Flowers in the Style of Picasso

The artist Pablo Picasso created this lithograph for a peace demonstration held in Stockholm, July 16-22, 1958. Each of the 200 lithographs in the edition is hand signed and dated by the artist. Our kindergarten and first grade artists created their own versions of this iconic image. Working with a partner, they first traced each other's hand. Then each student outlined his own hand in marker. Stems, tissue paper centers and colorful petals were added to create a bright flower bouquet. After signing and dating their work it was complete, and just in time for Mother's Day! Clicking on the image below will bring you to the gallery and lots more beautiful flowers.

 

Carnival Masks!

Yippee! For the last several weeks our 6th, 7th and 8th grade students have been working hard on the creation of masks for their celebration of Carnival around the world. I am happy to finally begin sharing the results. Parents, you should be proud of your students, they all put in their maxium effort and we have many gorgeous masks to show for it. For those of you who missed the mask display on Carnaval night, you have a another chance to see them right here.

Before beginnning the lesson in the art room, students spent time in their Spanish classes studying Carnival celebrations and culture in the various countries around the world who celebrate the pre-Lenten event. Just as cultures and celebrations differ widely, so do mask designs. After choosing a photo of a favorite mask students set about creating their own in a similar style. Many chose to build their masks in paper mache, which was then painted with tempera or acyrylic paints. Others created their designs with layered poster papers and foil. Feathers, glitter and whatever was available in the art room was utilized to make their masks as authentic as possible.

Click on any image below to get to the gallery. I'll be adding more masks next week as they are completed.

Line Fish

A fun one day project for our grade 2/3 class began by drawing one long, continuous line which looped around a page of paper. The students studied some illustrations of fish and we discussed what features all fish have in common; eyes, tails, fins, gills and scales. We then added these details to our loops in various creative ways to produce these unique "line fish" drawings. 

Weaving Pendants

Here is a small project our grade six students just completed. Creating their own cardboard loom, they learned simple weaving vocabulary and techniques as well as the difference between real and implied texture. The results could be pendants or mini wall hangings. Super!

Shape Murals

One thing I think Art can help develop in children is the ability to work collaboratively. That ability is so important to both a student's performance in the classroom and their future in the 21st-century workplace. I have been so pleased with our 2/3 students these last few weeks! Together they created these fabulous paintings which we call "Shape Murals". Working in groups of three or four, they first painted various shapes onto 22" x 28" paper. The only rules were the shapes had to be outlines and they were not allowed to paint over anyone else's shape. They then connected each shape to another one with black lines, creating more shapes.

The next week each student was given a unique paint color with which to fill in shapes on their own and the rest of the class paintings. They focused on choosing shapes for their color with the design principles of variety and harmony in mind. The last step was to go over the outlines again to make sure the original shapes were still visible. It was wonderful to see the students making great artistic choices while showing respect for their classmates and working so well together! Congratulations, class, here is your beautiful art!

Valentine LOVE

The artist Robert Indiana's rendering of LOVE in paintings and sculpture has become an icon of 20th-century art. For Valentine's Day our 4/5 students recreated his work with craft sticks. My thanks to Kathy Barbro at the website artprojectsforkids.org for this great project idea. I love how our students always add creativity and make an idea their own! Click on any image below for lots of great results.

 

Craft Stick Snowflakes

The snow is still flying outside and it's still inspiring our artwork! Our 4/5 class reviewed snowflake design and the concept of symmetry. We learned that most snowflakes have six sides, then made some really cool snowflakes by gluing together craft sticks. They were painted and sprinkled with glitter before the paint dried. The beautiful results are shown below.

 

New Year Accordion Book

To note the coming of the new year and the passing of the old, grade six students reflected on their accomplishments of 2012 and created these accordian books in celebration.

Chalk Snowflake Drawings

Winter and snowfall always inspires lots of interesting art projects. After discussing snowflake structure and the concept of symmetry, our 2/3 class used chalk pastels to create these fabulous drawings on black paper. Click on any image to get to the image gallery.

  

Paper Weaving

As an introduction to the concept of weaving, our K/1 students used black paper squares, folding them in half and cutting to create "warp" threads on their paper "loom". Colored strips became the "weft" threads, and were woven into their looms in the same under and over pattern of all basic weaving. When their weaving was complete students decorated their pieces with whatever images or colors they were inspired to use. The final pieces are lovely, and the project reinforced the recognition of pattern and repetition so important to understanding basic math concepts. Click on any image below to get to the image gallery.