Spring 2013 ARTNOTES

The entire school had fun painting hearts in February. It was nice to remember that love comes in many shapes, sizes and colors!

General Art News: 
In the art room we are continuing our School-Wide Study of Art Around The World. The classes have visited several countries and continents including Africa (Kenya), Australia, Mexico, United States of America, India, and Japan. Our most recent trip was to Kenya where the students created portraits of African Animals. Once their drawings were complete, they made a foam plate to print, printed their image on paper, and set it in a  frame created from African textiles. The Kindergarten and Primary classes created African TextileCollages.

   

In addition to traveling the world, we stopped to pay homage to the winter with snowflakes and mixed-media snow creatures:

  

Our biggest winter project involved making ceramic masks. The masks for each class were inspired by a specific country:

• Primary/(their focus was on the basic elements of a face)
• Kindergarten/Mexico
• First Grade/Japan
• Second Grade/Native Americans from the United States
• Third Grade/Kenya

Each class had the opportunity to experiment with clay first, and later created their masks. The process for creating ceramic objects is quite involved, and the students learned a lot about patience and perseverance. First they experimented with feeling the clay - squishing, pounding, and stretching it. Then they formed their clay into objects. Once the objects were formed, they had to wait while the objects dried, were fired, and returned to the students for glazing. After choosing colors and applying  glaze, the students had to wait again while their objects were fired a final time. The same process was repeated for their masks!

It's always fun to see students work with clay and succeed in creating what they envision. This 3-D medium is often easier for some young artists, while for others it presents a challenge. Many students who are gifted in drawing find clay difficult and visa-versa. It reminds us that making art, expressing oneself, is a unique experience. Each artist will be more comfortable with a particular medium at a particular point in their development.

 

Next, we will be moving on to weaving. Always a favorite!
            
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Preprimary Artists began their classes in the art room in February. They were very excited to experiment with drawing, paint, and clay: 

 

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Primary Artists have been busy in their classroom studying the brain, thinking, and dreaming. This study inspired us in art class to make paintings of the characters who visit us in our dreams. Here are some details from their cooperative drawings/paintings:





 

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Kindergarten Artists have enjoyed their adventures with clay! They made pinch pots, personal objects, and masks. It was fun to see the clay come out of the kiln transformed! The students have also experimented with dream character paintings, collage (and set design for their puppet show), finger paint, and printing:

 

     

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First Grade Artists have continued "travelling around the world" in their classroom as well as in art. In addition to dream paintings inspired by Australia, they have created mandalas inspired by India, animal prints inspired by countries in Africa, and ceramic masks inspired by Japan. During a few detours on their trips, they created snowflakes, and painted with bold watercolors, making Valentines and painting characters from their own dreams. Their latest project was making ceramic boomerangs inspired by Australia. While creating the boomerangs they explored a variety of techniques for creating texture in clay.

Here are some examples of their work: 

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Second Grade Artists have also done a variety of projects since the winter. They experimented with printing, ceramics, collage, expressive drawing, and paint. They recently began weaving. Many of their projects have been tied in with the Art Around the World theme, as well as their classroom curriculum. For instance, the ceramic masks that they created were inspired by images of Native American masks, and their ceramic animals were inspired by their Arctic Animal study. Here are some examples:

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Third Grade Artists have been working with ceramics, printing, collage, and painting. Recently they began weaving and enjoyed creating plaid patterns inspired by Ireland and Scotland:

In addition, they created some expressive dream paintings. This process involved several steps. First, they reflected on their own dreams and the characters who inhabit them. Next, they shared these characters with partners during a "Dream Conference". Finally ,the entire group shared what their partners had said. By sharing what their partners told them, they were challenged to articulate their visualizations and to listen carefully to each other. Finally, we discussed a few modern painters who seem to "float" their images (Chagall and Miro) and the students were challenged to create a dream-like look to their painting by having their characters face a variety of directions and their overall painting had no particular orientation. This pushed all of them out of their comfort zone and was a wonderful challenge! It was facinating to watch them work this out on their own. Here are a few details from their paintings:

 

Enjoy your Spring Break!

Jan