November - December Art Update!

Hello and Happy New Year!

Before we jump into the next month of learning and growing in the art room, let's take a look back at some great moments during November and December!

In Art Club... We continued to work on our stained glass creations! We are getting better at cutting and breaking the glass, but are realizing some of our designs were a bit too ambitious with the shapes and numbers of pieces. Despite some challenges and slower progress than we would like, the students are loving the process and unique art medium. They are realizing that in art making the PROCESS is as important (if not MORE important) than the final product. That couldn't be more true of many of the things we are experiencing in Art Club this year. Since the students are being introduced to many new art forms, they are learning to appreciate it for what it is, even if that means they aren't experts!

Speaking of NEW and EXCITING art forms, the Art Club students got to learn the art of cookie decorating during our last Art Club meeting of 2024! We were SUPER grateful to have Maggie Schiel come and teach us the fun "wet in wet" technique. Students were able to enjoy a presentation and demonstration by Maggie and then eagerly gave the techniques a try! The best part of course is they were able to go home with edible art pieces for loved ones to enjoy. 

Maggie runs her own baking business called Blissful Bites. She is a multi talented individual having worked a variety of jobs such as middle school German teacher, Costco cake decorator, and most recently Family and Consumer Ed teacher at CHS. If you wish to check out her incredible and edible works of art, check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/desserts.by.mags/

More pics can be seen in this Cookie Decorating Photo Album!

In kindergarten... our youngest artists nearly finished their "Catching Snowflakes" projects! This adorable project involves a great variety of art making techniques and concepts. Most recently, the students learned a little bit of the science behind the six pointed works of art that fall during wintertime. They then had the fun task of making their own snowflakes by printing with found objects, white paint, and shimmery glitter :) Soon we will be completing the wintery self portraits by adding a pom pom onto our hats.

Following our "Catching Snowflakes" projects, the students will be starting to make Clay Cupcakes! We will get familiar with some methods of forming and shaping clay by warming up with some playdough. We can't wait to show you more in the next art blog update!

Painting our blustery winter night skies!

Making our matching mittens that show a variety of line designs and symmetry!

Painting our sets of mittens, hats, and sleeves.

Gluing our items onto our backgrounds!

Adding the face and tongue to catch the (future) snowflakes!

Saved the best and messiest part for last... found objects snowflake printing!

In first grade... we had fun finishing our Scarecrows! The students quickly got a hang of how to make clothing and added features using wallpaper and scrapbooking paper. The variety of patterns and colors allowed the little designers endless options as they gave their scarecrows one of a kind personalities. 

Following the Scarecrow projects we enjoyed reading the book "Snowmen at Night" which gave us great inspiration for our next two part project, "Snowmen Drawings" using oil pastels on black paper, and soon... "Clay Snowmen" for our first grade clay project! Just as the kinder students will be doing as a warm up for their clay project, the first graders will also be practicing with playdough to review methods such as forming pinch pots, coils, and more. This year, they will need to make THREE pinch pots for their clay snow people!

Stacked turkey folding surprise! Mrs. Carpenter's class.

Stacked turkey folding surprise! Mrs. Speath's class.

Making clothes and accessories for our Scarecrows!

Frame worthy artwork by our talented first graders!

Some Snowmen drawings from our one day drawing lesson. Pictured is Mrs. Staffaroni's first grade class :)

In second grade... the art room was turned into a printmaking factory! Each artist needed to make four quality prints in different colors for their Pop Art themed paint palettes. This artwork will serve as a background for their final artwork "Pop Art Paints & Palettes." The "paints" will be paper mache sculptures made from empty toilet paper rolls. The students have already made the "armatures" which is the underneath structure that will give their sculpture form and structural support. We achieved this by folding, cutting, shaping, and taping the cardboard tubes. 

When we return from winter break we will need to PAUSE our paper mache project so we can shift gears and work on a special project for the students' upcoming musical! The kids are going to LOVE the NEW project that will involve batik, tie dye, and paper sculptures. Can't wait to see our kids transformed into undersea creatures!

Turkey stack folding surprise from Ms. Miller's 2nd grade class. Many classes enjoyed a brief Thanksgiving themed how to draw video as we headed into break.

This second grade class (Abrahamson) enjoyed making turkeys in disguise! So fun and creative :)

More turkeys in disguise from Mrs. Huber's class!

Printmaking!

Fun and addicting! Print, wash, dry, repeat!

4 prints X three 2nd grade classes = lots of prints! Did our best to keep it all organized!

We arranged and carefully glued our prints into the background paper. We then signed, titled, and dated the artwork.

The beginning of our paint tubes!

In third grade... students reached the half way point of their "Holiday Lights Watercolor Paintings!" They created multiple areas of overlapping that they will later use as areas of color mixing. The primary goal of the project is for the students to hand mix the secondary and tertiary colors on the color wheel to better understand color theory. The added challenge will be controlling the watercolor paints that often like to "explode" when two wet areas run into each other. The students have done a fabulous job on the artworks thus far, especially making the bases look shiny with their use of colored pencil and value!

The 3rd grade artists LOVE Free Choice Art and were especially excited for the chance to create some festive themed art before break as a class reward :)

Such a unique variety of creations!

A preview of the "Holiday Lights Watercolor Painting." Our sweet friend and classmate worked ahead to complete the project in anticipation of her moving to another school. She did a beautiful job!

In fourth Grade... the artists are PUMPED UP to be making "Sewn Stuffie Keychains!" It warmed my heart and got me even more excited to teach the project after it being so well received. It has been so fun to see the kids come up with some creative ideas for their stuffie theme and then turn that into a paper template. We are now in the process of dry felting on details to the base layer of felt. Once all of the details are added they will sew, stuff, and finish sewing their artwork that will be ready to hang onto the item of their choosing :)

Thanksgiving themed How to Draws followed by musical chairs art critique :)

Thanksgiving themed Free Choice Art. These students had fun with some random materials like felt and tins. They had a vision and made it come to life :)

Sewn Stuffie sketches!

The students turned their sketches into patterns. They then traced their patterns onto their fabric to make two matching sides.

Festive themed art creations for a one day lesson as we headed into winter break!

In fifth grade... we are diving even deeper into our fibers unit by starting to design WEAVINGS! The students will be continuing to make handmade paper with 3-D letter impressions for their sketchbook covers while they are not working on their weavings. For the first time, the students will have a choice of what type of weaving they want to make, two woven coasters OR a woven wall hanging tapestry. When we return from winter break, the students will design their weavings by giving thought to the color scheme, shapes, textures, etc. Wish us luck (or better yet come in to volunteer if you can :) as we tackle this fun and challenging art unit! 

3D foam letters that will be pressed into our paper pulp. The designs needed to be made backwards so they would appear forwards when being pressed into the pulp (much like a print).

Will it blend? A HUGE THANK YOU to some generous parents that donated Ninjas for our paper making unit. You are AMAZING and oh so appreciated :)

Using our paper making kits to drain out the water of our pulp.

Some Free Choice Art Time earned as a class reward :)

More paper shredding and letter making

Feeling the paper pulp is an experience for our senses and always entertaining!

Check out the textures, shapes, and designs impressed into the handmade paper. SO COOL!

Some fantastic festive creations were made in our last art classes before break :)

October-November Art Update!

Hello! A lot has happened inside and outside of the art room since the last update!

Here are a few highlights...

• Outside of the art room, the 5th grade Art & Music Field trips took place!
• At Westlawn, the beginning of the year Collaborative Puzzle Project got hung up! 
• Westlawn Art Club students are in the midst of learning stained glass! We are so fortunate to have some experts join us to assist in the exciting, yet challenging, art process. Students are creating either a stained glass sun catcher or ornament. We were hoping to have them done by winter break, but they may not be completed until after the New Year. We shall see!

5th Grade Art & Music Field Trip!

A highlight of the end of October was our 5th grade Art and Music Field Trips! The Art and Music teaching teams at each of the elementary schools took their 5th graders on a highly anticipated field trip to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and either the Milwaukee Art Museum (for Thorson and Parkview) or the Lynden Sculpture Garden (for Westlawn). At Westlawn, we alternate between the LSG and the MAM (Milwaukee Art Museum) to mix things up a bit. Each experience is enriching and inspiring since our students get to see professional works by the musicians and artists. We are all in awe when we experience the amazing sounds and sights produced by people that are not only good at their craft, but also exhibit such important characteristics that we hope our students will embody more and more over time. Many of them understand that it takes a lot of hard work, passion, failure, cooperation with others, and continually pursuing joy to make such dreams a reality and accomplish great things!

Enjoy looking through albums from each experience:

Westlawn Photo Album

Parkview

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Thorson Photo Album

Westlawn Collaborative Puzzle Project!

Art Club - Stained Glass Project!

Kindergarten artists just finished their Picasso Inspired Pumpkins! They enjoyed reading the book "When Pigasso Met Mootisse" as an introduction to the project. They learned all about Picasso's cubist art style and attempted to created pumpkin paintings in that fun and unusual art style of looking at an object from many angles. They had so much fun with the roll-a-Picasso game that helped them to draw facial features for their pumpkin. The students also learned how to make many different oranges and greens for painting their pumpkins. To finish our projects, the artists cut two layers of grass and added extra drawing to their backgrounds. They then signed their artwork like a true artist does :)

K-Fry practice Picasso portraits with the Roll-A-Picasso game :)

K-Sheppard practice Picasso portraits with the Roll-A-Picasso game :)

A fund Halloween How to Draw :)

Painting our pumpkins and adding the facial features!

Students had a blast experimenting with arranging the facial features in different places.

First grade artists completed their sketchbooks covers with their Matisse Style Monoprints! The students studied the artwork of Henri Matisse and learned that Matisse's style is considered Fauvism, which means "wild beasts." Due to his use of bold color in his artwork, some critics said his artwork looked like it was painted by a wild beast. We re-read the book from kindergarten, "When Pigasso Met Mootisse" to see the contrast between the two artists, this time looking more closely at Matisse's style of painting.

The students had a blast making the Monoprints by coloring tin foil with marker, spraying it with misty water, and pressing their sharpie drawings into the color. They are all so unique! They then made "cut-outs" like Matisse made later in his life after he was bound to a wheelchair and shifted his art making method to cutting out paper. They added their cut shapes to the corners of their sketchbooks covers.

The first grade artists are now learning about another artist, David Hockney, as they create colorful landscapes in his Pop Art style. The students enjoyed reading the book by Cassie Stephens, Larry the Line, and filled up their landscapes with many different lines and patterns. Later on, we will be adding Scarecrows to their artwork!

Matisse Monoprints!

Sketchbooks on display :)

Free Choice Art creations during a class reward. Once the students fill up their class palette they get to vote on a class reward. Free Choice Art is very popular!

More FCA creations! Some students figured out how to make their own sewing cards :)

David Hockney Inspired Landscapes!

Painting watercolor over oil pastel line designs.

Second grade artists completed their Op Art Hands for their sketchbooks cover designs! The art making process involved measuring with a ruler and drawing parallel lines, identifying pairs of complementary colors, creating a pattern of alternating colors, demonstrating a range of color intensity by using hard, medium, and light pressure with the crayon. The project was a little intimidating, but once the students understood the tricks to creating an optical illusion they got a hang of it and seemed to really enjoy the process. Many of them felt they met their goal of "tricking the viewers eyes" with their 3D hands!

Also pictured below you will see some sketchbook entries, including #3 on their checklist, "draw a tree house." 

The 2nd grade artists are now shifting from Op Art Hands to Pop Art Paint Tubes and Palettes! Stay tuned for more pictures of that for the next art update. The project is a favorite of mine as it involves so many art making processes, such as drawing, painting, printmaking, paper Mache sculpture, and air dry clay! PLEASE SEND IN EMPTY T.P. ROLLS FOR THE PROJECT! Thanks so much :)

Incredible tree house drawings in 2nd grade sketchbooks! They are seriously AH-MAZING! Mrs. Abrahamson's class is pictured.

More amazing tree house drawings by Mrs. Huber's class!

2nd grade Op Art sketchbook covers by Ms. Miller's class (the 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Miller ;)

Third grade artists did a fabulous job creating their "Design Your Own Alphabets." The students then took those letter designs and added their name and sketchbook to the front cover. The students also designed their own symmetrical frames with cutting paper (like a paper snowflake) and traced the outline. Inside of their frame, they will be filling it with Zentangle designs (a fun and relaxing form of doodling). 

The third grade artists also learned the drawing method called "contour line drawing." They practiced regular contour (the outer edge of an object), blind Contour (not being able to look at your paper the entire time you draw), and modified contour (looking back and forth between your paper and the subject you're drawing). The biggest challenge was not being able to pick up their drawing utensil the entire time they were drawing. The students soon began to realize how fun and freeing that style of drawing can be knowing that it wouldn't turn out perfect and can also be goofy and abstract. 

We will soon be headed into a color theory unit, with our first project being Holiday Lights Paintings!

Design Your Own Alphabets!

Sketchbook covers with the letter designs and frame borders complete.

Contour Line Drawings!

Some finished contour line portraits, including a portrait a student drew of me! :)

Fourth grade artists were given the theme of "street art" for their sketchbooks cover designs. They studied the artwork of Keith Haring and had their pictures taken doing two actions that represented their personality. The students did such an awesome job with this and it was so fun to see their individual personalities come out through the simple act of taking their picture. The pictures were then printed, blued, and bubble cut on colored construction paper to resemble Haring's figures in his art. For the sketchbook covers the students were instructed to add two figures, along with "lines of action." They also added their name and "sketchbook" in graffiti letters. 

The fourth grade artists are making a second art piece using their other two figures by gluing those down to a larger piece of paper. This time, they are adding a background with colorful construction paper. They are all so creative! I can't wait to see them all finished :)

Some sketchbook entries using our "golden checklist" of sketchbook inspiration.

Street Art Sketchbook Cover Designs

Their second piece of artwork with an added background!

I had to include some of their pictures that were taken to create their figures.
Here is 4-DeGarmo

Some actions in 4-Butzler

Some actions in 4-Ned

Fifth grade artists learned all about the Elements and Principles of Art during the month of October! They played games and learned some memorization tricks so that they would KNOW the 7 elements and 7 principles and be able to not only recognize them in a work of art, but apply them to their own works of art! This knowledge was put to the test when they enjoyed their 5th grade Art & Music field trip! Even at the symphony, the conductor named some of the elements and principles! The neat things about them is they are connected to both art AND music. In art, we can think of the elements like the INGREDIENTS of art. Absolutely no art would exist with out at least one of the elements. The principles are like the RECIPE... how the artists use the ingredients and puts them together. 

Following the field trip, the 5th grade artists took part in a two day art challenge called "Think Outside the Square! We read a book called "Perfect Square" as inspiration. The book showed how an ordinary square could be changed and transformed into something new. The students then selected ONE square (any color they wanted) and were asked to transform it into something new. As you can imagine, the creations were very diverse and the students enjoyed the challenge of having to think "outside the square."

Following the creation of their art, the fifth graders wrote an artist statement about their creation, creatively and thoughtfully mounted their artwork on other paper to serve as a "frame," and participated in a "musical chairs art critique" with their peers!

Elements and Principles Art Games!

The students were taught an acronym and a mnemonic device to help them memorize the vocabulary words. 

Thorson and Parkview students learned about Santiago Calatrava (architect of the Milwaukee Art Museum) and designed their own architecture inspired by him!

Think Outside the Square Art Challenge!

Artwork with their Artist Statements