Art in our Hearts

Kindergarten

Kindergarten students learned about how to create a tint by adding white to a color!  Students created tints of primary colors by mixing paint and added these pastels to their clay crosses.  Next week, students will apply acrylic gloss to seal the paint and celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America day.


First grade

First graders put the finishing touches on their foil skyscrapers before taping them to a long white paper to create a 3-D cityscape!  After learning how artists have used art to tell stories for many years, students imagined stories that could happen in a city setting and drew the details for the stories to come true!  For example, students imagined stories that involved taxi cabs, fountains and airplanes in an airport.  They drew these details in crayon and marker.  Great job, first grade!

Also, first grade Jim Dine Valentine hearts are on display in the cafeteria! Check back soon for photos.

Second grade

After applying glue to create line for their cityscapes, second graders applied layers of thick chalk pastel to create vibrant colors on the black construction paper.  Students learned different techniques for the chalk pastel and that sometimes, you don't want to smear it for the brightest colors!  We experimented with layering different colors and creating shades, tints and secondary colors.  Results were dramatic and very varied.

Third grade

Third graders continued working on mixed media newsprint paintings!  Check back for photo updates next week.

Fourth grade

 Fourth grade created "quilt" borders for their Tar Beach-inspired city dreamscapes before creating brightly colored city buildings from construction paper.  The final touch is to put a self-portrait flying through the sky, as Faith Ringold did her Caldecott Award winning children's classic!  Students will complete these lively collages next week.

Fifth grade

Fifth grade did not meet this week because of President's Day.  See you next week, 5th grade!


Sixth grade

Sixth grade concluded their negative space city paintings by putting the finishing touches on using watercolor pencil.  Watercolor pencil offers more control and options for creating texture.  Here are some lovely student examples:

Seventh grade

Seventh grade finished construction of their cardboard relief cities.  Many students began painting the cityscape dark brown or black.  Next week, students will complete painting and begin applying oil pastels in vibrant colors to pop off of the dark paint!


Eighth grade

Many 8th graders completed the application of their printmaking foregrounds to their mixed media printmaking atmospheric cities!  Next week, students will learn about African masks in their study of Multicultural art!


Here are the completed Nativity pieces:

Great work, students!

Cityscapes in action

This week students applied knowledge gained from the Odyssey Through the Arts: Photography Cityscapes presentations in the creation of their own cityscapes in a variety of media!

Kindergarten

Kindergarteners put the finishing touches on their cityscapes in warm and cool colors before taking these creative artworks home!  Then, students learned all about 3-D form.  Not only can you create a form from all sorts of media (including paper, as many students discovered in cityscapes), but we are forms, ourselves!  Students experimented with a favorite medium, clay, before rolling or pinching clay crosses to be finished in plenty of time for Easter!  We added texture through a variety of tools (foam texture imprints, pencils, fingers) to our crosses.  See how here:

 

First Grade

First grade is also learning all about form, and what better medium to create modern-looking skyscrapers than aluminum foil?  Students used foil, paper towel rolls and tape (no scissors allowed) to create tall city buildings to be completed and assembled together next week.  Many students were inspired by our own Sears Tower.

Second Grade

Second grade completed the first of two steps in the making of glue line/chalk pastel cityscapes!  The glue dries to create an unpredictable but visually appealing lines between which students can apply and even layer chalk pastel to create a rich and vibrant artwork!

Third Grade

Third grade began the backgrounds of their mixed media cityscapes using paint, tissue paper, newspaper and modge podge (rhymes with "hodge podge") this week.  The tissue paper creates the appearance of fireworks in the sky, whether students opted to layer the primary colored tissue to create secondary colors, cut the paper into textured fireworks, or scrunch the paper for a 3-D effect.  Then, students painted the sky in shades and tints of blue, depending on whether their scene was night or day.  Students had a wide range of paint application techniques! Next, we will cut, paint, and layer newsprint buildings on these colorful backgrounds.  The final step will be to apply modge podge to seal and finish these lively artworks.

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders learned about folk art before a read aloud of the Caldecott award winning story Tar Beach.  Students then began creating the "quilt" border of their own cityscapes, which will include a self-portrait, as well!  Photos to come soon.

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade completed their variety and rhythm projects, Klimt "Trees of Life" to represent our hopes for Easter!  These projects also had a great deal of unity.  Each artwork is decorated with a small adhesive "gem," as Klimt himself incorporated real gold leaf in his artwork!

 

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade reviewed concepts of positive and negative space before creating negative space cityscapes through applying masking tape to resist watercolor on the positive space.  Students then experimented with the wet-on-wet watercolor technique.  This technique itself can be a bit of a lesson to "let it be," as the Beatles famously said -- as the watercolor has a mind of its own and does not respond well to too much direction! 

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade learned about relief sculpture, both low relief (bas relief) and high relief (alto relief).  Relief involves a sculpture on a plane surface.  An example of low relief is a cameo necklace pendant.  Students created their relief (mostly low) with cardboard.  Later, they will apply black or brown paint and lastly color with oil pastels. Corrugated cardboard creates a dramatic texture in this project!

Eighth Grade

Eighth graders learned about atmospheric perspective this week before creating the background for their mixed media printmaking cities.  First, students applied a wash for the far distant background.  Then, they impressed upon printmaking foam an older fashioned cityscape to be in sharp focus in the foreground.  Later, when the washes have dried, students will paint a modern skyscraper skyline for the middle ground and print the foreground upon that for three layers of atmospheric perspective.

Students also presented their finished Nativity Set to ICSJ!  Congrats 8th grade for your hard work and for leaving a lasting gift to ICSJ.