Lines, Lines and More Lines!

All year, our Chargers are learning the building blocks of art - the Elements of Art and Principles of Design.  Each month in the Art Room, we study a different topic. In the case of the middle school artists, we often study many Elements together.  During the month of September, students have been looking at LINE - its purposes and how it functions in art.  Here are some samples!

Kindergarten began with a reading of The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds (great books!).  We then explored art-making through a lesson I call "What Can You Do with a Dot?"

     

The young artists then moved on the make their own Line Charts and showed me their drawing talents.

        

                                       

First Grade create "Lines That You Can Touch".

    

       

    

Second and Third Graders are taking influence from Vincent van Gogh to create their own versions of his famous work "Starry Night"!

Fourth Grade created portraits having a "Bad Hair Day"!

Fifth Graders are working with lines PLUS value!  They created their own intricate sets of plumbing, and then they are shading them with values, using charcoal, to create the illusion of depth.

Sixth Grade is working on a very detailed unit.  It is called My Mexican Folk Art.  We began with looking at art, reading about folk art traditions in Mexico, and we practiced reading and writing strategies.  The students then began to learn how to draw the human figure, using the skeleton.  Since they just started the drawings, I'll post them in my upcoming blog.

Seventh and Eighth Graders gave me the inspiration to begin the year with contour and simple drawings.  A few of our students are obsessed with shoes. . . who can blame them?  You know I love fashion!

   

    

I'll keep you posted on how we do as we move through the rest of the month. . . I can't wait to see what develops!

Welcome back to the Art Room!

I am so happy to have a new year ahead of us at Bethlehem Lutheran School. We are already off to an exciting start to the year in our Art Room.  I look forward to seeing all my students and families, and I want the students to flourish!

Our art room is supplied for the first of the school year, and I'll be getting us some new materials as well.  With some unique projects coming up, I'll ask you to look around at home to see if you can find a few odds and ends that will help us out this year:

●  Magazines (preferably in color with lots of photos - portraits, landscapes, etc.)

●  Out-of-ink pens for easy printmaking projects

I look forward to working with your children to see how they grow, change and create over the course of the school year.  I hope you will always feel welcome in the Art Room and enjoy all the masterpieces that the 2017-2018 school year will bring!

What we're studying in September:

Kindergarten -   Dots, Lines and Patterns: Many projects!

First Grade - Lines: Many projects!

Second and Third Grades - Lines: Many projects!

Fourth Grade - Lines:  Bad Hair Day

Fifth Grade - Drawing Basics:  Value

Sixth Grade - Proportion: My Mexican Folk Art

Seventh and Eighth Grades - Value, Shape, Space: Tonal Landscapes

MUST SEE ART EXHIBIT!

You're Invited!

Museum After Hours

Wednesday, February 8     6 - 8 pm

featuring our students in the

Region 11 Student Exhibition

on view January 28 - February 19, 2017

Meet the artists and enjoy refreshments!

Free Event

Our students:

Tyler Sowatsky, 3rd Grade

Skyler Cox, 4th Grade

Katie Henry, 4th Grade

Lola Doss, 6th Grade

Lilly Morgan, 6th Grade

 

1126 N. Michigan Avenue

Saginaw, MI  48602

Skill Builders

All student groups have been learning new vocabulary, rules for safety in the art room, responsible practices for caring for art and materials, and building their skills through a variety of lessons.  Here's just a sample of students at work!

Kindergarten practiced cutting and gluing skills.  They put their knowledge to work by assembling collages for their Square One Art fundraiser projects.  These are basic skills that they will use throughout the year and into the future of their artistic lives.

Fourth graders learned important color lessons.  They learned about the wild colors use by the Fauves, a French art movement.  We spent many days learning color theory and then started making foxes.  I'm so excited about the final results to come!

Fifth graders studied symmetrical balance.  They created their own imaginative bugs that were designed to showcase their knowledge of symmetry.  They also practiced transferring sketches, which they will use often in art class.

Seventh and eighth graders have been doing an illustration project where they were tasked with designing their own fantasy buildings in a landscape.  Students looked at the illustration style of Quentin Blake, the illustrator for a number of Roald Dahl books.  They also looked at the line drawings of Vincent van Gogh and practiced his style of drawing in order to experiment with line, emphasis, and spacial qualities.  Next, they created a series of thumbnail sketches to plan their final works.  After experimenting with watercolor washes, they were set to begin their own illustrations.

I'm so proud of our artists.  You can soon own some of their work by purchasing merchandise from the Square One Art fundraiser!  Their art packets with catalogues, order forms and instructions come home next week.

Student Updates

It's hard to believe that we're already past the halfway mark in the month of October!  I just wanted to share a few things that students have been up to in art class.

At the beginning of the year, students played a team game, making team hats, in order to review classroom expectations.  They certainly had more fun doing that than sitting silently while I went over rules and responsibilities.  Check out their creativity here:

All classes started the year with a unit on illustration, specifically taking inspiration from the books of Roald Dahl.

Kindergarten Pattern Turtles

Fifth Grade Symmetrical Insects

As in my last post, students are completing art for the Square One Art Fundraiser.  Information will be coming home soon, and check Jupiter Ed for updates as well!