Daria's second art class

Daria's second preschool art class was all about gluing.  She had a blast thickly applying the glue stick to plastic containers and putting little bits and bobs on it.  She had fun sorting the pom-poms and coloring with oil pastels on the plastic.  I didn't know oil pastels showed up on plastic!

Personal Artwork

I've been busy making lots of personal artwork... Here are some journal pages and greeting cards:

If you want to see more of my artwork, check out my other blog.

Old School Lesson Plans

During the summer, I'm going to dig back to some of my old lesson plans that I had posted on artsonia.com to show to you.  Maybe I will revisit these again during the upcoming school year.  This was favorite of mine and I don't know why I stopped teaching it. The pictures all turned out gorgeous.

CUBIST CATS  for Second Grade
The kids learned about Picasso and his dynamic, fragmented Cubist artwork.

1.  First we did a step-by-step drawing of a cat.  I demonstrated, then they drew on their paper.  The cats all ended up having their own personality even though we followed the same steps.
2.  Next, take a ruler and draw diagonal lines through the cats.  Divide up the space to create the fragmented feeling.
3.  Go over the lines with a black marker.  Finally color in each of the sections with a different color colored pencil.

Teacher Tip:  Demonstrate how to color with colored pencils in an even and solid manner.
The artist books by Mike Venezia are awesome.

Art Teacher SHOWCASE!! Installment 3

"Summer months are slow in blogland for teachers.  Most art teachers are taking a break from teaching all day.  Some are doing art camps or personal travels, but I know that in the summer months, not as many teachers post ideas, since we're not teaching full time now.  However, summer free time is a perfect time to research ideas, look at art eye candy, experiment and have fun!  So, what I would like to do to help you out in this summer is to feature different blogs.  Maybe one per week (or more if more people respond).  This will be awesome in several ways.  First, you will be able to get a taste of everyone's favorite art projects and visit new and different blogs.  Second, YOUR BLOG could (and will, if you submit a response to me) be featured and more people will visit you and see all the wonderful things you are doing.  We all make new friends and get new ideas for next year!  Sounds great?  Well it will be!!  

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Installment 3 of the Art Teacher Showcase

Art Teacher: Marilena Linardatou

I am teaching art this summer at my school on Tuesday's and Thursday's.

I will also teach two art camps, one in June and one in August.    

The name of my school blog is http://explorationinart.blogspot.com/,

Art is an amazing way to explore and understand the world.

Studying and creating art is a way of communicating with others.

Through exploration students appreciate and understand the importance of art in our society.

Through exploration we are able to cultivate and develop skills in various artistic media.

Through exploration we can create an exciting and safe environment that allows our students to be inspired and inquisitive.

Through exploration we can design art based on one's own experiences, identity, environment, imagination and observations.

   

 I teach art at a private school  Chesterbrook Academy Elementary (K-5)  http://northraleigh.chesterbrookacademy.com/page.cfm?p=19859 where we emphasize Integration of 21st century skills in academic instruction. 

My students have art for 45 minutes twice a week.

I also teach art to our Pre-K students.

One of my favorites art lesson this year was " The concept of scale in art (The roses of Will Ryman)"

http://explorationinart.blogspot.com/2011/05/kgg2g3g4-concept-or-scale-in-art-roses.html

It was a collaborative project, where Kindergarten, Second and Third grade students worked together to complete this artwork.

The students loved this project because it gave them the opportunity to explore the difficulties and challenges involved in completing large scale artworks.  

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in the ART TEACHER SHOWCASE.

Here are some other images from lessons Marilena has taught:

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If you want to be featured on my blog, then answer the following questions.  Please email them to me at marciadotcom@yahoo.com.  Don't comment on this post with your answers.  If you do email me your answers, you will give me permission to post a couple images from your blog to include in the blog post (with of course, a link to your blog).  If you only feel like answering a few questions, that is fine too.  I would also be happy to feature your own personal artwork.

1.  The name and URL of your blog
2.  A brief description of your blog and why it is awesome.  Tell us where you live and work, what you do, etc. 
3.  An example of a tried and true art lesson favorite that you have taught. (could be in a workshop setting, school setting, or just with your own children or yourself, no exclusions here!)  Give me a link to a post about that lesson, so I can include a link and photo.
4.  A favorite, must-have art teacher or art technique book.
5.  Your favorite product for the art room.

So, what are you waiting for? Email me today about your blog!!"

Book Review 2

Linda Barry combines funny comics, drawings, and text in a book for adults about how to get your drawing juices flowing.  There's how tos are more for an adult who just wants to get started drawing.  Her own comics and art are what is really inspiring for me!  I also enjoy her commentary and questioning about the drawing process and creativity.  In one comic the dialogue says, "If you use coloring books past the age of ten, you will wreck your imagination forever.  Who says?  All the scientists.  Just warnin' ya."


"When you are little you will draw pictures for no reason.

What does a line do?  It's not something that you are good at or bad at.  It's something else.

You move your hand and you scribble all you want and it feels very good.  I can remember that feeling.

What makes us start drawing?

What makes us stop?"

I think this book is probably more for adults, as some of the pages have some adult-like things on them-- such as a monkey smoking cigarettes.  However, most of the pages you could show your children who are aspiring comic artists.

Here are some of the pages from her book Picture This.

Daria's first art class and Create With Me magazine

We had Daria's (my daughter) first art class today and she really enjoyed the water cup!  The kids painted on the floor and there was a big tarp protecting the floor.  Some kids used their hands, others brushes and others used their feet.  Some of the other objects the kids (aged 18 months-3 years old) used to paint with were

pinecones
rope
sponges
corks

Painting with a rope.. what does it do?

And here's something cool, the people over at Somerset Studio magazine just launched a new magazine called Create with Me.  I didn't submit anything to the magazine, but I sent them a couple pictures of Daria making art for their "launch party".  So if you look at this website and scroll all the way down to the bottom,  you can see 2 pictures of Daria (the little blonde hair girl) in the photo gallery. 

Tape and Sticker Pictures

box of stickers

This was a super fun art project that I forgot to blog about earlier.  We did this at the summer art class I taught at my school.  Tape and sticker pictures.  I wrote about tape and sticker pictures earlier which I love to do with my 20 month old daughter.  The above picture is a box of stickers I made.  I took some sticky address labels, and color photocopied some patterned paper onto the sticky labels.  Then, I cut them into strips, so the stickers would be little squares and rectangles.  The kids used these stickers plus all types of colored tape to make pictures!  There is a wide range of colored tapes you can buy from art catalogs.  Thin, thick, medium sized, neon colored.. etc. I also had some alphabet rubber stamps that some of the kids chose to use on their pictures.  I didn't give the kids any restrictions, because I wanted this to be an exploration of their creativity... of what they could do with a line...how they could arrange stickers and colors to make a cohesive picture...  These were done by kids in grades K-4.

Art Teacher SHOWCASE!!

 For the next installment of Art Teacher Showcase, I am highlighting Ilse Verhoeven.  I have been reading her blog for about a year now. 

What is your blog?
1) http://artlessonsfrombelgium.blogspot.com/

Tell us about yourself and your teaching.
2) I'm a Belgian art-teacher. I have been teaching for 7 years. The last four years I have been teaching children with learning difficulties too. I love teaching them.
Finding projects for those children isn't always easy. It can't be too difficult, but I want to try and find projects they can finish with pride.
I try many different things, try to use new projects every year, try to motivate them as much as I can. I think many other teachers can find inspiration on my blog, just as I have found ideas on all other blogs I follow.

What is a favorite, tried-and-true lesson plan?
3) The simpsons Self-portrait lesson
http://artlessonsfrombelgium.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-role-in-simpsons.html

What is a book you recommend for art teachers?
4) my must have book: http://artlessonsfrombelgium.blogspot.com/2011/05/books-art-projects-and-max-at-museum.html

What is a favorite product in your classroom?
5) My favourite product is this:

I don't really know the English name for it, we call it 'Bister'. It is pouder from dried walnut husks. You have to put a bit of the pouder into water and let the pouder 'melt'.
You get a brownish water paint. It looks like old parchment color. I use it to get drawings looking old.
An example lesson is here: http://artlessonsfrombelgium.blogspot.com/search/label/hieroglyphs

With kind regards
Ilse
Art lessons from Belgium;


You can also be a part of art teacher showcase.  Here is what I posted earlier.
"Summer months are slow in blogland for teachers.  Most art teachers are taking a break from teaching all day.  Some are doing art camps or personal travels, but I know that in the summer months, not as many teachers post ideas, since we're not teaching full time now.  However, summer free time is a perfect time to research ideas, look at art eye candy, experiment and have fun!  So, what I would like to do to help you out in this summer is to feature different blogs.  Maybe one per week (or more if more people respond).  This will be awesome in several ways.  First, you will be able to get a taste of everyone's favorite art projects and visit new and different blogs.  Second, YOUR BLOG could (and will, if you submit a response to me) be featured and more people will visit you and see all the wonderful things you are doing.  We all make new friends and get new ideas for next year!  Sounds great?  Well it will be!!  So I need your help.  If you want to be featured on my blog, then answer the following questions.  Please email them to me at marciadotcom@yahoo.com.  Don't comment on this post with your answers.  If you do email me your answers, you will give me permission to post a couple images from your blog to include in the blog post (with of course, a link to your blog).  If you only feel like answering a few questions, that is fine too.  I would also be happy to feature your own personal artwork.

1.  The name and URL of your blog
2.  A brief description of your blog and why it is awesome.  Tell us where you live and work, what you do, etc. 
3.  An example of a tried and true art lesson favorite that you have taught. (could be in a workshop setting, school setting, or just with your own children or yourself, no exclusions here!)  Give me a link to a post about that lesson, so I can include a link and photo.
4.  A favorite, must-have art teacher or art technique book.
5.  Your favorite product for the art room.

So, what are you waiting for? Email me today about your blog!!"

Book Review 1

I love using children's books in my lessons about art.  Even the older kids like being read to.  It's a way to spark their interest in art, encourage a love of reading and make their learning connections much richer.  And, it doesn't really take that much time to incorporate a short story in the period.   I know class time for art is limited, so you want to make the most of every minute.  Consider just reading a portion of a book (if it is long), just discussing the pictures, or just summarizing long passages of text. 

This summer I went crazy and purchased a whole bunch (like 20) books from amazon.com which were used.  You can often find books for like 1 cent, plus of course, $3 shipping.  I found these books while reading the book Young at Art, which is also a great book for learning about the developmental stages of children's art.  I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about developing quality early childhood art experiences.  Young at Art focuses mostly on ages 0-5, which was very interesting to me since I have a toddler. Kindergartners could probably do many of these ideas from the book, but it is more geared towards preschool level.  This book is worth looking at for it's "books related to art" list alone in the back. 
Here's the book Young at Art:












 I decided I would share with you some of the books I purchased after seeing the lists in Young at Art.  This summer I will do a series of book reviews that you can use in your classroom.  They will be different, and hopefully new-to-you books than the usual art books I have seen used in lesson plans on the internet.  The first one is called The Orange Book, by Richard McGuire and I really love the vintage illustrations in this one.  Here are some pictures from the book:

The story is about 14 oranges and what happens to each of them.  The reason I really like this book, besides the cute illustrations, is that the whole book is colored in BLUE and ORANGE.  Which of course are COMPLEMENTARY colors!  So, I am planning to show this book to my students when I teach about complementary colors. 

Puppets!

Puppets were made during my summer art class!  For this project, I drew a puppet template, which the kids traced and cut out from felt.  They cut out 2 pieces, a front and back.  Then, I hot glued them together.  The kids then cut out other pieces of felt and added googly eyes to decorate their puppet.  They attached these pieces with Elmer's glue.  We added a large stick inside also to hold the puppet up.  We made these really fast because we ran out of time and the kids really wanted to make puppets.  I think the children did a great job!

Puppet in progress-- the glue should dry clear!