Gearing up for the long weekend ...

Students had a great week in Art this week, culminating with a fun Thursday at Hill Street with two student principals for the day!  These students devised quite the campus holiday, with fun activities and games.  The spirit was contagious.  Read on for details and updates on all our grades!

**Special thanks to our classroom volunteers this week, Mrs. Renker and Mrs. Patton!  Thank you for making our art classes extra special in grades K-2!**

***Also thank you to Mrs. Noble for sharing her art history expertise in a private guided tour of the Surrealism on display at the Art Institute for eighth grade students!  Students loved learning about Magritte and the messages he intended to convey through his art work -- certainly we had to think "outside the box" for this experience.  We are grateful for you sharing your knowledge and passion for art history!**

Kindergarten

Wednesday's Kindergarten art class met this week, but Friday's did not because of the long weekend.  Students did a lesson extending their knowledge of line to use of pattern in a special Princess and the Pea lesson.  We did a read aloud of a poem format of this traditional children's fairy tale before participating in a guided drawing lesson, helping us to create an oil pastel drawing of a stack of mattresses under the finicky princess.  Students used all types of line before painting in soft watercolors.  Great job, Kindergarten!

 

Such intent focus!

First Grade

First grade finalized their Mondrian creatures by finishing careful coloring before cutting and pasting these unique animals to a black background.  To the eye, dark colors appear to recede and light colors appear to pop out.  This added extra drama to these lovely drawings, which use vertical and horizontal lines to break up the space on the inside.  Students used primary colors and balanced them throughout the image, just like Mondrian!

Second Grade

Second grade continued to work on their Scarecrow collages for fall.  We will continue to add elements to the background next week, from tissue paper to glitter glue to cotton balls for clouds in our skies.  Check back soon for updates!

Third Grade

Third grade began learning about Chuck Close, a modern artist who suffered many challenges in his life.  He rose above the discouragement he received and turned his challenges into his strengths.  When he could not recognize faces, he learned to break them into grids to make large scale paintings of faces.  These unique paintings took off and garnered much attention.  Now, he is one of the most famous painters alive!  Like Close, students made self portraits and began breaking them into parts. They drew unique designs into the different parts and soon they will apply paint in stunning colors.  Great work, third grade!

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade continued to apply bleeding tissue paper to their contour drawing backpacks.  Students added water to their backpack drawings before setting strips of the tissue paper, which hold dry paint.  Then, they applied more water to let the paint "bleed" onto their compositions.  Students are doing a great job on this long-term project!

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade students continued to explore organic line and shape with a leaf printing/sponge painting activity!  This very tactile project was great fun for students, who created many lovely compositions that warm our school halls.

Sixth Grade

Students finished their "Zentangle" still life drawings this week.  Early finishers outlined their hands and zentangled them in color for contrast to the black and white background.  Students enjoyed this quiet, relaxing work time!

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade continued to work on their aerial 1-point perspective cities.  Students who had ensured their rectangular prisms were drawn accurately moved on to adding value.  Students imagined a light source from a certain direction and where it would strike the buildings.  Where it did not strike a face of the prism, students shaded in dark to enhance the 3-D quality of the drawing.  Amazing work, 7th Grade!

Eighth Grade

Eighth grade students enjoyed a field trip this week that combined art with architecture (math) and poetry (language arts)! These concepts will converge upon our upcoming project with the same cross-curricular connections.  As an additional activity to tie into a previous unit on Surrealism, students participated in a tour of the Magritte exhibit on display through Oct. 13 at the Art Institute.  What a special opportunity!  Students reflected on the experience during art this week after completing their collograph plates.  They also played a drawing game popular among the Surrealists.  Students who had finished their plates took turns printing.  This is a great way for students to distinguish real, physical texture on their collograph plates from implied texture in their final prints.  Here is a look at our work so far!

Also, here are a few images from our trip to the Architectural Museum and the Art Institute!  Also be sure to visit the Middle School Instagram page for more photos.

Enjoy the long weekend and our beautiful fall weather!  As always, be in touch with any questions, concerns, ideas or more!