Sunday, February 24, 2019

Clay Days



My Tuesday and Wednesday classes have recently completed their clay projects - they should be wrapped and carefully delivered home soon! I am really enjoying the change to clay days instead of "one grade level at a time" doing clay work. Due to storage limitations for 3-D work, we can only handle a limited amount of clay happening at one time. With clay days, I am able to keep the clay setup out all day long without having to clean up between classes, which has made things flow much better. Here are a few pics of what we've been building - I dropped the ball on getting process pics, but I blame my constantly clay-coated hands. We build on our skills each year, starting out with pinching, pressing textures, coiling, modeling, joining, rolling slabs, and glazing.
First graders enjoyed pinching pots while learning about the global history and natural qualities of clay.

Second graders made pinch pots with the addition of coil feet and spoons


Third graders made aquariums and terrariums that could stand upright with the addition of a cardboard stand in the back.


Fourth graders made pots from hand rolled and cut slabs that were adorned with a personal symbol - students chose a function for their pot like a plant pot or a desk pencil cup.



Kindergarten fossils and 5th grade wall pockets and slab bowls not pictured but coming soon!


Sunday, February 10, 2019

Tiger symmetry print



Asian art is a subject we explore each year in second grade - this year we started with one of the world's most beautiful and amazing creatures - the tiger! Several types of tigers live in Asia and many artists from this region show the beauty of the animal in their art. Here are some of the examples we viewed, and an illustration of the symmetrical nature of the tiger's face.




The symmetry lends itself well to a special type of monoprint, or single print, called symmetry printing - the artist paints on half the paper, and folds the other half over and rubs the top to transfer the paint, creating a mirror image.  Because the tempera dries quickly on the construction paper, we used a quick rhythm of painting just a few strokes and then printing - “paint a little, print a little.” The students followed me in a guided drawing of half the tiger face, as seen above, and then we began painting the white areas. The next session we added orange and black - some asked to paint the eyes green if we had time. I love the way each tiger has a unique face and expression!










Behind the scenes, February

Lots going on in the art room these days! Here are a few sneak peeks of things in the works...
Fourth grade Shape Explosion Drawings, learning one point perspective (lesson available in my TpT shop!)


First graders are continuing their African Art unit with some stamped weavings... we’ll add some stitching this week.
We also completed our Anansi the Spider illustrations.





Kindergarten made 3D hearts and paper sculptures...



Beginning paper molas in 4th

String art by my Needle & Thread club


International Day - students getting ready for the parade of nations - so cute!





 


Teacher of the Year!

I am thrilled to share the news that I am Teacher of the Year for my school, Dolvin Elementary! I have been teaching at Dolvin since 1996 and am so fortunate to have had a wonderful career in art education with many fantastic students and coworkers. Congrats also to our Professional of the Year, Nancy Adams - she and I have put in some serious time at Dolvin ;) - our school wouldn’t be the same without her!
Looking forward to continuing our creative adventures... peace, love & art!