September in Zilker Art Room!

 Kinder artists are learning all about free form shapes and the season of Autumn. Students used texture plates with images of leaves and rubbed crayons to get an impression of each leaf's free form shape. They covered their papers with many leaves of different colors.  The next art class we learned how to paint and use our brushes gently. We added different colors inside our leaf shapes.  Look for these on our online museum, Artsonia, soon!

 5th grade artists are learning all about Mexican Folk Art and have drawn an animal surrounded by rain forest with a pattern border.  Right now students are adding vivid colors to their drawings.  The paper is brown to mimic the bark paper that Mexican folk artists use in their own paintings.

 First grade artists learned about artist Paul Klee and looked closely at his artworks where he used geometric shapes to create villages or cities. Students then used paper geometric shapes to create their own villages, and are adding details like textures, windows, doors, and other shapes to their collages with construction paper crayons.

 Fourth grade artists are studying the artwork of Beverly Buchanan, and looking closely at her sculptures.  Students are creating their own house sculptures out of cardboard.  Texture and variety of shapes and details are part of the criteria for this project.  This is a favorite project of many students, and my fourth graders are finally working on their own this year after seeing past students house sculptures!

 Second grade artists are studying the shapes of their city: Austin.  Students drew a downtown view of Austin with the State Capital building as the centerpiece, and are now adding imaginary bright colors to their cityscapes, just like the Fauvist artists of the early 20th century.


 Third grade artists are studying the very beginning of human-created art....Prehistoric Cave art!  We looked carefully at 20,000 year old images painted in the Lascaux Cave in France, and then practiced drawing some of the same animals: bison, ibex, jaguars, cows, horses and bears. Students will pick their best idea to use in their final art piece!

Human Proportions and Color Schemes

Third grade artists are drawing from observation, looking closely at the art room's wooden mannequins. We discussed Proportion, which is a Principle of Design, and looked closely at how the ovals and circles of the mannequins where proportionate to the human body. We learned to draw contour lines, smooth unbroken lines, when we were drawing the ovals and circles.    

Then, we started to add color with watercolors.  First, we studied warm and cool colors, and noted the difference between them.  Students had to chose to put cool colors below the horizon line, or above it.  Then, the next class students painted the warm colors in the opposite spot.

Painting was a little tricky because students were trying hard to control their paintbrushes and not paint inside the mannequin shapes.  They did an outstanding job!

Check out the finished art here on Artsonia, our online Student Art Museum!

http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=1027622

5th Grade Symmetrical Sugar Skulls

Fifth Grade Artists are studying the beautiful art of Dias de los Muertos, or Days of the Dead.  Celebrated on November 1 and 2 in many Latin American countries, and here in Texas, people remember the lives of their family members or friends who have died.  Some families set up an ofrenda, or altar, in their homes that includes a photo of the person they are remembering, the person's favorite food, flowers, candles, and sugar skulls.  We looked carefully at the art of the sugar skulls, and made some of our own intricate patterns in a drawing of a sugar skull.

One of the criteria for the drawings was symmetry.  Students drew one side of the skull, then had to carefully trace so that the second side was symmetrical.  Then students added color with markers.

See the finished works here on Artsonia!
http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=998281

Prehistoric Cave Art with 3rd Grade

Third Grade Zilker Artists are learning all about Prehistoric Cave Art!  We looked closely at several photos of the unbelievably beautiful cave paintings in Lascaux Cave, located in France. Students practiced drawing four different animals that were alive 50,000 years ago when the cave paintings were created, including bison, bears, deer, cows, and horses.

Students added implied texture by rubbing crayons on top of a texture plate to simulate the rough cave walls.  Then we crinkled our papers to add actual or real texture too.

Last, students added prehistoric symbols around their animals with a charcoal stick, similar to what the ancient human used: a burnt stick.

Check out every one's finished cave art on Artsonia, our online student art museum, by cutting and pasting the following link into your browser window: 
   http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=990231

5th Grade One-point Perspective

 5th Grade artists are working on their one-point perspective art galleries. Fifth Grade artists are creating the illusion of a three-dimensional room on a two-dimensional surface - paper!  Students used six perspective techniques to help create their illusions: converging lines, overlapping, different sizes of objects, placement of objects, detail, and color.  Students were able to choose what style of art was in the galleries as well as if they wanted to have a matching theme for the art.  Outstanding attention to detail and color really invite viewers to take a closer look. 

We are also using color and detail to help with perspective.  The paintings that are closer appear to have darker, richer colors and more sharp detail, while the artworks on the back wall have fewer details and appear to be lighter and duller in color as well as a bit fuzzy.  Students are having a great time creating the different artworks for their walls!

Check out the finished drawings at Artsonia, our online student museum: 

http://www.artsonia.com/teachers/members/exhibits/artwork.asp?id=845331

Third Grade Prehistoric Cave Art

 Third Grade students are learning about Prehistoric Cave Art.  We looked specifically at the Lascaux Cave in France.  We saw parts of a video about the cave, read a book, and looked at still photos of the cave art to study which animals the prehistoric people chose to draw. We talked about how the people mixed paint and what tools they used to paint or draw on the cave walls.

Next, we practiced drawing four different animals in the prehistoric style.  Students added natural colors like in the cave art: browns, tans, blacks, and whites.  Student chose their best idea and cut it out to add to a textured background.

The backgrounds were made by adding texture through a texture rubbing.  This texture can be seen, but not really felt, so it is an implied texture.  Students then created an real texture that could be both seen and felt by carefully crunching the paper to crinkle it.  Last, students used charcoal sticks to draw ancient cave symbols around their animals.  Students were excited about using a material like the Prehistoric artists did!