Monster Picture Day, kindergarten

We had school picture day recently and we made some mixed media collages of monsters as if they were dressed up for picture day as well. The results are just adorable and so funny!

We covered lots of concepts and skills, like color mixing, texture, craftsmanship, and working from our imaginations. On the first day, we painted two papers - one primary and one secondary that we mixed.

The next lesson we cut a large organic shape from one sheet for the body and glued it to the other, then used the leftover scraps for things like horns, arms, or teeth. On the last day of the lesson, we used a "fancy scrap" of scrapbook paper to make accessories like hair bows or neckties, and added texture with our construction paper crayons. That simple step of adding the crayon texture really made a big difference.

We had an art walk at the end of the third class, walking around to see everyone's art and offering compliments. It was a really wonderful time in the art room.

*VIP* Observation drawing part 2: contour

*Very Important Project* The second week of our observation drawing unit in 4th and 5th grade focused on contour line, which is the exact opposite of last week's gesture drawing exercises - gesture is fast, sketchy, and not detailed, while contour is slow, smooth, and shows details. Read about our gesture drawing in this earlier post. We drew objects from a box for the majority of our 45 minutes, and the kids really enjoyed the quiet focus. I emphasize that these are exercises, not complete artworks, although many are certainly worthy of hanging. We are trying to make an eye-brain-hand connection, so quiet focus is necessary. A few tips: keep going if you make a mistake, try overlapping and going off the page, try not to lift the pen.

At the end of class, we tried a blind contour portrait - still using the slow, smooth line, but not looking at the drawing at all, only at the subject, in this case a classmate model. This was lots of fun and I bet most of them went home and practiced on siblings!

The "on the head" method of blind contour is fun for a quick portrait, but using a paper plate "mask"  with a pencil hole in it is much more comfortable for a longer drawing session.

Contour drawing is a great way to begin a longer, more involved artwork. If you'd like to try this in your classroom, check out my Observation Drawing packet, available on Teachers pay Teachers. I have also just added a free download for the foil figure sculpture, which goes so well with this unit. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Observational-Drawing-Gesture-and-Contour-exercises-2656125

Next up, we will continue to observe nature as we create some very artistic pumpkins in the style of Yayoi Kusama. Thanks for stopping by!

Digital Portfolio Apps: A Collaborative Comparison Chart

Part of an art teacher's job is to make sure that their students artwork is displayed - brag about the happenings in your class, show students that art should be shared beyond the classroom walls. In the past, that meant that an art teacher would line the walls with beautiful art to show to the rest of the school. This is still a practice that many of us do. Many art teachers are looking to make the viewers of their classroom’s art be shared beyond the school walls. Using social media is one way to do that… another way to share art is through Artsonia, Seesaw, and/or Creatubbles.

Using apps to share art is HOT right now. How does an art teacher choose what platform to go with? We thought we would help with this question -  I will be sharing about the app Artsonia in this post. Nic Hahn of the awesome art ed blog MiniMatisse will share Seesaw information. Finally, Tracy Evans @EvansArtHouse, Matt Grundler @Artguy76, and Beth Carter @Bacarter77 and It is Art Day will be sharing on the web based tool, Creatubbles. This Creatubble team are art teachers from Texas who just happen to be valued members of my #PLN (Professional Learning Network) on Twitter.

Please click on the links in the paragraph above to read specifics about Seesaw and Twitter, and look below the chart to read my post about Artsonia.

Here is a helpful chart to compare the apps, so that you can best decide which to try in your classroom setting.






Let's talk about Artsonia!

Artsonia has been such a source of pride for my young artists over the last few years I have loved using Artsonia as a teacher for several reasons - it is an exciting way to show off the cool things we do in our classroom, including writing and integrated subjects. Also, students get a kick out of seeing their portfolio grow from year to year, and it fulfills technology and feedback/assessment requirements. Families love it because they can share with extended family globally and create a Fan Club for their little artists, complete with comments - there is even a fundraiser aspect that is no extra work for you!


This link will take you to a recent post that gives you a step-by-step guide to using the Artsonia app in Classroom Mode, meaning that the students are doing their own publishing; there is also a Teacher Mode for batch publishing by the teacher. http://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/2016/08/get-your-class-publishing-with-artsonia.html  
You can also find information here on how to download your own Artsonia Station display, as seen in the pics above, or Seesaw Station and how-to handouts, as seen below.

Please feel free to ask any questions about getting your students started with Artsonia in the comments - thanks for stopping by!