2nd Grade Kandinsky-inspired Weavings

Second grade artists learned about the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky and looked closely at his use of line on his abstract artworks.  Then students took a line "for a walk" and created a linear design with a black crayon.  We added textures with texture rubbings after deciding upon a cool color or warm color scheme.  Then we created a loom for weaving by carefully cutting five slits into our papers.   Students began weaving the opposite color scheme into their looms with strips of paper.  Using a white crayon, students added texture to a black piece of construction paper, and glued their paper weavings to this to create a frame.  Last, students added more lines around the border with oil pastels.

Kinder Free Form Leaf Paintings

 Kinder artists are learning all about Free Form Shapes in art class!  We talked about how free form shapes come from nature, and how they are different from geometric shapes: they don't have even, smooth edges, they are irregular, and they don't have specific names like geometric shapes.

First, students used crayons to rub on top of textured leaf plates, creating a print of the leaf on their papers. They repeated this step again and again with different leaves and colors until their entire paper was covered with free form shaped leaves. The we talked about painting, and how to use a brush gently. Students chose a different color paint to color their leaves, so that each leaf had two different colors.

The results are beautiful, abstract works of art! Look at them all on Artsonia, Zilker's online art museum: 
http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=834525

Third Grade Cave Art

Third Grade Zilker artists just finished studying Prehistoric Cave Art.  We watched video of the famous Lascaux  cave in France, and were mesmerized by the huge paintings of animals made by people thousands of years ago. We practiced drawing some of the animals that these ancient artists first recorded: bison, deer, horses, bears, and cows.   Students choose their best drawing and carefully cut it out, adding it to a background that they first added implied texture to with texture rubbing plates and actual texture from crumpling the paper.  As a final touch, students added some prehistoric symbols and pictographs that were also discovered on the walls of the Lascaux cave.  Look for these to be displayed in the hallway in January!

Kinder Free Form Leaf Rubbings & Paintings

 Kinder students are busy learning about free form shapes and texture rubbings!  We first talked about how free form shapes are different from geometric shapes because they do not have names or even, smooth edges, and they are found mostly in nature.  We then talked about how the seasons were changing from summer to fall, and discussed what happens during Fall: the weather is cooler, the leaves change color, and then fall from the trees.  Leaves are free form shapes, so we took some leaf texture plates, placed them under our papers, and used our large crayons to rub the leaf images onto our papers, filling all of the space with free form leaves.

 The next art class we added more color with paint!  We talked about how to use our brushes gently, and started adding color to our leaves. Students noticed that even though the paint stuck to the paper, it did not stick to the crayon.  We talked about how the crayons have wax in them, and how water will not stick to wax.  Students will finish painting their leaves next time, creating a wonderful abstract work of color!