a little happy

One of the things I love about my school the most is the permanent art that we have on display here. Our cow now lives in the outdoor classroom garden. He makes me happy every time I see him! When I pause to think about permanent works that I have created with my students lots of fun memories come to mind.  Have you created any permanent pieces at your school? Share the links in comments - we would love to see. Here are a few of mine below:

Recycled bottle Chihuly sculpture

Keith Haring wood sculptures

Domino Mona Lisa (I need a better pic of this!)

 Stuart Davis Installations

Wordle Wall

Welcome back! It is hard to imagine that it is already the 2013-2014 school year. I am excited to be back and I am recommitting myself to the blog this year. When I logged on and realized my last post was in November I was shocked. We did so many great things last year in "The Crayon Lab"! Reflecting back, I know exactly why I stopped blogging, and hopefully this year will be different. 

There is a lot of newness here this year. I am trying to embrace it with excitement, but it's a challenge. One thing that has not changed is my love of technology. This years word wall is a "wordle" wall! Do you know Wordle? If you don't you need to check it out. It is a fun and easy way to create a word cloud. I use them in my PPTS, handouts, and projects! 

Celebrating 50 Years!

Does this make you as giddy as it made me?

For the 50th anniversary of the first time Andy Warhol used the Campbell’s Soup can in his paintings and screenprints the soup manufacturer has released a limited edition set of soup cans!

This is the opposite reaction the famous soup manufacturer once took to Warhol’s work: when the work first appeared the company considered taking legal action, before deciding to wait to see how they were perceived. I don't know why this fact makes me laugh but it does. Warhol's work has probably single handedly improved their business more than anything else!!!!

I could not let this auspicious occasion go by without doing a project to commemorate with my own students. Last year my 3rd graders got to go see many of the soup cans in person at our local museum. So they seemed like an obvious choice to keep the excitment alive!

One of our visual arts education standards here in Georgia is to use direct observation to draw. Fourth graders tend to shut down over this. What happens to them between 3rd and 4th grade that makes them so self conscious of their art work all of a sudden? We also used this project as a major color study unit. Here are some of our finished projects:

 There are many more but this is just a taste for now. I found this handout that helps students draw the can shape itself. We worked hard on the hand lettering and I think they did a great job. Although I did not share this with my students I think this is fun:

Frida and Diego

Like many I have always been fascinated by Frida Kahlo. Her life intrigues me. Her relationship with her husband is fascinating. (I often wish my husband and I could have separate houses separated by a bridge! Tee hee.) When I heard she was coming to the High Museum of Art I was thrilled! I have seen some of her work (and Diego's) when I was in Mexico but it has been too long. My excitement for the show and my joy of bringing that to my students made an obvious need for a Frida Kahlo/Diego Rivera lesson. The students really focused on symbols that represented themselves. I love them!

Here is a close-up!

Seascapes

One of the standards that we teach in the state of Georgia requires us to teach a Georgia artist to all students every year. It was different at first but now that we are in the 2nd year of our Georgia Performance Standards for Visual Arts I think I am beginning to really enjoy finding new artists to teach to my students!

In 3rd grade art we were beginning our unit on depth which includes foreground, middleground, background, and horizon line. I chose a Georgia artist whose work I really love! His name is Paul K. Hill and he lives and paints in Georgia. The last couple of years he has been doing a series of seascape paintings while traveling with a group of other artists. They are called the Ossabaw Artists' Collective and I think the work they are doing is very interesting.  My students were inspired by Hill's seascapes to create their own

Field Trip Fun!

I was thrilled to be able to accompany my 3rd grade art students on a field trip to the High Museum of Art to see the Picasso to Warhol exhibit. Before we left we got a special treat and our tour was extended to include the newly installed Anish Kapoor sculptures. One of my student's was so inspired they went home and recreated their own Kapoor!

Mini Macchias

Fun! Fun! Fun! That is my take away from the Dale Chihuly sculpture lesson I just finished with my 3rd graders. They loved studying his work and using it as the inspiration for their own sculptures. We looked at Chihuly's work and after our initial discussion on the differences between form and shape we watched a video of Dale Chihuly making a piece of art from his Macchia series. It was great for the students to see first hand how a piece of blown glass art is made.



Students then planned their piece of sculpture using colors and spontaneous drawing the way Chihuly does.

When students were done planning they transferred their designs to white coffee filters using washable markers. Macchia means spotted or stained in Italian and that was the basis of the inspiration for Chihuly and my students. When their coffee filter designs were complete they used paint bottles to form their free form sculptures.

When they had their sculptures in the form they wanted we sprayed them with spray starch and left them to dry!

They were then mounted on some matt board scraps in order to be displayed.

I think they are stunning and my little artists are so proud of their work! Want a fun sponge activity using technology for your students? Go here!

Sneak Peak

Here is a little sneak peak of what is coming up in the art room over the next couple of weeks. Printmaking with 3rd, 4th, and 5th! Third grade is going to make Jasper Johns inspired collagraph prints. Fourth grade is making Day of the Dead inspired Styrofoam prints. I love printmaking with my elementary students because they love it as much as I do! Stay tuned for some student artwork!

Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam!

Did you know that artist Andy Warhol and his Mom had hundreds of cats in their lifetime? That is a lot of cats! Did you also know that all of his cats were named "Sam" except one? What did he name that one cat?
See if you can find the name here while you explore Warhol's life and work. If you figure it out be sure to let us know by leaving a comment!

The above 3rd grade drawing is the beginng of our pattern lesson inspired by Warhol's cat illustrations. Be sure to look for the finished projects the next time you are in the building. Our 3rd grade pattern pets are fabulous!

Kara Walker

Third graders are studying artist Kara Walker in art class right now. They are telling stories with their art using only silhouettes!





Hard at work the student's are carefully cutting out their images!

Vincent van Gogh

The second and third graders are studying the artist Vincent van Gogh in the art room right now. They love hearing the life story of this very interesting and world famous artist. Did you know that van Gogh never sold a single painting while he was alive? Now his paitnings sell for hundreds of millions of dollars! He painted many self-portraits and not until recently did we know what he really looked like. Go here to see a recently found photograph that they believe is Vincent van Gogh! The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has a fun interactive website about him - check it out here.

How Do I Get Graded?

Hello Parents:
I am The Crayon Lab, your child's art teacher at school. I would like to explain to you how your child is graded in art. Children will receive a subject grade and a conduct grade in art four times a year.

Art Education in our County is based on an approach known as Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE). It is important to understand we do not grade children's artwork, rather, we grade art learning. Discipline-based art education draws its contents from four areas of instruction:
1) Art Production (making art)
2) Art History (exploring artistic heritage of many cultures)
3) Art Criticism (analyzing the qualities and features of art)
4) Aesthetics (thinking about art and making well-reasoned judgements about art)

Evaluating progress in art education is complex. Evaluating artistic growth in artistic expression, art knowledge, skills mastered, and attitudes enriched, as well as conduct and social behavior in the art class, can provide a profile of your child's total progress in art and help me guide him/her to further growth. A variety of ways are used to assess progress at the elementary level, such as quizzes, demonstration, discussion, sketchbooks, and my own observations.

It is important to keep in mind that it is not your child's artwork that is being graded, but your child's progress in art learning. If you have any questions about our art education program, please do not hesitate to contact me at school. Thank you! We are going to have an excellent school year!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to the art room for another exciting year!