"Attitude is the mind's paintbrush ..."

Students this week participated in a variety of activities in the art room, from creating props for both Spring Shows (North Park and Hill Street) to creating a May crown for Mary's May crowning and more!

We also prepared for a number of special end-of-year events that are coming up, including the Art on Sedgwick Faces and Places Art Show! Be sure to visit this year's exhibition, detailed below, at which many students from ICSJ will have work on display!

Here are more of the week's events in further detail:


Kindergarten

Kindergarten students learned about Monet and how he started the Impressionism movement!  Students enjoyed a Mike Venezia story explaining how Monet liked to paint outside and use bright colors, unlike other artists who were popular at the time.  Monet especially liked to look at light and water, in examples such as his famous Waterlilies painting.  Students then used oil pastels and watercolors to create their own waterlily-inspired paintings in bright colors.

First Grade

First grade continued discussing the role of art in storytelling, and then they began to create backgrounds for our upcoming Rainbow Fish project, related to the favorite story!  Like last week's kindergarten, first grade enjoyed observing and trying out the "wet on wet" watercolor technique, in which watercolor paint spreads into paths set forth first in water.  The paint can actually travel a path of water to create a shape or design! It can also feather out into a pool of paint.  Early finishers worked on creating a special prop for the Spring Show.

Second Grade

Second Grade students listened to a reading of Sharing Our World, a story about how the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest learned from the animals around them.  They often told stories about the animals, and they created totem poles as one way to tell these stories.  Students then selected an animal to create from construction paper.  They began working on cutting and pasting these animals together.  Later, they will be assembled into 3-D totem poles as students will roll paper into cylinders onto which they will glue their creatures.  Great work, 2nd Grade!

Third Grade

Third Grade extended their lesson from last week, learning about the exhibit Cows on Parade and the many artists who participated, by inventing their own idea for a city-wide art exhibit!  Students had many ideas, such as ice cream cone sculptures, ducks, and more.  Students used concepts of foreground and background by adding the Chicago skyline behind their sculpture drawings.  Students also helped to paint an important prop for the Spring Show.

Fourth Grade

Fourth Graders finished their Alexander Calder lesson from last week, building onto their pipe cleaner and steel wire sculptures.  Early finishers helped create props for the Hill Street Spring Show.

Here is a look back at students' Chicago-inspired folk art to tie into their lesson about Faith Ringgold:

Fifth Grade

Fifth Grade students learned about the time arts such as film and animation with the study of storyboards this week.  Students watched a clip of an informative video about storyboards, with lots of examples from Disney.  We likened this to the writing process in Language Arts.  Students then began drafting their own storyboards, using three columns of a tall paper to write notes, storyboard visuals, and the corresponding audio a filmmaker or animator would include for each frame.

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade enjoyed learning that between our lesson on Pop Art last week, with a special focus on artists Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, and our lesson this week on the same subject, the Art Institute of Chicago received a "landmark" donation of an estimated $400 million worth of Pop Art.  (See article HERE.)  How serendipitous, and what a wonderful addition to our incredible Chicago art museum, which we are so fortunate to have near.  Students then worked in neon colors using highlighters and markers to color in their Pop Art-inspired portraits.  Some also incorporated the drawing of dots as a nod to Lichtenstein.  After Odyssey through the Arts next week, students will paint bubble wrap in neon colors, pieces of which they will paste to these portraits.  Great work, students!

Seventh Grade

Seventh grade worked on painting their Henry Moore style sculptures this week!  (See more detail on the process in last week's post.) Moore stated that all good art has an element of mystery to it, and our sculptures certainly do. 

Eighth Grade

Eighth graders used their skills in art to create a special crown for Mary that will be used in the May crowning that is coming up.  Table groups collaborated and used concepts of math in creating this colorful craft.

Finally, early finishers in grades 4-8 finished the background for our Hill Street bulletin board, expressing the importance of having a positive attitude with a fun art analogy!