January Art Update!

Hello and thanks for stopping by!

January was a busy month in the art room! Many classes completed art projects and moved on to creating artwork that will be on display at this year's carnival! With this year's theme being "The Great State Fair" so many neat ideas came to mind for art project possibilities. You may be hearing your child talk about their "fair" themed project, but hopefully you will have a chance to see their artwork in person at the carnival on February 24th! If you are interested in helping hang artwork during the week leading up to the carnival, please email me! I am always looking for willing and helpful volunteers! 😄

In the meantime, take a look at what Westlawn students have been up to during the month of January!

5th grade took a break from their Elements and Principle Accordion projects to create beautiful snowflake projects! The students painted paper with two analogous watercolors using the "exploding color" technique. They then sprinkled salt on the wet watercolors to give the effect of ice crystals in winter. The students loved seen the change on their backgrounds with the interaction between the salt and the painted paper. So cool! (pardon the pun 😉). The students were then given the challenge of creating a minimum of four paper snowflakes, two of which needed to be their own design. Although there were some challenges and mistakes with the snowflake making, the students persevered and were pleased with the results! The 5th grade students are now beginning Fair Food Paintings in the style of artist Wayne Thiebaud.

4th grade spent the month of January working hard on their Realistic Self-Portraits! They have GROWN SO MUCH with their portrait drawing abilities and I am looking forward to showing off their final self portraits once they are completed. As we entered the month of February we paused our portrait unit to begin creating artwork for the "Great State Fair" themed carnival! The 4th graders are learning to paint fair animals in an Impressionistic style! Impressionism is my FAVORITE style of painting, so not only are the students in for a treat, but so am I! Currently, the students are completing their animal sketches that will be made into paintings.

3rd grade is in the midst of their mixed media art projects that will be displayed at the Westlawn carnival! I am so excited about these projects because they include a range of media, which means students received a range of art experiences! The Color Ferris Wheels, include, color mixing, splatter painting, and string art! Currently, the students are creating the string art designs using two complementary colors of yarn (complementary colors are colors that are opposite on the color wheel). The students and I, are looking forward to putting all of the parts together to see the finished product!

2nd grade spent the month of January completing their Paper Mache Sea Creatures! They thoroughly enjoyed the painting process, in which they made their sea creatures appear to come to life! The students were encouraged to mix colors, add textures and other details to enhance the look of their creature. The students are now starting their "fair themed" projects which will be in the form of relief prints! I was impressed with the sketches the students made last art class in preparation for the prints. They did an excellent job drawing images that filled up the space and resembled the pictures they were looking at. Some students drew their images 3 or 4 times until they got it right!

1st grade completed their adorable Clay Snowmen during the month of January, and are now in the midst of their "fair" themed project! I read the book "When Pigasso Met Mootisse" to both the first grade and kindergarten classes. To give you an idea of what it's about... "Pigasso" (as you may have guessed) is a pig inspired by artist Pablo Picasso, and "Mootisse" is a bull inspired by artist "Henri Matisse." Although the pig and bull characters are fictional, the story is semi realistic with themes like an "art brawl" between the two artists. They became competitive and at first fought to top the other but eventually began to appreciate the other artist's style and point of view (a good lesson for our young artists, and people in general). So... first grade is now creating "Mootisse's" in the style of Henri Matisse!

Kindergarten completed their beautiful Catching Snowflake projects that are now on display in the front hallway! The students are becoming familiar with the art style of Pablo Picasso as they attempt to create Pig Paintings in Picasso's style! The students did a great job with our "draw along" in which I drew an example "Pigasso" and had them follow. I love how every pig is unique and that each artist added their own twist!

Also this month... Westlawn artwork is on display at the Cedarburg District Boardroom! No parents were notified about their child's artwork on display since I decided to make it a display rather than an "art show." I felt it was too difficult for families to view the artwork with having to arrange a time that did not conflict with the board room schedule. There will be, however, three upcoming art shows in 2018...The Cedarburg Art Museum (March), Cedarburg Cultural Center (March), and Ozaukee County Fair (August). If your child is chosen for one of these art shows they will be coming home with a special art letter!

December Art Update!

Hello and happy new year! I hope you had an enjoyable winter break!

As I mentioned in the email sent out to Westlawn families, I am continuing to have issues with Blogger, so unfortunately I was not able to post an update under each of the grade levels this month. I am currently looking into transitioning to a new blog (hopefully one that is more suited for the many pictures I add each month). So... in the meantime, I will be posting a brief summary of each grade level on the MAIN PAGE of my blog until I get a new one up and running! Thank you for your patience as I make the switch!


The following took place in art class during the month of December...

5th grade is in the process of studying the elements and principles of art! There are 7 elements and 7 principles the students are learning and beginning to memorize. The elements include: line, shape, color, value, texture, space, and form. The principles include: balance, contrast, emphasis, pattern, unity, movement, and rhythm. We began the unit by taking a pre-test to see what the students currently know about the elements and principles. We then studied the definitions and discussed each word individually. The 5th graders are now working on preparations for their art project, entitled "Elements and Principles Accordion" in which they will illustrate all 14 words using a symbol of their choice. After completing their thumbnail sketches on the E&P planning sheet, the students will begin each "mini" project on the accordion. The most exciting part of the project is that students will be able to make their own choice of which art mediums to use for their accordions. The art room is being opened up to them so they can explore and use any art media that they wish!

Taking the E&P pre-test

E&P planning sheet with thumbnail sketches. Chosen theme: music notes.

E&P planning sheet with thumbnail sketches. Chosen theme: Google logo.

4th grade is in the midst of their self-portrait unit! The students have spent multiple classes learning how to draw a realistic self-portrait. We began the art unit by drawing a practice self-portrait with ZERO help from me! That activity served as a pre-test to see what the students knew about portrait drawing. Following the "pre-test" the 4th graders practiced drawing each individual facial feature in their sketchbooks by using "how to draw sheets" as well as a mirror. During this time, they showed a great deal of growth, which was both exciting and encouraging! The students are now in the process of learning the proportions of the face by utilizing grid lines and other techniques to help learn proper placement of the features. Soon, the students will put all of their new knowledge together by creating a final self-portrait drawing, using chalk pastels!

Facial feature sketches

Practice self-portrait ("pre-test")

Self-Portrait #1 (practicing facial proportions with gridlines)

3rd grade is learning all about COLOR! The students completed a color theory art sheet that taught the students what primary, secondary and tertiary colors are. They also learned about complementary colors, analogous colors, neutral colors, and warm vs. cool colors. The students then painted a BIG color grid made up of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors that they are soon going to use for a color wheel art project. The students had a blast mixing the tertiary colors, which are made up of primary and secondary colors mixed together. Like cooking, mixing colors requires finding the right balance until you get it just right. The students did a great job with accuracy and craftsmanship (which were the two criteria for the color grid painting). 

 

2nd grade is continuing a paper mache project that was started with Ms. Schread! The students are creating 3-D sea creatures! During the month of December, the students finished their sculpture (made up of newspaper and masking tape) before beginning the paper mache. Eventually, we got to the messy and exciting task of paper macheing our sea creatures using strips of phone book paper (I explained what a phone book was... the kids got a kick out of it) along with watered down glue. We are now nearly ready to paint our creatures, after we put a final finishing coat of paper mache on the sculptures. I look forward to seeing the finish projects as the students have been working so hard to create their 3-D sea creatures!

1st grade spent the month of December making clay snowmen! We read the book "Snowmen at Night", by Caralyn Buehner, and pictures by Mark Buehner. The silly and fun book was a great way to start the art project by stirring up the students' imaginations. After reading the book, the students were asked to think about what they wanted their snowman to look like. Once the students created the three pinch pots, they used the four S's (score, slip, stick, and smooth) to get the pieces of clay to stick together. They then began adding features such as the face, head gear, and neck gear. They were also encouraged to add textures and designs to part of their clay snowman. The students did a great job of following directions and using originality in their designs! I love how each snowman is unique and has a personality of its own! Soon, the students will be painting their clay after it has been fired in the kiln!

  

 

Kindergarten started the month of December by reading the book, Snowflakes Fall, by Patricia MacLachlan. We talked about what we enjoy about winter. There were comments such as, "sledding, building snowmen and snow forts, celebrating Christmas, ice skating," and so much more! The book we read talked about how each snowflake is unique, just like us. I had the students reach out their hands and look up, pretending they were catching snowflakes with their tongues. The art projects the students are creating will show just that, each student catching snowflakes with their tongues!

The students first designed mittens with oil pastels and tempera paints. They were asked to make their mittens symmetrical by making the designs the same on both sides. They also created a hat to match their mittens. The background of the artwork was painted with black and blue paint to resemble a dark night sky. Soon, the students will be printing snowflakes using found objects! They are doing a fantastic job with this project and seem to be enjoying each new step!

 

Welcome back to the Westlawn Art Blog!

Hello Westlawn Families!

I'm so excited to be returning to Westlawn on November 27th! Of course it is bittersweet, since it means I will no longer be able to spend days at home with my 3 month old daughter, Naomi (I'm sure many of you know what that's like... pray for me)! Despite that heartache, I am truly excited to see all my students and get back to creating art with them!

I was so fortunate to have an excellent long term sub while I was on leave. Johanna Schread has an extensive art background and is currently enrolled in UWM for art education. Her role as my long term sub gave her a good look into the life of an elementary art teacher, and she did a great job diving right in! Her last day at Westlawn is tomorrow (November 21st). Please join me in thanking her for her hard work and dedication to our Westlawn students over the past couple of months. She did a wonderful job!

I look forward to updating the blog at the end of December with pictures and descriptions of students and their work. I hope you have had a chance to talk with your kids about what they have been doing in art so far this school year. Lots of good stuff!

While I don't have any pictures of student work, I do have a few photos of our sweet daughter (at 10 days old) and our new family of three!

Naomi Rose
Born August 15, 2017