we stopped in Mexico to admire the Mexican "Amate" Bark Paintings. We will soon be comparing these to Australian Aboriginal Paintings and additional painting styles from other cultures. When the students looked at images of the Mexican Bark Paintings, they noticed that 
"they were colorful, not realistic, had patterns in them (including white dots), and many had borders". As they created their own bark paintings they incorporated some of these qualities into their work.

*****************************

  

 

Primary students have been exploring color in art class. Earlier this fall they mixed paint to create new colors, and more recently they have been overlapping colors to see what happens. Soon they will be comparing some different painting styles from various cultures.

 ********************************

Kindergarteners enjoyed looking at images of Mexican Bark Painting and sharing their observations. After they noticed the patterns, borders, color and dots, they looked at some  leaf shapes and incorporated them into their own Mexican Bark Paintings. They traced the leaves and then created borders before adding color and white dots.

**********************************

 First graders have been working on mixed-media fall trees. The first step was to create the backgrounds with overlapping tissue paper. While creating the backgrounds, they had to decide where their horizon line would be (the line created when the sky and ground meet). Some chose to have a lot of ground and a little sky, while others chose the opposite. Soon they will be adding tree trunks, branches, and leaves. Keep your eye out for their fall trees in the main hallway! Several first graders also recently assisted younger students with making tissue paper flowers for the Auction. It is always nice to see how well they can "teach" others. The challenge was to help with words and prompts, but not to actually do it for them. 

 

    

 

 
 

***************************

Second Grade and Third Grade art classes have also been focused on Mexican Bark Painting. They tried it out on handmade paper and also on cork board. 

Third graders also worked on mixing paint colors to create the colors they needed for painting thier very own trees. The variety of their visions is inspiring!

  

**********************************

The Therapeutic Value of Art:

There was an interesting entry in a blog that I follow about art and young children. In it, the author compares the creative process to the process involved in therapy and does a great job of highlighting the value of the artistic process in terms of emotional development. I am sharing the link here in case you are interested. In the entry, she also references Studio Habits of Mind, which I also use as a curriculum anchor for art curriculum at CHS. Here is the link:

http://artatthecenterinternship.blogspot.com/2012/04/everyone-can-benefit-from-therapeutic.html

  

Please always feel free to email me with questions and concerns about your child or about the curriculum:

jbennett@concordhill.org

Warmly,

Jan Bennett

CHS Art Teacher