Spring has sprung!

Welcome back to school after a restful Spring Break!  In the past two weeks of class, students have been busy with activities ranging from Spring-inspired artwork to learning about the masters to creating artwork for community initiative Art on Sedgwick!

Kindergarten

Kindergarten wrapped up their unit in learning about illustrators as artists last week.  A final culminating activity was the visit of graphic artist and illustrator Mr. Jason Castillo, who came to talk to students on Friday!  Mr. Castillo talked about how he became an artist and showed examples of artwork he has created, including a time-lapse video of the creation of a mural!  Students enjoyed his playful creations of monsters and drew and painted their own in watercolor.

In celebration of Spring, Kindergarteners also  learned about a "wet on wet" watercolor technique -- very apropos for the rainy day we had!  We painted colorful designs, then cut and pasted umbrellas for the season.  Great job, kindergarten!

A final recent activity for Kindergarten was learning about Van Gogh and his famous "impasto" technique, in which he paints thick brush strokes that are visible to the viewer.  Students used language to describe art in looking at "The Starry Night" before creating their own colorful versions in oil pastel!  Beautiful work, Kindergarten!

First Grade

First graders are also learning about the masters!  First graders, likewise, learned about Van Gogh's impasto technique and created lively landscapes in the style of Van Gogh's painting of the wheat fields and cypress trees of his landscape.  Then, students learned about a Japanese print, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," and the power of art to capture feelings and events.  Students colored their drawings in the style of Hokusai's "The Great Wave" with crayon.  Next week, students will apply watercolor and splatter "water droplets" to further capture the emotion and movement of this artwork.  Check back next week to see students' interpretation of "The Great Wave"!

Second Grade

To further explore concepts in students' Social Studies curriculum, second graders are creating their own totem poles in a collaborative project!  Students learned  how Native Americans, especially of the Pacific Northwest, used totem poles to express their relationship with animals of their region.  Students considered animals native to our region and created beautiful collage pieces that will be assembled together into totem poles in the stairwell near second grade.  Students also enjoyed a read aloud,  Sharing Out World, a stunning book that tells about the animals of the Northwest.  Students noted that the Seattle Seahawks football team borrowed from this style of art of tribes such as the Haida, the Tlingit, and  Kwakwaka’wakw.

Third Grade

Third graders continued their Mixed Media cityscapes, with students in the Friday class completing this lesson and moving on to our found object sculptures!  Check back for photos soon.

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade students finished their Alexander Calder-style mobiles using colored pencil, paper and wire.  Then, students learned about another style of contemporary art: Environmental Art!  As students took a particular interest in the sand designs featured in this month's Scholastic Art, we learned about the Buddhist monks and their sand art, who inspired the sand design artist.  Students watched a time-lapse video of the monks creating a beautiful radial design, only to destroy it afterward as a symbol of the impermanence of life.  In keeping with the theme of colorful designs, students added bright colors to the symmetrical designs they created earlier this year with geometric pieces.  Next week, students will make salt designs, in the spirit of this inspiring lesson!

Fifth Grade

Fifth graders have finished their Caillebotte grid drawing and moved on to photo stencil portraits.  Students painted vibrant backgrounds before cutting out a photograph of themselves enlarged to 11 X 17 in. paper.  They lay their photo onto the background and paint the remaining space with black.  The effects are stunning!  Early finishers worked to assemble the Caillebotte "puzzle."

Sixth Grade

Sixth graders learned about three artists with very different styles: Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein before choosing which appealed to them the most.  Then, to support Art on Sedgwick, students began the creation of a self portrait.  Also pictured is a photo from last week, when early finishers created Lascaux cave-style paintings in the spirit of their ancient art unit.

Seventh Grade

Seventh graders this week wrapped up their Cardboard Cities before delving into a new unit, Art of the Americas.  Students learned about ancient Mexican art as well as Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.  Students will incorporate elements common to these artists into their own self-portraits using Q-tip paint application to allow higher control as well as pointillism techniques. Check back soon for photos!

Eighth Grade

Eighth grade students learned about the art of Native American Frank "Big Bear," who used vibrant colors to create portraits in a non-realistic style.  Eighth graders used Bear as inspiration in creating their own self-portraits in paint and colored pencil.

Way to go, eighth grade!