February has been a busy month in the art room, and March is about to get even busier! During the month of March, we look forward to another student art show (our biggest art show, taking place at the Cedarburg Cultural Center from March 13th - April 19th). I will also be very busy starting to pack up the art room for the big move AND making plans for my long term substitute Kris Sapinski when my maternity leave is estimated to begin the Monday after Easter. Mrs. Sapinski recently graduated from Cardinal Stritch with an elementary education degree, and has an art background as a graphic designer. She is not only a talented artist, but also loves working with kids and is really excited for the opportunity to work with our Westlawn students. I am grateful to have someone as hard working and dedicated as Mrs. Sapinski, and hope she feels welcomed by our Westlawn students and families.
Now for a look into art room happenings from this past month. Please scroll through to see pictures and descriptions from each grade level.
Kindergarten artists are in the midst of finishing their Clay Cupcakes by adding lots of color with paint! The students were shown how to mix colors and paint neatly by using the proper size brush to carefully filling in all of the deeper areas. They are having so much fun painting their cupcakes, but perhaps the biggest challenge is being gentle with them! We've already had a few breaks, which is of course the downside to making adorable little ceramic creations. Hot glue to the rescue!
After completing the clay cupcakes, the students will be revisiting their Shape Robots! They have already begun the background of their artwork which is made up of gears. The students traced circles of all sizes and then designed the inside and outside of the circles to resemble gears. Soon, they will be tracing the gears with oil pastels and then painting over them with watercolor. Following the background will be the creation of the robots... my FAVORITE part!
The art project involves many steps and a variety of art making skills. Since there are so many parts to the project, there are lots of opportunities for problem solving AND making their artwork uniquely theirs. Once the Kimono portraits have been glued onto the background we will add finishing touches including: a fan, Japanese symbols, and other finishing details.
Second grade artists have been enjoying making their mixed media Pop Art Popsicle projects! After completing the colorful backgrounds to their artwork using the relief printing process, the students began focusing on making the popsicles made from recycled toilet paper rolls! The students learned the art technique of paper mache and as I predicted, students either loved it or hated it... there wasn't a whole lot of in between. The slimy paper mache paste allowed the paper towel strips to take shape around the stapled cardboard tube, causing it to resemble a popsicle. After the popsicles dried, the students painted them with four different colors to create contrast against their background colors. Soon, the students will be gluing down the popsicles and sticks to complete their Pop Art inspired masterpiece!
Third grade artists recently completed all 3 of their collagraph prints! The warm and cool prints will be transformed into an "Agamograph" which is a type of kinetic art, in which the image changes depending on what angle you look at it. The bonus print the students created was mounted onto white paper and Ms. Reilly's class was put up on display! The artists especially enjoyed making the bonus prints since less rules applied... they could come up with their own color scheme as long as they used the same process of printing their collagraph plate 4 times.
In addition to completing the Collagraph prints, the 3rd grade artists also demonstrated their creative and technical art abilities in the form of two art assessments, each taking one class period. The creative assessment had the students design a logo around the word "school" like the Doodle for Google contest. It was fun to see the students come up with such unique ideas to transform each letter of the word school. The technical art assessment asked the students to draw two still life objects as accurately as possible. They were asked to think about such things as the composition of their drawing, craftsmanship, proportions, and details.
Fourth grade artists enjoyed finishing their Clay Coil Creations during the month of February! After the projects were bisque fired in the kiln, the students then glazed them with between 1 and 3 colors of their choice. The students were so excited to see them once they were fired in the kiln a second time, since the glazes turned into a glossy and smooth coating. To complete the art unit, they filled out a personal reflection and scored themselves according to criteria that had been discussed throughout the making of the ceramic projects. The opposite side of the self reflection was a vocab quiz made up of ceramic terms. The students blew me away with how well they knew the vocab words! They sure know how to make an art teacher feel good with showing how well they were listening and learning!
Like the 3rd grade students, the 4th graders also completed two art assessments including a creative and technical drawing. The creative assessment was the same as third grade, "Doodle for School." The technical assessment was an observational drawing of 3 objects (a ceramic bear, a plastic white wiffle ball, and an ornate ceramic shoe). The students did a nice job with this and many impressed themselves with what they could accomplish when they focus and put forth their best work!
Soon, the students will be starting a NEW unit of portrait drawing (one of the most challenging, yet rewarding art units they will experience)!
Fifth grade artists are in the midst of finishing their one of a kind, Clay Cake Slices! After being bisque fired in the kiln, the students were invited to paint their clay cakes with tempera and acrylic paints. They were encouraged to not only paint neatly, but to also use painting techniques they have learned over time, such as color mixing, adding texture, value changes, etc. Thankfully, I don't have to do much demonstrating or motivating prior to the painting process. The students naturally come up with fantastic ideas and put forth their best efforts in making their clay cakes AWESOME!
After finishing the clay projects, the 5th graders will return to their Elements and Principles Accordion Books! Pictured below are the assembled books (waiting to be designed on the inside) and the Elements and Principles planning sheets and vocab sheets. The students were given the task of planning out their E&P Accordion Book by making thumbnail sketches to represent the 14 elements and principles. The students have all chosen their theme, they now need to figure out how to use their chosen theme to illustrate the elements and principles of art. This will require the students to KNOW the art words, be CREATIVE in their designs and ideas, AND demonstrate their understanding of different art media (as they will be asked to use 5 different mediums).
See you at the beginning of April for the next art update! That is if I don't have baby Miller before that time!
-Mrs. Miller
