Fun with apps!

During clean up time, quick and efficient cleaner uppers sometimes have a few extra minutes at the end of class to explore with the iPad. Yesterday, we tried out Disney's Creativity Studio. It had a great little video from a Disney artist and gave steps to help students learn to draw cartoons. Here is a Mickey from one of our first graders. Very impressive, especially since it isn't easy to draw with your finger!

Degas and the little dancers!

Kindergarten has been working on a lesson called 'After the Dance'. We read a book about Edgar Degas and learned about his paintings of dancers. We discussed color and emotion and painted brightly colored backgrounds. Lastly, we listened to music and danced! When we were done dancing, we drew ourselves dancing. Next art class, we will frame our dancing self-portraits!

Fourth Grade Studio Day!

Many of the fourth graders have finally completed their clay masks. It has been a long process, but totally worth it! The masks look amazing! So many creative approaches and lots of unique details.

So, the fourth graders were super excited to go back to studio work after completing their masks. A few are still working on completing, but many moved on to drawings and sculptures of their choice. Here are a few photos from yesterday's class. We had many inventions from the sculpture station. The best part is listening to the students share their work at the end of class. I love hearing about their thought process while working. There is always so much more to the sculpture than what meets the eye!

Weaving with Third Grade!

Weaving! Third grade has been busy with weaving. Weaving has a long history in many cultures around the world.  Students love learning about weaving and creating a weaving of their own. After learning the process, students have many, many choices of yarns to complete their weavings. Students love having the artistic freedom to choose how their weaving will look- so many decisions about color and texture! Beginning next cycle, we will begin taking our weavings off of the looms. 

 

Action Painting Debriefing (sharing)

Last week, second grade learned about artist Jackson Pollock and action painting. We created action paintings of our own, using unconventional painting tools while listening to jazz and moving around the studio! We learned that action painting is all about movement. Action paintings show motion. The art studio is abuzz with excitement when we action paint. Unfortunately, I am so busy during the process, I have no pictures from the days of painting. However, I did capture students sharing their work with their classmates. They were so excited to see their dry painting and describe their favorite parts of the process to a friend!

       

Support Arts Education in Our Schools and Community

Comic about why the arts are important from marekbennett.com. Enjoy!

Why should we keep art?

Ever wonder what art really does for our community? Here are 10 reasons from Americans for the Arts. You can learn more at americansforthearts.org

I believe we should be educating the entire student, their body, their brain, their heart. Art is an amazing way to educate all three of these parts of a student!

Arts Night Displays!

Clay on display! Currently, clay is on display in the showcases and in the library. Our clay projects, with the exception of fourth grade masks, were put in display for Arts Night. Sometime during the beginning of May, clay projects will be coming home. Fourth grade masks are coming home as they are finished. Many have been completed this week!