1st Grade Eric Carle Collages

Students are studying the artist Eric Carle. We looked at his books "Mister Seahorse," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," and "The Very Busy Spider" and talked about how he created his own textured paper to create the collages in his books. One class focused on seahorses, another on butterflies, and yet another on tropical birds.






First, students painted their paper using warm or cool colors. After each line of color was painted, students used tools or the wooden end of their paintbrushes to scratch textures or lines into the wet paint.



Students who created seahorses painted wavy lines on another paper, then traced, cut out, and glued the seahorse shape to that background paper, while adding rocks and seaweed. Other classes created their butterflies and tropical birds in similar ways, adding glitter, sequin, and oil pastel details. Look for these at the annual Zilker School-wide Student Art Show in April!

Kinder Snowman Collage

Kinder students have been working hard on their Snowman Collages. In order to make the snow look more textured, students have been tearing paper with their hands instead of cutting it with scissors. Exasperating at first, students really rose to the fine motor challenge of tearing. Even though it does not snow much in Austin, the art room is full of wonderful snowmen!!

5th Grade Hundertwasser Flowers

Fifth grade students are learning about the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. We talked about how he lived through the second World War in Vienna, and how that affected his view of life. He remembers the craters that the bombs had left in the city, and how the rain filled them, and small life emerged from them eventually. We talked about how flowers can stand for the re-emergence of life in the spring after the long winter. We also looked at many of Hundertwasser's paintings and drawings, and focused on his paintings that showed flowers. Then we started our own mixed media process for creating our own unique flower drawing that would be inspired by Hundertwasser.

First fifth graders each painted two papers, one with warm colors, and the other with cool colors.

The next class we drew flowers on one paper and cut them out and added them to the other paper. Some students chose the cool color for a background, while others chose the warm color paper.



Last, students added a variety of lines with markers. Special thanks to the art blog Deep Space Sparkle for this wonderful lesson idea!

4th Grade Aboriginal Dot Paintings

Fourth Grade Artists are studying the art of the Australian Aboriginees. These native people of Australia use dots of paint to create their images. A lot of their painting subjects are animals. Fourth Graders each chose a native Texan animal, and had to draw the outline of their animal, then cut it out and include it in their artwork as a black silhouette. Then students drew one or two x-ray drawings: an image of one of the animal's bones or organs. The last step was to add patterns of dots to their animals using tempera paint and swabs. Students also included an Aboriginal symbol, concentric circles, on the backgrounds of their artworks. The concentric circle stands for family, or a village.

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!!