Jasper Johns Collograph Print

2nd GRADE:
We read about the art of Jasper Johns. 

He used everyday, ordinary images and created art so people would view ordinary things in a new way.   We made a collograph printing plate using letters and numbers cut from foam, cardboard and yarn pieces.  We printed them on paper using white printing ink.

Winter Murals

These are some winter murals that we made this week.  I was inspired by the murals on Mr. E's blog.

Native American Shields

To complement their study of Native Americans, the kindergartners made symbolic shields.  The shields (by the Plains Indians) were used in battle and they believed the symbols on the shields had magical powers to protect them.  They were often adorned with symbolic items, such as bones, feathers and other natural objects.

Leaf Fabric Collage

This fabric collage is approximately 9 x 12"  There are some painted papers, ribbons, regular fabric, hand-painted fabric and gesso.  I like the contrast of colors in this one.  Art is a learning process!  I'm reading this great book now, and I can't wait to try out some of the techniques:

Art in Progress

Here are some of the projects crossing my desk lately...

Scrapbooky type mixed media work

embellished sketch

scrapbooky type page

African Korhogo Cloths

The Intermediates (grade 3) are studying Africa in their Social Studies class.  We learned about the African Korhogo Clothes.  See this link for more details.

This project focused on how symbols are used in African art.  The students designed their own painted Korhogo cloth on muslin.  They decorated the border with symbols and drew their main figure with Sharpie.  Then, they added paint with watercolor.

Knitted Balls

I really like to knit, but I'm not that skilled at it.  I would say I'm probably an intermediate level knitter.  I'm not good at precise things, and many times I'll be knitting something and end up with extra stitches or something will look wonky.  So, when I found these knitted balls, I got really excited.  So many possibilities!  Christmas ornaments?  Dog toys?  Toys for my toddler?  A bowl of balls for a decoration?  I really want to make 1000 knitted balls for an art exhibit.  Balls of all sizes, colors and textures.  I really like these because they are very forgiving, very quick and they are fairly easy to make.

Ball 1 of 1000.. I promise if I knit 1000 balls, I will take pictures of them in groups.

Figure Drawing like Keith Haring

 

These are drawings by 4th/5th graders.  Who was Keith Haring?  What is gesture drawing?  The 4/5s learned about the artwork of Keith Haring and practiced figural drawing.  In pairs, the students posed for each other and practiced gesture drawing and longer posed drawings.  Then they drew stylized people, kind of in a cartoon-like way.  We read pages from this book about Keith Haring and analyzed the meanings of his artwork.  The kids were encouraged to add their own symbols to create meaning within their drawings.

Shadow room at the children's museum

Cat journal page

Working on a journal page...  page, magazine scraps, drawing, paint pens,