February Art Update!

Hello again! The end of February crept up on us and suddenly March is here! Lots of exciting things in store for this next month (hello art show season!), but first let's take a look back at what our young artists did during the month of February...

Kindergarten artists are wrapping up their Catching Snowflakes artwork! Not only are the art pieces super cute and colorful, but the young artists also learned a lot in the art making process! They created the snowy night background by using big brushstrokes of black and blue paint, leaving behind some streaks of white to represent snow. Then the students got into the mitten, hat, and jacket designs to create a matching set! We talked all about types of lines and attempted to make our designs symmetrical on each mitten and sleeve. We also talked about the relationship between oil pastels and paint and wanting the oil pastels to win the battle. The oil pastels say "don't go here paint, I was here first!" 

Following the designing, was lots of cutting, including the face and tongue. In order to encourage quality cutting, it helped to use the analogy of a gymnast walking on a balance beam or person walking on a tightrope. The students imagined they were the scissors and the outline was a tight rope. They cut "slow like a snail." After we arranged and glued all of our pieces down, we are now in the process of printing snowflakes with found objects! The students thoroughly enjoyed when I walked around the room sprinkling glitter on their snowflakes as the "glitter fairy!" :)

First grade artists enjoyed making their Clay Snowmen during the month of February and even had some time to do a sketch of a snowman in their sketchbook as a colored ground drawing with oil pastels on black paper! In the last art update, the students had just formed and attached their 3 pinch pots together using the 4 S's (score, slip, stick, and smooth)... essential steps to getting clay to join together. They had SO much fun adding unique features to their snow people including a head piece, a neck piece, a face, and any other additional features they desired. It certainly helped having practiced first with the playdough so that clay making techniques like rolling a coil, or making a sphere was a familiar process. I absolutely love to see the students using their creativity and taking risks in their art making since it encourages lots of fun and problem solving in the learning :)

The projects have now been fired in the kiln and the students are loving the final step of painting the snow people! They started by adding a mod podge and a pearl paint mixture to the "snow" areas, and then tempera paint to parts of the snowman that needed color. The finishing touch will be adding little twigs for the arms! :)

Second grade artists completed their FANTASTIC (or should I say "splash-tastic") Mixed Media Ocean Creature Mosaics! I just LOVE how each creature is unique and how the students not only learned the process of creating a mosaic, but also explored a variety of art materials and techniques for the background! After completing the ocean creature, the students were encouraged to use at least two NEW materials or techniques for making the background. Some options included: colored sand, glitter, bubble wrap and bubble printing, saran wrap, tin foil, splatter painting, sponge printing, fork scraping in paint, and MORE! Based on each ocean scene, the students chose techniques that made sense for their background. The colored sand and the splatter painting with a toothbrush were the most popular. Enjoy taking a look at the artworks... each one is a masterpiece!

We are now going to be starting CLAY for our next art unit, YAY! :)

Third grade artists completed their Holiday Lights Paintings and then switched to a new project inspired by African American female artist, Alma Thomas! The Alma Thomas Inspired Heart Mosaics were both connected to Black History Month and Valentines Day! The students first drew and cut out a symmetrical heart and then turned it into a Monochromatic (many versions of one color) paper mosaic. After gluing the heart down to a new paper, the artists began using Thomas's painting style (abstract art) to create a painted mosaic around the heart. We talked about how mosaics can be made from many different materials, even brush strokes! The key in making a mosaic is consistency (consistent size and  shapes, and consistent spaces in between the shapes). 

To add in even more of a fun challenge, the students were directed to take a trip around the color wheel (color being the big theme in 3rd grade)! They could choose whether to go clockwise or counterclockwise around the color wheel, and they were also given the option to hand mix the tertiary colors OR stick with just primary and secondary. They each did a terrific job and were SO PROUD with the end product :)

Fourth grade artists are nearly done with a three-part artwork, Low Relief Landscapes: Sculpture, Rubbing, and Print! When I returned from my maternity leave they had just started the project and it was, well bit of a hot mess coming back to that (haha). It can be a challenging concept to understand layering pieces to a puzzle with background, middle ground, and foreground, BUT... with some more practice, some lessons in what does and doesn't work, and some added tools and materials, the students made a GREAT deal of progress! Each one of them did some problem solving along the way and also learned some terrific art concepts and skills that will hopefully stick with them as they grow as artists.

After the construction of the Low Relief Landscape Sculptures were complete and the students had at least 3 layers that showed a variety of textures, we created texture rubbings using crayon and oil pastel. This one day lesson was easy and fun! The next class, the students painted the entire landscape with ONE color and created monoprints ("one print") by pressing moist white paper on the painted relief sculpture. The last part of the project was to demonstrate their understanding of value by creating a value scale with added white (tints) and added black (shades). The 4th grade artists then used those same values on their final landscape to show "atmospheric perspective." The result... AMAZING! :)

Fifth grade artists are in the midst of their Artist Inspired Self Portraits! The students chose from a list of 30+ artists representing a variety of art movements, time periods, places in the world, and ethnicities. The students spent time researching the artist and also responding to their art by practicing the steps of "describing, analyzing, interpreting, and judging the artwork. The reverse side of their planning sheets required the students make a list of materials and tools they wished to use for their art creation as well as a list of steps that they planned to follow. As you can imagine, the very open ended project that gave students lots of freedom and choice in their artwork was AWESOME for some and a big challenge for others. It also made a difference what art making process the students chose since some require more knowledge and experience.

This artwork is a perfect example of the art making process being just as important as the final product. The students are learning SO MUCH... about the artist and their style, about the nature of the art media and different techniques, AND about their work ethic, time management, and ability to find an answer to a problem. If you haven't yet asked YOUR 5th grade artist about their Artist Inspired Self Portrait, please do! They should be able to tell you about that artist and all that they are learning, including their approach to making their self portrait.

January Art Update!

Hello artists and families! It was great to be united with all of the students when I returned to school on January 23rd! Of course I enjoyed my time at home with my now 3 month old and am missing her during the day, but it was also great to be back with the students and see how they have grown since I've been gone! I was pleased to hear that so many of them enjoyed their time with Mrs. Badeen and continued to be inspired in art class.

Take a look at each of the grade levels below to see what they have been up to!

Kindergarten artists completed their two part robot project! They had so much fun using their creativity with a variety of materials for their low relief sculpture! The robots were constructed with materials such as: cardboard, tin foil, foam, pipe cleaners, yarn, and more! After creating a watercolor resist in the background with oil pastels, wooden gears, and watercolor paint, the students wrapped shapes with tin foil and glued them on to construct the body. As they started to add extra features like the face, electronics, hands, feet and head they were encouraged to think about the function of their robot to inspire their design. They all had great stories to go with their robots! I just love hearing their clever ideas and wild imaginations!

Once the low relief sculptures were complete, we put a blank white piece of paper over top so the students could make a second robot by rubbing oil pastel over the shapes and textures underneath. It's so fun to see it appear like magic! We related it to taking an x-ray of the robot or digging up fossils like a paleontologist!

Soon we will be starting a mixed media winter themed project called Catching Snowflakes!

First grade artists paused their Henri Matisse inspired artwork to start their Clay Snowman, before winter passes us by! They enjoyed playing with playdough while I read them the book "Snowmen At Night." The opportunity to practice making pinch pots with the playdough helped the students to be more successful with their pinch pots when they started using the clay. They knew exactly what to do since we had just practiced it the class before! They created large, medium, and small pinch pots that were stacked together. They also learned how to join the clay together using the "4 S's (score, slip, stick, smooth) so the snowman would stay together. Next class, we will be starting to add features to the snow people that involve more clay making techniques AND gives the students a chance to be expressive and make their art piece one of a kind :)

Second grade artists did a FABULOUS job drawing and painting ocean creatures with Mrs. Badeen for their current project. The Mixed Media Ocean Creature Mosaics tie in nicely with the unit they study in 2nd grade! When I returned to school the students were ready to start on the mosaic part of the artwork... the best part! :) They watched TWO videos to inspire them and guide them in the understanding of mosaic art (a video about mosaic artist Mary Wells, and a video of mosaics all over the world). They learned WHO makes mosaics, WHAT a mosaic is, WHERE mosaics are made, WHY they are made, and WHEN they have been made. 

The 2nd grade artists were instructed to select materials that match the colors in their ocean creature, cut them into pieces no bigger than their thumbnail and no smaller than their pinky, and to glue them down close together with a spaghetti noodle space in between. I was curious to see how much patience the students would demonstrate during the art making process, and they honestly surprised me! They seem to be enjoying adding all of the little pieces and are understanding the art making process. The fact that they have a WIDE variety of materials to choose from (paint samples, newspaper, metallic paper, foam, etc.) makes it more FUN! :)

Third grade artists just finished up their Holiday Lights Painting. The artwork gave the students a great deal of practice with color mixing since they were expected to mix colors accurately where ever two lightbulbs overlap. The students did a great job taking on the challenge and even added details to their artwork like "glare" on the lightbulbs with oil pastel, a filament inside using drawing pen, and a shiny metallic base by showing a range of values with pencil. 

The background of the artwork was the biggest hit as students had fun deciding from two fun painting techniques: splatter painting and black watercolor with added salt! Some students were so captivated by the art techniques that they wanted to both!

We will now be starting a NEW art unit which is focused on fiber art! We're excited to show you more next month!

Fourth grade artist are doing a FABULOUS job creating Low Relief Landscapes! This is one of the most challenging projects I teach, but ends up having the coolest results! The artwork will be just one piece in a 3 part project, with the other two artworks being a print and texture rubbing that comes from the original landscape sculpture. 

The students began the project by selecting a landscape that interested them. They reviewed the parts of a landscape (background, middle ground, and foreground) and then were instructed to sketch out their landscape by simplifying it into basic shapes (nasic enough to cut). The real challenge came when needing to cut the cardboard and layer the pieces to show the illusion of depth. Once I returned to school, I showed the students how they could cut and layer materials other than cardboard which not only made the cutting easier but also gave the artwork more variety in texture! The color of the materials won't matter because the students will eventually be painting the landscape in monochromatic colors to show atmospheric perspective. 

I am PROUD of the 4th graders for being creative problem solvers and good helpers to fellow classmates as we work through this fun yet challenging project!

Fifth grade artists had just wrapped up their Found Object Sculptures when I had returned to school. Mrs Badeen did a great job presenting the project with a slideshow that included many sculptures as inspiration! The students had creative freedom to choose a theme for their own sculpture and did a lot of exploring and learning through the art making process. 

We spent time learning how to write an Artist Statement which allowed the students to share the WHAT, HOW, and WHY behind their artwork. This was especially enjoyable for me to witness as I was not there during the development stages of the project. The 5th grade artists then turned their Artist Statements into Seesaw presentations that will be accessible as QR codes later this spring at the 5th Grade Fine Arts Night! :) 

It was important that the students took time to demonstrate all of the art standards (create, present, respond, and connect) as they are all valuable steps that an artist experiences in the art making process. When the student takes time to reflect on their choice and look back on what went well and what they would change, it helps them to GROW so much more!

We also dedicated an art class to learning how to RESPOND to art by participating in four activities that taught the students to describe, analyze, interpret, and judge an artwork. We looked at a self portrait by artist Marc Chagall and it was SO fun to see and hear all of the students thoughts and observations. They learned that there is so much more to responding to an artwork than just simply deciding if you like it. You can learn so much by looking closely and naming what you see (describing), studying the elements that were used to make up the artwork (analyzing), considering the meaning and intent of the artwork (interpreting), and giving it your final thoughts and opinion (judging). Each of the activities were fun and engaging for the kids, promoted community and collaboration, and really got them thinking!

We are now moving into our next artwork that I anticipate being fun and challenging for the students. They will be selecting a famous artist and creating a self portrait inspired by their art style! Stay tuned to see which artists are chosen and how the students grow as artists as they create their masterpieces!

October & November Art Update!

Hello art students and families!

I hope you all are well! My apologies, it was my intention to send out an art blog update before I went on maternity leave, but understandably I got really busy as it got closer to my due date. So better late than never I guess! We welcomed our daughter, Maia Eden, on November 3rd! Her two older siblings were especially excited to meet her and we've all been adjusting well to life as a family of five. Baby snuggles during the holidays are the best! 

Speaking of holidays, I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and have more to look forward to as we approach more holiday celebrations! I sure miss seeing the students and hope they all are well. 

If you have not met Noora Badeen, she is filling in as your child's art teacher while I am away. I am so grateful to have found a long term sub that is both a skilled artist and gifted teacher. She is a genuinely kind person and is eager to care for the students and support them in their artistic growth. Thank you Noora!

Here is a bit about Noora...

Noora Badeen Assyrian Artist born in Baghdad Iraq moved to Chicago IL in 2012. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2020. She has had several exhibitions here in Chicago “Voice of Race” was awarded first place at Oakton Community College 2015. Another show in Iraq called “Women for Women International” received a special recognition from the Women for Women International Organization, Washington, District of Columbia. Several of her paintings are permanently on display at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2018-present. In 2021, she won in a ”Competition & Exhibition" with Contemporary Art Gallery Online for their International Call for Artists in their 7th Annual 2021 “ALL Women Artist". She lives in Saukville Wisconsin with her husband. 

In this art update I am going to primarily describe what the students did during the month of October, but will also touch on their focus from the month of November. Since I have been gone, I don't have pictures from the month of November so will just share an explanation.

Westlawn 5th graders also enjoyed their Art and Music field trip to the Symphony Orchestra and Lynden Sculpture Garden so be sure to check out the photo album at the end of this post under the 5th grade update!

Kindergarten artists finished up their adorable and oh so fun Picasso Style Pumpkins! The students chose a pumpkin template and then gave it more cubist qualities by mixing and painting many tints and shades of green for the stem and tint and shades of orange for the skin. It was so fun to watch the young artists make new discoveries with their color mixing as they learned to make art like Picasso.

The fun continued as the students made facial features for their pumpkin with a "Roll a Picasso" dice game! Afterwards they were able to cut, arrange, and glue the features on to make an expression they liked. To complete the project, the students made fringe cuts in green paper for grass!

In between projects the students had time to create some additional artworks including how to draw folding surprises, and sketchbook entries! With every artwork we create, big or small, the students bring such excitement and enjoyment to what they're making. They are so fun to teach!

Mrs. Badeen is now helping the students to create their current project Shape Robots! The students practiced identifying a variety of shapes using a fun robot coloring sheet. They are now creating the background for the robot project by using wooden gears to create texture rubbings on white paper. They will paint over the crayon rubbings with watercolor to create a colorful resist. The one of a kind robot the students create will go on top. The students will use a variety of shapes and materials to make their robot including cardboard, tin foil, foam, and more! I can't wait to see the students' creative minds in action as they create their robot masterpieces!

Adding oil pastel to our pumpkins..

Mixing up and painting many as many different oranges as one can create!

Coming along nicely kindergarten artists!

Monster drawing folding surprise!

Roll-A-Picasso!

First grade artists completed their Scarecrow With David Hockney Inspired Landscape! I enjoyed teaching the students about artist David Hockney and seeing their landscapes develop before starting my maternity leave. The students had so much fun creating landscapes with a variety of line designs and bold colors inspired by Hockney's Pop Art Style! This is the first year I incorporated that fun twist into the landscape and it appeared that the students enjoyed it too! 

After creating the watercolor resist background using oil pastels and liquid watercolors, the students then started to make their scarecrows with the help of Mrs. Badeen! I would imagine that the students had lots of fun making their one of a kind scarecrow using wallpaper samples for the clothing! The art making process is much like creating a paper doll. The students even added a facial expression that they thought would fit the scarecrows personality.

Following the Scarecrow and landscape project, the first grade artists are now studying artist, Henri Matisse! They read the Book "Painting With Scissors" to learn about Matisse and his unique art making process. They will now be creating Matisse Inspired Mobiles with Mrs. Badeen! I can't wait to see how the students are enjoying the 3D form of art making and what they are learning along the way! 

Making David Hockney inspired landscapes for our Scarecrow backgrounds!

Painting bright bold watercolors over super fun line designs to give the landscapes a Pop Art style.

Second grade artists worked hard on their Kente Cloth Inspired Paper Weavings during the months of October and November! This project is a favorite of mine, especially since it connects to the African culture that the students study in 2nd grade! The students read the book "The Spider Weaver: Legend of Kente Cloth" and learned where Kente Cloth originated (the Ashanti people of Ghana, Africa). 

The complex project teaches the students basic weaving techniques using a color scheme selected by the student. The students then play a dice game in order to practice drawing designs that can be seen in Kente cloth. The students LOVED this art lesson and enjoyed the surprise of what design they would roll. Once the students became familiar with the designs they selected their favorite to add to the Kente Cloth using permanent markers. This part is by far the most time consuming and requires a great deal of patience and focus to create a pattern of designs. Following the drawing step, the students added yarn to add a tactile component to their cloth, so the artwork has both visual and real texture. As your child what they learned during the weaving project. What part did they enjoy most? What part was the most challenging?

The second grade artists are now moving onto a NEW project, Mixed Media Ocean Mosaics inspired by artist Mary Wells! This will be another project that connects to a unit the students study in 2nd grade... oceans! I can't wait to see what ocean animals the students choose and how they grow as artists during the making of their next project! 

2nd grade artists enjoying a dice game to practice drawing Kente cloth designs!

A fun Halloween skeleton folding surprise :)

Paper weaving practice! SO fun! :)

Third grade artists completed their Creative Color Wheels, one of my personal favorite projects! The project is a nice blend between practicing technical art making skills like color mixing, while also allowing for creative freedom to choose a personalized theme for their color wheel! 

The students completed a color theory art sheet which taught them a great deal about color. They then demonstrated quality painting by filling a grid with primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. They learned that the primary colors cannot be made using other colors, but the secondary and tertiary colors can, They were given the challenge of hand mixing all six tertiary colors until they matched the color wheel. Like a chef learns to balance ingredients until their food tastes just right, the 3rd grade artists learned to balance the mixture of the secondary colors until it made just the right tertiary color.

Mrs. Badeen walked the students through how to assemble the color wheel using their hand cut images. The students selected their theme and then I found a silhouette they could work from. Some images were more challenging than others, so to simplify and quicken the cutting process, students could stack 3 squares of their painted paper to cut them out at the same time. I can't wait to see the finished color wheels!

The 3rd grade artists are now beginning a NEW project, Holiday Lights Watercolor Paintings! Be sure to ask your young artist what they are learning and what they are enjoying most. This project will once again allow for opportunities to color mix, but with a new medium, watercolor paint! Compared to acrylic paint, watercolor is more challenging in some ways because a color cannot be fixed by painting over it. We will see how the students adapt to the unique characteristics of the watercolors!

Some awesome sketchbook entries for the sketchbook inspiration checklist! Top left picture is a blind contour line portrait Evonne drew of Owen :)

Learning all about color with our color theory art sheets!

Painting our color grids in preparation for our Creative Color Wheels!

So colorful! Great job 3rd grade artists!

Fourth grade artists recently completed their Georgia O'Keeffe Inspired Landscape Paintings! The students enjoyed learning about O'Keeffe, including where she grew up (Sun Prairie, WI), and her journey to becoming an artist. They learned that she was the called the "Mother of American Modernism" and created art that was a blend between realism and abstract art. She was best known for painting scenes from nature such as landscapes, skulls, and flowers. The landscape the students studied was called, "Lake George." The artists grew in their painting skills by painting soft blended colors using art tools like sponges and brushes. They also learned how to show value in a landscape by adding white to make a tint and black to make a shade. 

The knowledge of landscapes will prepare the 4th grade artists for their next project which is a 3 part landscape project in which they get to choose their OWN image to work from! The students will be creating Low Relief Landscapes using cardboard and a variety of other materials that can be cut and layered. It is a complex process that Mrs. Badeen will walk them through in the coming month. Once the low relief sculpture is created the students will be able to make two additional projects using the first. They will make a texture rubbing using crayon, and also a monoprint using paint. To finish the art unit, the artists will paint the low relief sculpture using a range of values using one hue of their choice. I can't wait to see how they grow as artists during the challenging and fun art unit!

4th graders enjoying some sketchbook entries and adding more handmade
 stickers to their "Suitcase Sketchbooks!"

Sketching out our landscapes!

Adding in the base layer of color for our landscapes.

Mixing and adding tints and shades to the water and soft clouds to the sky.

Thorson 4th grade artists painting their masterpieces :)

Fifth grade artists were introduced to the Elements and Principles of Art during the month of October. They watched videos about the E&P's, completed vocab sheets, and enjoyed playing games with classmates in order to commit the vocab words to memory and understand the characteristics of each. These elements and principles will be tied into a sculpture project that Mrs. Badeen is teaching the students! They are currently working on that sculpture project. Ask them how it is going!

5th grade artists also utilized their sketchbooks during the month of October by enjoying their first sketchbook entries. Thorson 5th grade students completed a special sketchbook activity in which they designed their own motorcycles in preparation for going to the Harley Davidson as part of their 5th grade Art and Music Field Trip. While participating in the design activity they also watched a video about the history of the Harley Davidson Museum. It was fascinating to see how the design and engineering of the motorcycle has changed overtime and how it has had an impact on the motorcycling community as well as our very own city of Milwaukee. 

As the students neared Veteran's Day all of the 5th graders created a small and super fun art project, Patriotic Pinwheels. These were designed by adding stars and stripes on one side with crayon and paint. The opposite side was created with two types of marble art. One is a marbling technique that involves swirling paint in shaving cream and pressing the paper into it to make a print. The other technique was actual marble painting with paint covered marbles that can be swirled around to make designs.

5th grade artists enjoying some sketchbook entries of their choice!

Awesome sketchbooks and sketches from Thorson 5th grade artists!

Motorcycle designs in preparation for the Thorson 5th grade Art and Music Field Trip!

Playing some fun and competitive Elements and Principles art games!

Westlawn 5th graders playing art games to learn the Elements and Principles in preparation for their field trip and sculpture project!

Tie dyeing the back of the Patriotic Pinwheels with shaving cream and paint! Oh so fun and smelly! Many loved the smell ;)

Awesome and functional Patriotic Pinwheels used by Westlawn 5th grade artists :)

Westlawn 5th grade students had a blast on their Art and Music Field Trip at the end of October. Thank you SO much to the Westlawn PTO for graciously paying for some of the field trip cost making it more affordable for all families. They rock! Check out the photo album from the Lynden Sculpture Garden HERE!