Friday, November 6, 2026

October Art Update!

Hello Artists and Families!


What a fun filled October it was! We enjoyed lots of engaging art making in the art studio and we also had a few exciting events such as our 5th Grade Art and Music Field Trips, Art Club & Dolphin Chorus tie dyeing sessions, and Westlawn 5th Grade Art Club Pumpkin Carving! 

We also have started to photograph and upload student artwork to Artsonia! In the next week or so, please look for an email from me AND a paper slip that will come home with directions on how to connect to your child's account on Artsonia! (Thorson slips have already been sent home). I will need a couple more weeks to complete artwork and upload pictures. My goal is to have two artworks uploaded for each student by winter break so products can be ordered if you wish to do so! Thanks for your patience as I navigate this new and exciting program for our young artists and their families :)

Please check out all of the pictures and description of what has been happening in the art room! Enjoy!

Westlawn 5th grade art & music field trip to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Lynden Sculpture Garden!

Westlawn 5th Grade Art & Music Field Trip Album

A nice picture... and of course a goofy one. That wasn't hard for anyone ;)

Thorson 5th grade on their field trip to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Art Museum!

Westlawn Art Club tie dyeing smocks!
4th & 5th grade Dolphin Chorus tie dyeing shirts!
3rd Annual Westlawn Art Club Pumpkin Carving Display!

Such an awesome group of kids!

Lighting up our school :)

Kindergarten artists finished their Picasso Inspired Pumpkins this month! They enjoyed learning about artist Pablo Picasso and the style of Cubism :) We did lots of drawing, painting, cutting, arranging (like a Mr. Potato head), and gluing our facial features in place. Student enjoyed playing a "roll a picasso game" to draw the eyes, nose, and mouth. To finish the project, we made grass for the pumpkin to sit in :)








Free Choice Art! We filled up our class palette so the students got to enjoy a special class reward :)



First grade artists are almost finished with their Scarecrows and David Hockney Inspired Landscapes! The students did a wonderful job creating the Pop Art brightly colored landscapes with oil pastels and watercolor paint. They are now having a blast putting together a one of a kind scarecrow with wall paper and scrapbooking paper. Our masterpieces are almost complete :)


Free Choice Art!


Making our scarecrows


Putting it all together!


Second grade artists are focusing on Op Art (not to be confused with Pop Art). Op Art stands for "optical art" that tricks our eyes. After making our Op Art Hands on the cover of our sketchbooks we decided to try Tessellations, inspired by artist M.C. Escher. This type of art combines art and math. Students are designing and creating their own tessellation tracer that they repeat to make a puzzle, which will hopefully trick your eyes. Stay tuned for how they turn out!

Parkview 2nd grade artists are working on a special collaborative artwork with insects and relief printing!





We filled up our class palette so Free Choice Art was enjoyed by all!


Free Choice Art - the BEST!

The gelli printing station was VERY popular!


Tessellation work

Parkview 2nd grade insect project (transferring our drawings to foam which will be used as our printing plates).


3rd grade artists completed their Suitcase Sketchbooks this month! We added straps, buckles, and corners. Some students added extra features like pockets, but the most favorite features we added were the luggage tags and handmade STICKERS! The kids were amazed at how fun and easy it is to make stickers using parchment paper and packaging tape :)




Enjoying Free Choice Art one class after filling up our palette :)








Fourth grade artists are nearly finished with their very special and unique Silhouette Self Portraits. Each student had their picture taken, cut out the printed image, traced it, and filled it up with drawings that represented their personality. We talked about what makes a quality composition in an artwork including: overlapping, using the whole space, variety of sizes, movement, and balance. We also practiced quality coloring techniques with colored pencils such as: color intensity/pencil pressure, texture, and color mixing. Students completed their artwork by selecting a colored background that enhanced the look of their artwork and then signed their artwork with their name and year. 

Parkview 4th grade artists are completing a Gelli Printed Birds project for Parkview's beginning of the year collaborative artwork. Soon they will also be starting their Silhouette Self Portraits!









Gelli printing! An instant addiction and captivating art making process :)

Beautiful birds!!


Fifth grade artists are wrapping up their sketchbook cover design... Caricature Self Portraits! It is always interesting to watch the students' initial reaction of learning what they will be creating (lots of grumbling and hesitation) and then... only a couple classes later... they surprise themselves with how much they have improved!! A big THANK YOU to high school art teacher and caricature artist, Katrin Hustead who made a demo video for my students many years ago. This helped the students tremendously, along with help sheets, mirrors, and past student examples. I have a feeling this may have started a new special interest for some of our 5th grade artists ;)

ALL 5th graders can submit entries for a yearbook cover contest!

Thorson entries are due November 16th and Westlawn entries are due November 23rd!
Students were given directions and should turn in their completed designs to their art teacher. They can work individually or collaboratively. Please make sure they add their name and class on a sticky note to the BACK. Reach out with any questions!






Aren't they awesome?!

Loving Free Choice Art after filling up our class palette :)



See ya next time!