3rd Grade Clay Fish Sculptures

Third Grade students are creating fish sculptures out of clay. Students here are adding side fins and eyes using the score and slip method.

Students then added texture and different kinds of lines with the pin or needle tools. Students also had to add gills and a mouth.


Last, students painted one color of glaze onto the fired clay sculptures. Using one color creates UNITY, a principle of art we were studying with this particular lesson. Look for these beautiful sculptures in the hallway at school soon!

2nd Grade Akuaba Dolls

In celebration of Black History month, second graders are studying African art from Ghana. The Akan tribe creates akuaba dolls out of clay or wood. Students choose one of the three styles to create a clay doll of their own. They designed the dolls details using geometric shapes.

Here students are cutting the shape of the dolls out of a clay slab.

Students then drew the details onto the clay surface using a pin or needle tool. Our last step will be adding the African colors to the dolls with glaze.

1st Grade Self Portrait Collage

This is one of my all-time favorite projects! First Graders have been patiently working on their self portrait collages for a few weeks now. We work step-by-step and really concentrate on details that make the portraits come alive and look very realistic. Here are a few works in progress. We learned about symmetry, overlapping, and folding techniques.

Kinder Pattern Paintings

Kinder students drew beautiful patterns using crayons. We reviewed all of the geometric shapes, free form shapes, and different kinds of lines and discussed how we could combine those elements of art and make them repeat to create patterns. Then we practiced painting, remembering how to use our brushes gently so we take care of the bristles. After the paintings were dry, we created a wonderful soft sculpture with the paper; look for these sculptures to be "swimming" home soon!

Happy Holidays from Zilker Special Areas Teachers!!

Zilker's Festival of Lights

Zilker students are helping to paint a special mural that will be part of Zilker's second annual Festival of Lights. Please join us Friday, December 16th, at the front of the school at 6pm. We will have a trail of lights, food vendors, artists selling crafts, and wonderful holiday singing from our own Zilker Panthers under the guidance of Ms. Price, our music teacher. Rumors are also circulating that Santa may even pay Zilker a visit that evening! Please join us for an evening of family fun and look for the finished mural...it will be interactive!!

3rd Grade Clay Fish Sculpture

Third Graders are working hard on their clay fish sculptures. First, we sculpted the body of the fish using a baseball sized piece of clay. Then we added side fins on using another piece of clay. In order to attach the separate piece permanently, students had to first score both pieces of clay, then add slip, which is clay mixed with water that acts like a glue. Finally, students smoothed the seams between the two pieces of clay.
The next art class we were able to add details with clay tools. Students had to draw eyes, gills, and carve a mouth for their fish. Then students added texture on the bodies. Next, students used the clay pin tool to draw lines on all of the fins. The sculptures look fabulous. They are now drying and will be ready to go into the kiln the second week of December. Our final step will be painting one color of glaze onto the bisque-fired ceramic surface of the fish.

4th & 5th Architecture Drawings

Fourth and Fifth grade architectural drawings are on display at Zilker! They are intricate and amazing to look at in person. Students worked so hard and created wonderful patterns, all with a sharpie pen. Thanks to the blog Deep Space Sparkle where I got the lesson idea!

5th Grade Perspective Drawings

Fifth Graders are working on one-point perspective drawings of art galleries. Students had to use six perspective techniques in their artwork: converging lines, size, overlapping, color, detail, and placement. Here students are using their creativity to design the artwork on the walls and sculptures on the floor. Students are also paying close attention to their color, and using atmospheric perception to try to make the artworks on the side walls appear closer than the artworks on the back wall.

2nd grade artists study Georgia O'Keeffe

Second graders are learning all about Georgia O'Keeffe. We read the book "My Name is Georgia" by Jeanette Winter, and students took notes about Georgia's life. We looked at several of her paintings, concentrating on her flower paintings.

Students then drew a technical drawing of a flower, labeling the separate parts. Students will be drawing expressive flowers in preparation for a flower painting. We will also be studying the intermediate colors and choosing one of them for the larger petals in the final flower painting.