Mural Finished

Well, this is our completed mural...at Bertha Robinson. We put it up earlier this week. It has just about every student in our school on it. Of course, we had some that didn't finish because of absences and a few didn't follow directions, so those weren't included. But, we really like how it turned out. It was hard to get a good picture of the whole thing because our hallway isn't real bright. I've included a few close ups too!

Just Getting Started

This week flew by! We've been having great fun in Art though. This week we finished up our portraits for the mural we are putting together (see previous post) and began our Art to Remember projects.

At Robinson, fourth graders are working on creating a drawing of a lighthouse, 5th graders will be doing a drawing of some Russian towers inspired by St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. And 6th graders are working on some amazing drawings of trees.

At Memorial, we are still going over procedures and reviewing rules and we are finishing up our portraits too. Second and third grade classes have started their Art to Remember projects this week and are eager to spend some more time on them next week. Next week, some of my third graders will be helping me put together the mural for Memorial.

In case you aren't familiar with Art to Remember, it is a fundraiser we do to buy supplies for the art program in our elementary schools. Our art budget is *very* small, our parents' support through Art to Remember helps to buy supplies for Art Class that we wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. Not to mention that Art to Remember has a huge variety of items you can buy with your student's artwork on it. New this year, and my all time favorite product, ever...a nightlight! We have it plugged in the art room so the kids can see it! They all want one!

Frank Stella Relief Sculptures

This is a lesson my Fifth Graders are just finishing up. We studied the art of Frank Stella, specifically his artwork "Jarama II." There is a great online slideshow that takes you through observing and talking about the artwork at www.nga.gov. When I presented this lesson I used a powerpoint that I created from that slideshow. We then returned to our seats to brainstorm a list of activities...and we broadened it to any physical activity - not just sports. We recorded these on the board. I then chose one and showed them on the board how you would represent that activity with shapes, and lines. I asked the students to think about the equipment, the movements and the colors in their chosen activity and then they spent time sketching their ideas. It was difficult for many of them to think in such abstract terms, but we kind of tried to make it like a guessing game for the viewer. We didn't want to make it obvious what the activity was - so they were not allowed to represent the activity in any realistic way. Once students had developed their ideas, they began cutting their shapes from cardboard. Once all their shapes were cut, they arranged them and I took a picture of it. After that, they began to paint. First covering all their pieces with colors, then adding patterns or designs with paint. Once everything was painted, students assembled and glued their pieces together to finish them. Click below to see our students artwork for this project.



















Bertha Robinson's 5th grade
Memorial's 5th grade

Crazy Cactus

I left this art lesson for my sub while I was on my maternity leave. I was impressed with how they turned out. Our fifth graders did a fantastic job. The inspiration for this lesson was the artwork of Carmen Lomas Garza. It was a great lesson for reviewing line and pattern.

MATERIALS:
watercolor paint, markers, colored paper, gluesticks and scissors

PROCEDURE:
After looking at Carmen Lomas Garza's artwork, the students drew their cactus and painted it with shades of yellows, blues, purples and greens. The following week, students added line designs and patterns to each part of the cactus. Finally, they finished it out with triangles they cut from yellow, blue, green and purple construction paper.