November Art Update!

Welcome back to the art blog, "Mrs. Miller's Makers!"

December is here! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and month of November. I am thankful for so many things, including my job of being your child's art teacher. I love getting them excited about creating and building their confidence as artists, thinkers, and makers!

Let's take a look at what each grade level has been up to during the month of November!

Kindergarten artists completed their Picasso Inspired Pumpkins by gluing on the facial features they drew from the "Roll a Picasso" drawing game. The students had a lot of fun imitating Picasso's art style of Cubism and enjoyed the seeing the goofy faces come to life with the addition of the eyes, nose, and mouth. The students also created grass and a background with oil pastel drawings.

The young artists are now starting Clay Cupcakes! They recently learned to draw a cupcake, and then enjoyed playing with play-dough as they practiced some techniques they will be using to make their clay cupcakes. The time spent playing with the play-dough is the perfect way to practice the Studio Habit of Mind - "Stretch & Explore!"

Kindergarten artists creating their Picasso Inspired Pumpkins!

Mrs. Neuville's class pictured above and Mrs. Sheppard's class pumpkins on display below.

Evelyn and Katie sharing what they liked about each others artwork on the "peer feedback" portion of their Artist Reflection Sheets. 

Some kindergarten cupcake sketches and coils made from playdough!

First grade artists just completed their awesome Scarecrow artwork! The mixed media piece of art involved many art making processes and materials including: watercolor resist with oil pastels, stamping/printing with cardboard and paint, clothing design using a variety of papers (including wallpaper), and other added details with the addition of sticks, straw, and additional drawing! The students stretched and explored in their art making and developed craft with a variety of skills. Best of all... they all enjoyed seeing how their vision of a scarecrow became a reality and is one-of-a-kind!

For our next project, the first grade artist will be creating Clay Snowmen! Yay clay!

Adding many details to their Scarecrows and demonstrating a variety of art making techniques! Giving the Scarecrow a unique outfit and a couple accessories was a favorite, for sure :)

First grade artists enjoying a one day Thanksgiving themed How to Draw Video to celebrate the season!

Second grade artists are currently between a couple of projects: Ocean Life Mosaics and Clay Picture Frames! The students were introduced to the Ocean themed project to connect to what they are learning in their classroom curriculum and were given the choice of any ocean creature to turn into a mosaic! They got to use light boards to trace their creature and will eventually be painting the background and creating the main subject from small pieces of paper!

While we pause that project, we are enjoying designing a one-of-a-kind clay picture frame! The students created two different designs in their sketchbooks and practiced making some parts of their designs with playdough. They will be required to show the following clay making techniques in their artwork: coils, slabs, drawing, texture, and negative space. Other than that, they can do anything they would like and choose whatever theme they wish!

2nd grade artists tracing their ocean creatures using the awesome light boards!

Taking a one day break to enjoy a Thanksgiving themed How to Draw Video! The students were challenged to make a turkey disguised as something else :)

Picture frame designs in the students' sketchbooks!

Third grade artists are becoming experts at color mixing and color theory with the Holiday Lights Watercolor Paintings! After tracing light bulbs and creating a balanced composition of overlapping light bulbs, the students free handed the details to the metal base as well as the filament inside. They also learned how to make the base look shiny by showing a gradual change of value with how much pressure they colored with. Lastly, the students added a little white oil pastel to the inside of each light bulb to give it a glare when they are painted.

We began painting with ONLY the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) with the challenge of making a precise green, orange, and violet. Not only did the students aim to achieve that task, but they also learned a lot about the nature of liquid watercolor (what works well, and what to avoid). Soon, we will be learning and creating the TERTIARY colors (which are primary and secondary colors mixed together). We will finish with making a contrasting background of dark colors, and a secret ingredient (salt)!

Third grade artists, engaging and persisting in their beautiful Holiday Lights Watercolor Paintings!

Fourth grade artists are having a blast designing and constructing original Clay Coil Vessels! We talked about how their vessel should be aesthetically pleasing and unique in its design, while also having a purpose/function. Some are creating candle holders, colored pencils holders, or toothbrush holders, while others are choosing to create a vessel that will hold liquid (which is an added challenge). No matter what design they choose, all students are encouraged to focus on the goal of making quality coils AND demonstrating the proper clay building techniques (score, slip, stick, and smooth)! We can't wait to complete the construction, glaze them, then put them on display!

Fourth grade artists creating sketches of their Clay Coil Vessel and practicing coil making with playdough (a perfect way to "stretch & explore - one of our Studio Habits of Mind)!

Very impressive sketches and playdough creations! We are ready for the clay! :)

Enjoying some Thanksgiving themed How to Draw Videos before we head into Thanksgiving break :)

Yay clay! The students are using red clay for their Clay Coil Vessels. They quickly learned the differences between the clay and playdough. Clay = messy and NEEDS water to stay moist and workable.

Fifth grade artists wrapped up their American Flag paintings this past month. While some students enjoyed the realism painting project more than others, all of them grew in their art making techniques and specifically developed craft with their ability to mix tints and shades and show value. They also demonstrated the Studio Habit of Mind "engage and persist" since at times it was a challenge to stay focused and persevere. 

The students are now preparing for their 5th grade art and music field trip to "A Christmas Carol!" The art teachers decided to give the students a behind the scenes tour of the Cedarburg High School production of "Clue" which was this year's fall play. Mr. Behrs and his tech crew at the high school do an OUTSTANDING job designing and creating sets for the play and musical. We thought it would be a great learning experience for our young art students to see how a theatrical production is put together prior to going to the musical "A Christmas Carol." The students were blown away at every aspect of designing a set and were most impressed that high schoolers were able to do so much of it themselves! How cool that they can look up to the high school crew members as role models and perhaps follow in their footsteps someday. They learned that there is something for everyone in the set design program and it is such a rewarding opportunity that not only enhances their skills, but also fosters great friendships.

Getting back to our own art making endeavors, the fifth grade artists will be focusing on FIBERS (papermaking AND weaving) as we head into December!

Beautiful American Flag Paintings in progress!

Fifth graders watching the amazing tech theater video that Parkview art teacher (Kim O'Reilly) put together! The students completed a study guide to go along with the video and worked in partners as they reflected on the questions.

October Art Update!

Welcome back to the blog!

This month students spent time finishing up their sketchbook cover designs! Each one is a unique work of "heart!" Most classes also started a new project, many of which are fall or Veteran's Day themed. The end of the month brought some challenges as I had to shift to teaching remotely while my daughter quarantined from an exposure at her preschool. This was the first time I attempted to balance the impossible job of working full time and being a stay at home mom simultaneously. For those of you that have had to do this for extended periods of time, you are AMAZING! 

Thankfully, (somehow) the students were engaged and continued to grow in their artistic abilities, excitement, and application of the Studio Habits of Mind. 

Check out the pictures and descriptions below to see what each grade level has been up to!

    Kindergarten artists started creating Picasso Inspired Pumpkins! They enjoyed reading the book, When Pigasso Met Mootisse" which is a fun kids book with fictional characters (a pig and a bull) based on real life artists, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. 

    In addition to learning to respect and appreciate other's differences (as "Pigasso" and "Mootisse" learned to do), the students also observed the difference between the two artists' styles. The kindergarten artists then chose one of three pumpkin templates and traced all of the lines with oil pastel. They then added additional lines breaking up the pumpkin into more shapes making the pumpkin appear "cubistic" like it was being viewed from many different angles. 

 

   The next step of the project was to mix up many different versions of orange for the pumpkin and paint in the shapes with their variety of mixed colors. The students had fun seeing the new colors being created and made lots of discoveries as they enjoyed color mixing! After painting the pumpkins, the students will soon be adding a face for their pumpkins by playing a "Roll a Picasso" drawing game! We look forward to showing you the finished artworks next month!

    First grade artists completed their James Rizzi Inspired Self Portraits for their sketchbook cover designs! The students enjoyed creating a drawing of themselves surrounded by buildings with faces and fun personalities. After drawing their scene with pencil, they traced with sharpie to give the "Pop Art" style black bold outlines, and then finished their artwork by painting bright colors with tempera cakes.

    The first grade artists are now starting to make scarecrows! They are currently enjoying creating a landscape as a background for their scarecrow using oil pastel and watercolor paint! We can't wait to show you our unique scarecrows when they are added to the background! 

   Second grade artists dug in deep with their Leah Saulnier Inspired Self Portraits. They dedicated a great deal of time learning to draw themselves, as well as the objects on their hat, realistically. They enjoyed looking up images on their Chromebook so they could draw from observation as they added pictures that represented their personality. We focused on three coloring techniques when adding the colored pencil: value, blending & mixing, and texture. The students looked at examples of how to show those three, and tried to find opportunities to demonstrate them within their own artwork.

    Soon, the second graders will be starting their next project... Clay Picture Frames!

   Third grade artists spent the rest of October completing their "Design Your Own Alphabet" sheets and using them to add the letters to the cover of their sketchbook! Their cover designs now have a contour line self portrait drawing inside their symmetrical hand cut picture frame, as well as their unique letter designs spelling their name and "sketchbook." Each letter design was a miniature work of art and the students should feel proud of how they engaged and persisted in the process of completing their sketchbook cover designs!

    We are now going to begin our next project (one of my favorites) Creative Color Wheels!

   Fourth grade artists are wrapping up their Keith Haring Inspired Self Portraits for their sketchbook cover designs. They not only had fun creating their action self portrait that represented personality, but the experience of drawing figures was such a great learning experience for them! Once the figured were cut our of colored paper, the students enjoyed creating an energetic background that tied into their action. With the use of fancy scissors, hole punchers, colorful paper, glue, and sharpies, the students imagined and crafted unique designs! They are now enjoying learning the art of graffiti lettering as they add their "name" and "sketchbook" to the back cover!

   Fifth grade artists paused their papermaking unit (as I shifted to teaching remotely) and are enjoying a Veteran's Day themed artwork! They are learning how to create a realistic painting of an American Flag. The students learned some interesting facts about the American Flag (some of which were new to me also)! 

    To begin the process of making a realistic painting, the artists first sketched out the composition of their flag. We broke it down into basic shapes and played a game of connect the dots after making little markings on the paper. The students then painted the pure colors (red and blue) for the first layer. The following class we will begin to add the tints and shades (values) in order to make the flag appear realistic and three dimensional!

See you next time!

Mrs. Miller