Creative cut-outs: art inspired by Matisse

The students in Mrs. Orso's class learned about the artist Henri Matisse. Although mostly a painter, later in life Matisse focused on large, organic paper cut-out. After students learned about the cut-outs, they were tasked with making their own paper works of art. They only had two restrictions: they must use organic shapes and they cannot write on their papers. The work they came up with was great! Every person made something completely different, using their own creative ideas and imagination. Here are just a few examples of what the students came up with.

3rd grade story weavings from school #6

Students in 3rd grade have been working hard for the past few weeks on their weaving projects. Each student created a plan for their weaving where each color represents a different part of a story. This week Mrs. Kane's class finished! Students made a final copy of their weaving plan to accompany their weaving.

Under the Sea: Elementary & Middle school display at the High School!

What a great job the High School students did in their performance of the Little Mermaid this past weekend! The elementary students we excited to help decorate the lobby of the high school to help enhance the under-water mood. Students in Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade worked together to make under-water murals. The middle school art students created large paper-mache animals.

Art Shows Recap: Schools #4, #5, & #6

April is over and so are the Art Shows. We had a wonderful time at the art shows at schools #4.#5, and #6. Below are some photos from the events!

School #4

School #5

School #6

ART SHOWS! Tonight (4/22) & Tomorrow (4/23)

It's finally here! The month of Art Shows!
The show opening for school #4 was postponed from last week. It is tonight from 6-8 pm. 
The opening for the #6 school art show is Thursday April 23, from 6-8. 
The opening for the #5 school art show is Thursday April 30, from 6-8. **There will also be a bake sale to support the 6th grade class trip to the Museum of Modern Art at the #5 school show**

Hope to see you there!!!

3rd Grade Weaving at #6 School

Each year the third grade students get to weave as their 3D art project for the year. As someone who loves fiber arts myself, this project is a lot of fun to teach. The students love it too! This year, students had to come up with a story that they wanted to tell with their weaving. They created a key that indicated which colors they would use to represent the different parts of their story.

Weaving with K/1 21st Century Aftercare

After being back at work for a full marking period, I felt like I could handle teaching at least one day of aftercare. I love working in the aftercare program because it is gives me the chance to work with small groups of students and do art projects that I can't do with my regular large classes. For the remainder of the year I am teaching the Kindergarten/1st grade group at School #4 once a week. I love doing fibers arts, so I thought that we would do some weaving! We do a weaving project with our third graders during the school year, but I had never done it with students this young. The great thing is with aftercare we can try things out and if they don't work, we can move on to something different. Thankfully, the students love to weave! I was so pleasantly surprised at how good the 1st graders were at weaving! Some students had some struggles at first, but after a few tries everyone got the hang of it. After just 2 weeks of weaving (1 hour class sessions) three students were done! Now they are moving on to some more difficult weaving techniques. I'm so excited to see what they come up with next!

Cupcakes and Clay Pots: 2nd grade and Kindergarten at School #4

The 2nd graders at school #4 are just starting their next project: clay cupcakes! To get some inspiration, we looked at the art of painter Wayne Thiebaud. Thiebaud is well known for his bright and colorful paintings of desserts. Students drew their own cupcakes with bright colors to get some ideas for their clay cupcakes. It just so happened that the day we did this, it was Mrs. Fieldhouse's birthday! So we cut out the cupcakes and put them all together for a class birthday card.

Kindergarten is also working with clay. Students learned about the difference between 2D and 3D works of art. Then they made their own pinch pots using Crayola air-dry clay. This week, students used markers to add decorations to their pots. 

 

Students who finished early drew pictures of their pots.

All About First Grade: Writer's Celebration Posters

Every year, students in first grade host a writer's celebration to show off all the wonderful writing they have done in their writer's workshop. Last year, the students created postets in art class to be displayed alongside their writing. It was such a hit that we decided to do it again this year! Students in Mrs. Rupert's class were the first ones to start their posters. 

Winter Family Art Night at School #6

Things have gotten so busy these past two weeks that I almost forgot to post about the wonderful Family Art Night that we had at School #6!
We had several fun act activities, but I think the hit of the night was definitely the shaving cream paper marbling. Thanks to everyone who came out for a night of family art fun!

Don't go to School #6? There will be a Family Art Night at School #4 sometime in May. Stay tuned for details!

And don't forget about the upcoming art shows!!! Check the Art Events tab at the top of the blog to see what day your school's art show will be. Remember: April is Art Month!

At the Stamping Station!

The start of shaving cream paper marbling

Some great marbled papers!

The collaborative Swirly Spring Tree. On display now outside the main office!