DPS Art Show 2014

I have been very busy getting ready for and installing the DPS art show. I had a lot of pictures but unfortunately lost my camera the night of the art show amongst the excitement of the art show. We had a great turn out even though it was a rainy Friday night. Even though I lost my camera I have great parents and one of my especially awesome parents took pictures and when she found out I had lost my camera she burned a copy of all of her pictures for me.

I have to thank the numerous parent volunteers and teachers who stopped by during installation night, as well as before the art show to help mount and hang all of the artwork. Every student had at least one piece of artwork in the show which would make approximately 715 pieces of artwork to hang!

Enjoy the pictures!

We wrapped old cardboard boxes with black bulletin board paper to make these lovely stands for some of our 3D artwork.

During the art show I set up art making stations in the library. One of the stations was a huge hit-tattoos! I have to thank one of my awesome parent volunteers for coming up with this station and bringing in the tattoo supplies!

Myself and a couple of great students!

The library was transformed in to the first grade cardinal room!

Considering the amount of artwork there was to hang I had to get creative. I decided on using the space above by hanging a good portion of the artwork "clothing line style".

I had a section of the art show designated for faculty art work. The kids loved seeing their teachers, custodians and cafeteria staff display artwork of their own.

I had so many pictures my students have drawn for me during their indoor recess time or at home that I couldn't resist getting them in the art show. I made a binder of "DPS Sketches".

Parents and students working together at the necklace/bracelet making station.

A student working at the drawing station.

Some more "clothing line style" artwork. Pictured in the front are the 2nd graders' Birch trees.

Charles Demuth Still Life watercolors. :)

Kindergarten primary color mixing fall leaves. A parent volunteer hung the leaves from the top of our stairwell to the bottom-she was a lot more brave than me on the ladder!

One of my first graders and her warm verse cool color waves!

The James Rizzi silly cityscape was displayed along the bottom part of the walls in the lobby-it was like being a giant in a colorful happy city!

 

 

Awesome parent volunteer!

I had more artwork to displayed on round tables throughout the lobby.

 

The work of yet another parent volunteer!

Our first and second grade hand self portraits!

First Grade Cardinals

As I have posted previously first graders have been learning about painting and Cardinals. Since my last post about the Cardinal projects first graders have completed their cardinal paintings and they look fantastic! We learned a lot about drawing complicated objects by breaking the objects down to simple shapes. We also learned a lot about why it is important to paint from the background, to the middle ground, then finally the foreground. Finally, I loved that my first graders started to spot cardinals outdoors and would come to school excited to tell me all about their cardinal spotting the next day!

 

Our cardinals were drawn in pencil first. We then traced our pencil lines with a black marker so we would not become confused by all of the lines while painting.

We made sure to first paint the background, then the middle ground (branches) and then the foreground (cardinal).

     

 

We enjoyed adding our final details considering we used our fingers to paint the eye. :)



Second Grade Finished Birch Tree Landscapes

As I posted earlier my second grade students have been studying Gustav Klimt and landscapes. Second grade students had a lot of fun picking warm or cool colors for the background of their landscapes. We learned a lot about how different colors in artwork can make us feel different ways.

When we cut our Birch trees out we made sure to keep the edges of our Birch trees curvy just like the Birch trees we viewed in Gustav Klimt's artwork.

One of my awesome second graders even brought in a Birch tree branch he found on a hike with his family! I thought it was awesome he connected what we are doing in art class to the outside world.

We used liquid Elmer's glue and sponge brushes to paint on the glue.

Each table had a separate tray of warm or cool colored tissue paper. Students were able to pick their color family.

Finished!

Students also had the choice of overlapping and/or crossing trees over one another.

Also, students had to add a shadow. We discussed how the shadow had to stay consistent as we glued our trees down so it would be apparent where our sun was in the sky.

Kindergarten Wayne Thiebaud Cupcakes

Kindergarten students learned about the artists Wayne Thiebaud by studying his "yummy" paintings of sweets including cupcakes. After viewing his paintings we had a discussion about the difference between 2D artwork and 3D artwork and then proceeded to transform Thiebaud's paintings into our own  3D cupcake sculptures using model magic. We discussed how a 3D shape is solid and can be viewed from all sides, verses a 2D shape which is flat and not a solid shape.

To create the sculptures students had to first create a pinch pot for the base of the cupcake. We then created a coil (or snake) for our icing. The kids had a lot of fun seeing how long they could make their coils. The kindergartners did end up needing some assistance putting the icing on top of the cupcake.

Finally (and I think this part was the students' favorite) we got to decorate our cupcakes with sprinkles, stripes, and even a cherry on top.

Finished product!

Finished product!

Finished Product!

 

Just some of our cupcakes safely stored away. I have some of the cupcakes displayed in our wonderful display cases right outside of our cafeteria.

 

 We spent one class discussing Wayne Thiebaud and creating our pinch pots. I loved having colorful pinch pots around my art room for a week before my kindergartners finished their cupcakes their next art class.

Putting the final details on our cupcakes! We love our sprinkles!

Happy Valentine's Day!

All students were given the chance to create their own heart. The heart making was simple-the students just had to decorate them any way they desired. What the hearts were used for is pictured below. After all of the hearts were made, I put the hearts in to four different larger hearts. The four hearts are now hanging at the entrance of our school building wishing everyone  a happy Valentine's Day!

Kindergarten Learns About Dry Brush Painting

Kindergarten have spent their last two art classes creating their dry brush snowmen. We first discussed what snow feels like, in order to begin a conversation on texture. We also read the book "Snowmen At Night", By Caralyn Buehner. While reading we used our "artists eyes" to really look at the colors on the snow at night. Finally we began painting and creating texture with our dry brush painting.

We are in the process of adding scarves, as well as pattern filled hats to our snowmen. My favorite part is the fact that our snowmen at night are also looking up at the sky-they want more snow!

Second Grade Keith Haring Finished Projects

I hope everyone has been staying safe in all of the snow we have been getting! Second grade did an awesome job finishing up their Keith Haring symbol projects (even with an on again off again schedule). I am so proud of them! This project took a lot of patience and a lot of careful line making. Second grade learned about symbols, using line to create movement, as well as seeing negative space in artwork.