ART for 1170

It's funny how opportunities land in your lap and some you have to seek.  A parent who works for a snowboard company approached me and asked if one of my classes would be interested in designing a snowboard for Barrett Christy.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_Christy  Heck YEAH! Using pattern and repetition in art is one of our curriculum standards for 4th grade. We decided to incorporate a zentangle type design.  All the students came up with personal ideas for a snowboard, a grid sheet of their favorite patterns and then interview questions for Barrett.  We did a cool webcast with her in December then returned to our patterns to incorporate some of her favs. Here is our work in progress.  We're hoping for another webcast or even a school visit this winter.

The fourth graders are working on self portraits. PKE is just a bit behind the other schools but working very hard on mixing thier skin tone and also ENOUGH of it when the find it to cover the skin.  I'm very happy with these this year, espcially C's at the top, I think he captured his sweet expression and eyes perfectly!

Every year I do an Egyptian project with the fourth grade. I try to time it so it happens right before their trip to the DIA where they see the sarcophagus.  I've done full body sarcophagus, but with only 30 minute classes, they take forever. Last year we did just the heads but since my computer crashed last May I lost those pictures but you can see them if you search under fourth grade. A favorite was the hot dog containers I picked up at GFC. The students decorated the outside and then made a clay mummy for the inside.  This year I tried the foil technique. At NSE we wrapped our glued paper with foil after we put a piece of cardboard on the back, then wiped the front with black paint. I wasn't very happy with this result so after some investigating I found I should have used four layers of foil. But I have over 260 4th graders and someone would have to melt a car for all that aluminum. So I had PKE and CE use permanent markers instead.  Next year I have my eye on t...

Posing like the mural. Diego Rivera Mural Van Gogh We are so fortunate to live close to a big city and an incredible art museum. Every year our entire district affords to send all 4th graders on a field trip. This year we received a grant for admission to the Detroit Institute of Arts for admission AND the Target grant to pay for some of our transportation for our Title 1 schools. We start our morning at the symphony (DSO) and then head over to the DIA for the rest of the day. We break the trip into 3 different days with 2-3 schools going each time. I was lucky that my three schools all went on the same day so I was able to experience the visit with them.  My students are in the middle of creating sarcophagus' so that exhibit was a  huge draw. I've got my eye on the canopic jars since I do a different type of sarcophagus project every year (I will post soon). I think I better start saving Pringle cans!  The Degas, Van Goghs, Miro, Kandinsky...Ahhhhh What a DAY!...

Our district has embraced a new approach in learning based on the Project Zero studies. There are several routines that are strongly connected to Visual Literacy.  My classes are 30 minutes long so it is very rare for me to have a chance to spend one of my entire class times on a routine so I held my breath hoping I wouldn't hear as the students left, "Hey we didn't make anything today" The owls were finished so I set them out, four on a table with a sheet of paper in front of each labeled, See, Think, Wonder. I started the class by having the students observe a mask on the projector and we practiced the routine in small groups, forming questions about the art work. Next, we discussed critique and what that means to critique or LOOK at another person's artwork. We talked about what words are helpful to an artists, what words are hurtful and what are vague.  The students then freely rotated among the tables to write on each piece of paper. The students were ver...

This is the third year I've done this project and I've changed it every year. The first year I had the students trace their entire body. They were great but it took forever not to mention when students are on the ground using Craypas they tend to forget them and I don't have to tell you about cleaning up squished Craypas. Last year I used styrofoam hot dog containters and air dry clay. But this year using the half sheets of craft paper is by far my favorite. The students sketch first using handouts of egyptian alphabets and symbols  (that I got at a garage sale!) Then they go to the kraft paper, they add color with Craypas and then I got out the metallic gold paint for details.

I just love self portraits! I'm fortunate to have desk top mirrors for the student to really "LOOK" at their faces.  These were done in pencil and crayon /colored pencil. In the past I've used primary color paint (Think Lichtenstein) or shades of brown. This year I ran out of time with the tight schedule and we weren't able to use the paint. Maybe in the fall we try it again.