May 17, 2012
We are rounding out our school year with one of my favorite projects of all times.
March 21, 2012
This session I will be teaching my sixth grade class and will return to exploring the world of art with fifth grade on April 16th!
February 16, 2012
My Life in 20 years...
Students found inspiration for their most recent project through clips of the movie Big and my student teacher's urging to think about their life in 20 years. It is amazing to see where they think life will take them in the next 20 years. Constructing small diorama television sets to transport them into the future is no small task. Here they are in progress...
February 1, 2012
Plaster Mask Making
Students absolutely love applying plaster to one another's faces and creating a mold! It is one lesson I have never dropped from my curriculum because they are always highly engaged and invested in their creations. Although I started this labor intensive lesson with my students, recently Miss Flegal, our student teacher from Kent State took over and has added a very exciting spin to it. Students are now constructing appendages and manipulating plaster to add-on to their mask base. Animals, fanciful creatures and more are being constructed out of this amazing material. More to follow, I am sure!:)
This six week session I will be repeating the projects I completed throughout the previous fifth grade session due in part to the fact that I want to keep all of my fifth grade students working in the same art media and walking away from my classroom with a similar experience and comparative art knowledge about artists and art styles. I feel this is advantageous to the art program I am fostering here at The Falcon Academy of Creative Arts. Please stay tuned for new projects in January at the start of the new semester. Until then please enjoy what my current students are creating! Thank you!
December 19, 2011
Students have been working diligently between two projects that I will be posting more about in the future... Color theory and texture abstracts, as well as glue line self portraits. Here they are in progress.
Fifth Grade Up Close Animals
October 24, 2011
This six week session I will be instructing my sixth grade class and will return to teaching fifth grade again in November. Stay tuned...
October 17, 2011
Chalk and Ink Self Portraits
Here are my fifth grade students finished products hanging on my front board before an oral critique. To round out this project and six week session students created a Wordle (www.wordle.net) with nouns and adjectives to describe themselves.
October 6, 2011
Here's the start of our chalk, cropped self portraits... more to follow.
October 1, 2011
Texture and clay food...
This past week we went back and forth between tow projects which really kept my students on their toes. Somedays they were paintings their textures and other days they were adding glaze to their food projects.
September 23, 2011
TEXTURE!
Bumpy, scaly, chunky, spiky, smooth, smudged, rigid..... and more! Students have been looking at the work of painter Wassilly Kandinsky and the way he painted what music would look like if you could see it on paper. Next, they began creating twelve different textures from everyday objects around the room and with their hands. Some students used laptops to define textured words through the use of the internet before they began creating. Soon we will be doing an in depth study of color theory and students will be mixing various monochromatic values. These nonobjective artworks will remind us of Kandinsky's work, the importance of texture in art and also allow us time to paint to music and create what we think it would like on paper if we could see it!
September 16, 2011
Clay Favorite Food Sculptures
Next up... clay! After refining our skills in an opening year drawing project, students viewed the work of Claes Oldenburg and Wayne Thiebaud, both artists inspired by food. We watched a youtube clip that really enticed the students with the work of Thiebaud http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI_QJ5D9Qm8
Next students began the brainstorming process of what food they were to sculpt out of clay. Texture, color, size and shape all came into play when making their final choices. Here they are in their current drying state below.
September 8, 2011
Chuck Close Up Close Animals
We finalized our up close animals this week and posted them on the board for an oral critique. The final pieces were successful on so many levels and I was pleased with our discussion. Not only do I find value in students having the freedom to create in my classroom, but likewise talk about their artwork and the work of others.
Students in fifth grade looked towards artists Chuck Close and Georgia O’Keeffe to learn how to do an accurate, up close study of an object. Using a grid method, like Close and a cropped photograph, like O’Keeffe, they were able to create these gorgeous oil pastels drawings. By utilizing the grid method, students were able to integrate math through the use of a ruler and measurement. The oil pastels allowed for color mixing and layering in a brand new way as well. The idea that they could create texture through the application of oil pastel was very exciting and successful for them!
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June 10, 2011
Personalized Letter Art
Students looked at the meaning of their names through use of the internet and also gathered information at home from their families. Next, they chose their first initial of their first name or their first initial of their last name and created an art piece with that letter in mind. By pressing into the metal, they were able to make a relief, although they had to reverse their image first in order to have it go the right direction. Adding colored permanent markers completes the project!
April 29, 2011
Fifth grade is going GREEN!
In honor of Earth Day last Friday, we embarked on a very green three dimensional project that required very little art supplies. First, students utilized 21st century skills by finding and viewing a youtube- how to video. Next, they began tearing pages from magazines to start in the earliest part of their construction. After some gluing and folding we are now midway through constructing some very awesome magazine vessels. Students can make bowls, vases, plates, etc and all the while help to keep the 4 tons worth of magazines that add to our landfill waste each year!
April 21, 2011
Finalized Cropped Animals in Oil Pastel
Students in fifth grade looked towards artists Chuck Close and Georgia O’Keeffe to learn how to do an accurate, up close study of an object. Using a grid method, like Close and a cropped photograph, like O’Keeffe, they were able to create these gorgeous oil pastels drawings. By utilizing the grid method, students were able to integrate math through the use of a ruler and measurement. The oil pastels allowed for color mixing and layering in a brand new way as well. The idea that they could create texture through the application of oil pastel was very exciting and successful for them!
March 18, 2011
Up Close Animal Studies
Students in fifth grade looked towards artists Chuck Close and Georgia O’Keeffe to learn how to do an accurate, up close study of an object. Using a grid method, like Close and a cropped photograph, like O’Keeffe, they were able to create these gorgeous oil pastels drawings. By utilizing the grid method, students were able to integrate math through the use of a ruler and measurement. The oil pastels allowed for color mixing and layering in a brand new way as well. The idea that they could create texture through the application of oil pastel was very exciting and successful for them!
March 13, 2011
Box Pots
March 2, 2011
Finalized Masks
After creating plaster molds of their faces, students in fifth grade finalized these fantastic sculptural pieces of art! Read on below to find out more details...
January 25, 2011
Making Masks!
Students in fifth grade started their plaster mask unit by choosing a partner and safely applying plaster craft strips to one another's faces. Previous to this unit they looked at various masks and learned about the significant reasons that masks have been created throughout history. After each child has a mold made of his or her face we will begin adding paint colors and other embellishments.
January 14, 2011
TEXTURE!
Chunky, bumpy, dimpled, oh my…
Students in fifth grade put their skills to the test with these extensive studies on texture and color. TEXTURE is used by artists to show how something might feel or what it is made of.
Next, students coordinated textured pieces with correlating colors by partaking in a broad study of the color wheel. Among these works are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple monochromatic studies, complimentary colors, primary and secondary studies, as well as warm and cool pieces.
The end result is a fabulous abstract expressionism piece, much like the artist Kandinsky painted, as he listened to music!
Kandinsky Textured Abstracts
November 29, 2010
Bumpy, scaly, chunky, spiky, smooth, smudged, rigid..... and more! Students have been looking at the work of painter Wassilly Kandinsky and the way he painted what music would look like if you could see it on paper. Next, they began creating twelve different textures from everyday objects around the room and with their hands. Some students used laptops to define textured words through the use of the internet before they began creating. Soon we will be doing an in depth study of color theory and students will be mixing various monochromatic values. These nonobjective artworks will remind us of Kandinsky's work, the importance of texture in art and also allow us time to paint to music and create what we think it would like on paper if we could see it!
Wayne Thiebaud Inspired Art!
November 15, 2010
Students are making great progress with their three dimensional cake sculptures. This week they have been hard at work adding finishing touches through a medium known as FIMO sculpty. This colorful substance is allowing us to make fine details like those found on cakes.
Wayne Thiebaud Inspired Art!
October 14, 2010
For this three dimensional project students are combining two of my favorite things-- art and cake! What student wouldn't love this? Using prezi.com, I created a media presentation for my fifth graders to learn more about pop artist Wayne Thiebaud. Next, we tied in present day culture by looking at some clips from Cake Boss, and other TLC food-inspired shows. Soon students were brainstorming how art can be food also, with eggs, sugar and other ingredients as the medium! First they sketched out their ideas for their cakes and next we starting building them out of everyday recyclable objects!
Now we are moving along to add paper mache to our creations before we can paint them and have them really start to look like cakes. Wait until you see the ideas of these students! According to them-- we can have cake for any occasion. I agree!
