4th grade Art Trade!

Thanks so much to Ms. Hahn at Mini Matisse for including our school in the ATC: artist trading cards project.  Two of my fourth grade classes traded prints with her school in Minnesota, Rogers Elementary.  We sent in prints we made recently of lighthouses and sailboats (scroll down a little to see that post) and we received adorable snowmen in return.  We also enjoyed viewing the slideshow she put together about life in their town, including ice fishing photos!  Here is a shot of the ATC's we received from Minnesota.

Texture: First Snow of Winter

This lesson was inspired by a lesson from Deep Space Sparkle.  The objective of this 2nd grade lesson is to create a printed texture and to paint a furry texture, as well as linking to books and nature.  The following books were the helpful for creating imagery ideas:

After reading the stories of winter's first snow, we researched the types of animals that hibernate and practiced drawing them.  We used rubber leaf molds to make the autumn leaf prints in the background, since real leaves are a bit crumbly this time of year.  We practiced using different kinds of brushes and brushwork to create the textures of the critters.  The final results are just adorable.

Printmaking, Hopper-style

Fourth graders studied realistic seascapes by Edward Hopper before designing their own relief prints.  We chose lighthouses and boats as our subjects, and drew them carefully into the styrofoam, emphasizing the space in the scene.  We tried different ink colors on different backgrounds to see how the effect changes.  On some of the less successful prints - smudged ink, uneven transfer, ink blobs - we added color and detail once the ink was dry.
Some of our classes are doing print trades with schools in Minnesota and Belgium - stay tuned for more info on that, soon to come!

Seascapes by American painter Edward Hopper