Two-point perspective buildings

My 5th graders learn a new perspective drawing technique - perspective drawing helps create a feeling of space in your two-dimensional art. There are several types of perspective drawing, and this one uses two vanishing points on a horizon line. I created a helpful handout that is available in my Teachers pay Teachers store, right here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists

Students drew their building designs, added details and landscapes, and uploaded to our online gallery Artsonia.

This week in the art room...

Lots to share but nothing quite ready for the official end-of-project post! Here's what kept us busy creating this week:

Kindergarteners learned that Pop Art makes ordinary things EXTRAordinary! Our favorite letters and numbers go big, bright, and sparkly, inspired by Jasper Johns.

Kinders also completed their stamp print architecture designs.

Fourth grade is working on "the paint puddle that came to life," as well as package design.

First grade are learning about parts of a landscape, brushwork, and Vincent Van Gogh with our Starry Night paintings.

Second graders are creating secret codes hidden in shape collages, inspired by artist Auguste Herbin.

Some fifth graders are sending art and letters to their Pen Pals in California, while others complete their string art.

Third graders are completing their Calder inspired sculptures.

And finally... Our whole school has been participating in mARTch madness for Youth Art Month. Our overall winner was Van Gogh's Starry Night!  It's not over yet, though - one lucky student who writes an outstanding paragraph about the winning selection will receive a Youth Art Month reward!

Thanks for stopping by - more specifics to come about all these activities :).

mARTch madness, Youth Art Month 2016

Week one is in the books and we are beginning week two of our mARTch madness art picks for Youth Art Month. We are voting on a variety of artworks that we regularly refer to in art class.

Round one: 1. Starry Night vs. 2. Yard Sale

Who will be victorious between Van Gogh’s painterly night sky of Starry Night and Georgia’s own Mattie Lou O’Kelley, with her Georgia countryside and brightly colored folk art? Both artworks are landscape paintings, but their moods are very different.

Round two: 3. Great Wave vs. 4. Jazz Village

These two artworks are from different time periods and made from different materials – Hokusai of Japan carved the Great Wave into wood hundreds of years ago, while Romare Bearden cut and pasted his collage in the twentieth century. Which will come out on top with the most votes?

Round three: 5. Pop Art Figures vs. 6. Mona Lisa

It’s a tough call – both of these artworks are portraits of human figures, but are VERY different in style. Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, Mona Lisa, was created during the Renaissance and is the world’s most recognized face. Can the bright colors and bold contours of Keith Haring’s modern street art compete?

Round four: 7. Lone Zig Zag vs. 8. Little Dancer

For our final match, we have two pieces of sculpture, or three-dimensional art. Calder’s Lone Zig Zag is an abstract sculpture that is kinetic, or moveable. What do you imagine when you see it? Degas’ metal sculpture of a young ballerina is life size and very true-to-life. Which will come out on top?

For the second week, we are going a little deeper with the final four winners and doing some compare/contrast work before voting. We are also using an online voting method instead of the paper ballots used last week.

Stay tuned for our final two and the overall winner!

Desert silhouette backdrops

Here is an update to my clay cactus and pinch pot post from last week - we made dramatic backdrops! Photographing our pots for Artsonia was an important step for this lesson, so we decided to create a setting appropriate for our hot-climate-loving plants. Using black construction paper, we cut a silhouette of a desert and placed it in front of a multicolored tissue paper. I think they really set off the clay pieces nicely!

Birds of Georgia, 3rd grade

Our goal with this lesson was first to observe local nature and discover artists who do this, like John James Audubon. Next, we experimented with creating space using atmospheric perspective - a way of showing distance with blurry and sharp focus. We also worked on showing emphasis, or what's important in the picture, by placing the birds in a central position and a large size.

We used our "Make It" planning sheet to do our thumbnail sketches and prep work, as well as our reflection when the art was complete. This planning sheet is available at my Teachers pay Teachers store - https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists .

Once our thumbnails were complete, we began our final drawings in pencil and used a wet-on-wet process for a blurry background. We used water soluble oil pastels for the birds to create more detail and texture, then washed over those to melt them into a more painted look. These birds have so much personality and individuality, just like the artists who painted them.

Calder inspired paper sculpture, 1st grade

This lesson is easy to complete in one 45 minute session, since storing 3-D work can be problematic in many art rooms - it's a make and take! I found the instructions, complete with helpful video, here at Pink Stripey Socks :http://www.pinkstripeysocks.com/2015/05/calder-inspired-sculptures-kids-art-project.html .

We looked at a few examples of Alexander Calder's abstract stabile sculptures and discussed their environments, then students drew an environment of the base after securing the sculpture with folded tabs and glue stick. Some classes added patterns to their papers before folding and cutting.