Getting Ready for Christmas in the ICSJ Art Department!

Students this week began getting ready for Christmas with the creation of various 2-D projects to deck the North Park parish hall and the Hill Street gym in time for our Christmas Shows!  We also had a shorter week because of Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Thank you parents for your support of your student's education and great ideas for working together at conferences!

** Special thanks to this week's art room volunteers, Mrs. Kowalski and Mrs. Johnson!  Thank you so much for supporting our children's art education.**

Kindergarten

Only the Wednesday Kindergarten class met this week because of Parent-Teacher Conferences.  These students celebrated the year's first "Art Party" for great behavior (tracked with stickers throughout the trimester).  Next trimester students will compete again for the chance to celebrate another party!  We went with a French artist theme, complete with berets and (adhesive) mustaches.  We also had croissants, thanks to Mrs. Kowalski, and apple juice -- yum!

Also, take a look at our finished Fish Painting display from Ms. Groves & Ms. O'Sullivan's class!

First Grade

First grade completed their Matisse cut-outs by adding more layers and small details, such as confetti-style dots or squares.  They are hanging in the hallway and look great! Be sure to check out this colorful display.


Second Grade

Second graders removed the bleeding tissue paper from their compositions and drew in cubist cities inspired by artist Paul Klee!  Fantastic work, 2nd grade.

Third Grade

Third grade had art "stations" this week so that small groups could receive instruction on how to make our Winter Birch Tree landscapes by applying torn tape where the trees will go.  Next, we will paint their backgrounds with watercolor and add absorptive salt for texture.  Then, we will remove the tape to create the white trees, which we will shade in brown.   Finally, we will add Sharpie to make marks resembling how birch trees peel and appear black in parts.  In the meantime, small groups who were not working on the tape application caught up on recent projects that have been cut short due to the Mondays we have lost to various holidays.

Fourth Grade

Fourth grade learned about shades and tints before mixing their own shades and tints of blue.  Then, they painted a background for their Nativity Silhouette artwork, beginning with a tint in the middle and working outwardly with true blue and then darker shades. Next week we will complete these dramatic artworks!

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade also learned about shades, tints and highlights with a chalk pastel "Snowmen at Night" project, after a video reading of this fun tale.  Students learned to blend, blend, blend and to layer in pastels for rich color and smooth snowmen.  Students also added shadows to ground these figures and add extra "oomph" to the 3-D effect already created.

Also, take a belated look at some of our analogous colored zebras!

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade began the process of creating "Op Art" Christmas trees using techniques to create the illusions of movement and volume.  Students enjoyed using high-quality Prismacolor marker for this fun and relaxing process.  Check back soon to see completed work mounted on black paper and sprinkled with "snow."


Seventh Grade

Seventh grade concluded their architecture unit with 3-D form cities, both freestanding and relief.  Students applied oil pastel on top of black backgrounds to add detail and emphasis.

Eighth Grade

Eighth grade had a second workday for their Red Glass unit, creating concrete representations of abstract ideas and themes from this wonderful novel!  Students will have a special celebration to present their artwork, writing and scale drawings on Dec. 3.  Check Ms. Bradley's class webpage for more details!

First snowfall

With the first snowfall of the year comes the realization that the holidays are upon us!  Students began holiday-themed artworks this week in several of the grades, and the rest will follow suit in the coming weeks.  Read on for more details, and enjoy the magical snowfalls to come this weekend!

**An abundance of thanks to parent volunteers Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Connor, and Mrs. Tamayo for visiting and helping our art room tremendously!  Our students very much appreciated your visits, as well.**

Kindergarten

Kindergarten showed their knowledge of primary and secondary colors -- and enjoyed color mixing -- with our Primary and Secondary Fish project!   The assigned task was to paint large fish in primary colors and small fish in secondary colors. The background was created in a tint of blue.  In some cases, students took creative liberties in colors, to astounding and charming effects (such as in the case of the pink waters below).  Overall, students did a great job filling their picture plane with paint.  Well done, Kindergarten!

First Grade

First grade revisited favorite artist Henri Matisse and his "painting with scissors," or colorful cutouts in organic and geometric shapes after a discussion of color and how it relates to feelings.  Students chose colorful shapes and pasted them together on top of black strips of paper.  Parent volunteers were tremendously helpful throughout this very challenging process!  Take a look at some examples of our students' hard work!

We may sprinkle a few more details and small shapes onto these Matisse-inspired artworks before finishing and beginning our Christmas projects.  Below, see a Matisse-inspired artwork gone 3-D (complete with Chicago reference and structural supports on the reverse side)!  So much creativity in the ICSJ art room!

Second Grade

Second grade experienced the fun of using Bleeding Tissue Paper this week!  (This medium does not get old at any age/is fun for adults, too!)  Bleeding tissue paper will provide the background for our Paul Klee-inspired Cubist cities.  Below is a photograph of the tissue drying for next week's lesson.

Particularly resourceful fourth grade students recycled Bleeding Tissue for the Pumpkin Batik collages.  See below.

Third Grade

One of the third grades did not have art because of a field trip this week, but students who returned in time painted their Black Glue Cityscapes this week! First, students looked at examples of work by Paul Klee, as well as reviewing the color wheel.  Then, students took inspiration and applied it to their own artworks!  Take a look to see third grade students hard at work.

Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade students completed their Pumpkin Batiks!  We are excited to look forward to our Architecture- and Christmas-inspired projects next!

Fifth Grade

Fifth Grade students worked to create parts of Thanksgiving sign for ICSJ school based on the work of Paul Klee.  Klee did some very creative letter painting, as did students in fifth grade.  Soon, after a layer or two of Mod Podge is applied to fortify and beautify student work, the composition, pieced carefully together, will adorn our school walls for this warm and happy holiday. Be on the lookout to see it in its completion!

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade students learned about the concept of rhythm, or repetition without a perfect pattern, to create a sense of movement.  Students reviewed concepts of warm and cool colors, as well, before creating a painting full of rhythm: one of falling leaves in warm colors, against a cool background.  Great work, 6th grade!

 

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade finished the application of paint for their 3-D architecture project -- both free standing and relief sculpture cities.  Students also embraced the freedom to use scale in this project. Thanks for your enthusiasm, grade 7!

Eighth Grade

Eighth grade students applied knowledge of both Math and Language Arts in this week's art project: theorizing and planning for a work of art to conceptualize an idea based on the novel Red Glass, which they read in Language Arts.  Students chose to represent many abstract ideas and themes from the novel, ranging from the main character's anxiety to the different phases of her character, to a maze that showed the confusion and obstacles in her life. Students will make a corresponding scale drawing using proportions in measurement in Math.  Students worked in a wide variety of media, from rubber cement to cellophane to cardboard to Legos -- students are doing a fantastic job in the 8th grade!

Thanks for a great Trimester 1

It's hard to believe we've already completed the first trimester at ICSJ.  Students put the finishing touches on a variety of art projects this week.  Soon, we'll be beginning our Thanksgiving- and Christmas-inspired projects, especially those that take several weeks to complete.

Special thank you to this week's Art room volunteers, Mrs. Jacobson, Mrs. Wiedelman and Mrs. Palma for helping out in our class!  It is always such a treat for students when parents are able to come in.
 
Kindergarten

Kindergarteners explored concepts of primary and secondary colors through the creation of their very own color wheels!  Students mixed primary colors and found out the results for themselves.  Then, students began their primary and secondary colored fish paintings.  Great work, Kindergarten!

First Grade

First grade also explored primary and secondary colors through the creation of their "Glass Cities" architecture-related project!  Inspired by Daniel Burnham, who brought the skyscraper to Chicago, students drew overlapping skyscrapers in primary colors.  Where they overlapped, students colored in the secondary colors that would appear, given the two colors of the skyscrapers.  Students created magnificent, colorful cities!

Second Grade

Second grade students who met this week completed fall colored leaf paintings after the completion of their pumpkin collages!  See these colorful, textured collages hanging in the hallway stairs between first and second grades.

Third Grade

Third grade students created skyscraper drawings in pencil before going over them with "black glue"! This mixture of glue and black paint allows students a unique experience in painting, and one that yields a slight relief (elevated) result.  Students will paint inside their skyscrapers and towers next week.  Way to go, third grade!

Fourth Grade

Fourth graders continued to apply India ink to "batik" their crayon drawings of pumpkins.  Students who had completed that process went on to create colorful collage backgrounds and leaf printings to emblazon their backgrounds, as well.  Check back soon as these lovely projects will be completed shortly.


Fifth Grade

Students completed their analogous-colored city buildings in the styles of Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.  We glued these buildings to blue butcher paper to create a lovely skyline that now hangs above the fifth grade lockers.  Take a look next time you walk past rooms 301 and 303!

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade students learned about the "Art of Baseball," first reviewing their prior knowledge of how the game works and then by exploring such unique stadiums as those in Houston, St. Louis, Boston, and more!  Students loved finding the train in a picture of the Astros stadium, as well as seeing how a home run in San Francisco will plop right into the San Francisco Bay!  Then, students quickly and adeptly constructed their own stadiums, using cardboard, posterboard, markers and more.  Students will use skills of speaking and listening to share about their creations during Language Arts.

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade, too, enjoyed the perennial fun of cardboard boxes, forming theirs into creative relief sculptures as well as free-standing construction of city skyscrapers to tie into their knowledge of architecture.  Many students began the process of painting their sculptures in a dark color, over which they will lay vibrantly colored oil pastels. 

Eighth Grade

Eighth grade learned of the concept of atmospheric perspective, or how perspective can be created through clarity and value, as well as line.  Students looked at examples of nighttime cityscapes to see how the colors faded as they receded.  Then, students sketched their own atmospheric perspective cities.  Great work, eighth grade!  Below, see some examples of finished collograph prints, as well.