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.