Kinder Jasper Johns Paintings

Kinder students are studying the Pop artist Jasper Johns.  We looked at several of his paintings that included letters and numbers and talked about how you can find letters and numbers everywhere out in the world: signs, buildings, telephones, microwaves, etc.   Students then folded their papers to get a grid, and started drawing numbers or letters.

 Then the most fun part was painting!  Each student added four different colors to each letter or number, which made the works a little more abstract like Johns' style.  We talked about the science of how the water-based paint resists the oil pastel lines and sticks to the paper instead of the letters or numbers.  Check out all of the wonderful finished paintings here at Zilker's Online Museum:  http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=766073

Writing in Art Class

Writing...in Art Class?  Yes, we do it.  Not as often as I want, because I only see my students every three days for one 45 minute class, and most students are eager and excited to be painting, cutting, drawing, and otherwise engaging in the making of art - especially my students who struggle in academic classes.  When I tell them we are writing, they get much less excited, but I feel it is an extremely important part of learning about art.
As you can see from the Bloom's Taxonomy chart above, when students are creating their artworks, they are working at the highest level of thinking.  Right below "Create" is "Evaluate." Evaluating their finished pieces of art is essential so they can reflect back on the concepts we learned during the project, as well as articulate through words how they feel about their finished works.

Here are some actual student exit tickets from different grade levels.  I really enjoy reading what their favorite part of their artwork is, and seeing how they feel about their finished works.

These are also a great summary of what they learned, so when students bring home their artwork, and their exit ticket is attached to the back, parents or other family members can see some of the concept or big ideas we were learning about in class as well as enjoy the finished art work.  Look for exit tickets coming home with some of your child's artwork!

3rd Grade Keith Haring Group Project and Individual Collages

 Keith Haring is one of my favorite all-time artists.  Most of his artwork is kid friendly, and students love his kinetic figures.

We looked at many of his paintings in art class and talked about his use of movement.  We then learned about gesture drawings and proportion, and students drew several quick gesture drawings of me posing in different positions.  Students then traced around these gesture drawings to make them look more like a Haring figure.  They carefully cut out their best, and then traced that one onto construction paper.  The color scheme was complementary colors, and students randomly chose a complementary set.  Here students are cutting carefully around the figure to get that black edging.

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They turn out so energetic and colorful, and they look amazing all together.  Some classes' artwork will be displayed in April for Zilker's School-wide Art Show.

We also worked on a bigger group drawing that was displayed on February 6 at Family Night.  This is what the two panels looked like:

1st & 2nd Grade Eric Carle Collages

We are learning about the phenomenal artist and author Eric Carle in second and first grade art class! We read some of his books, including "Mister Seahorse," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," and "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" We discussed how Eric Carle created his own papers by painting them and scratching textures into the wet paint.  After the papers dried, he would then cut them out to create the beautiful animals in his books.

Students painted their papers first.  This was a FUN day!  Students rotated around the table and painted six or seven different colors onto their construction paper.  Before the paint dried, students used tools to scratch lines into the wet paint, just like Eric Carle.

The papers were dry for the next class, and students traced shapes on the back to create their animals, as well as added fun things such as sequins, pompoms, glitter, and oil pastel details.  Some classes made butterflies:

Other classes created tropical birds:

 And still other classes made seahorses.  They are all so lovely!  Look for first grade classes' artwork to be displayed in April for the School-wide Art Show!

5th Grade Recycled Art Group Project

Fifth Grade Students' Group Art Project was inspired by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. We looked especially close at these artworks of his:

Fifth Grade students then all participated in painting, gathering recycled materials like plastic bottle caps and aluminum can tabs, sorting materials, or gluing materials to the canvas. Here is their work in progress:

 We still have work to do but....fingers crossed...we are trying to have it finished by Thursday!   Come see it Thursday night at Family Night at Zilker!

Kinder and First Grade Circle Paintings

 Continuing our grade level projects, Kinder and First Grade classes worked together to create some amazing cooperative paintings. Wassily Kandinsky was our artist inspiration. We started with basic shapes and painted right onto the large sheets of paper.  After the shapes covered the paper, students connected the shapes with different kinds of lines.

 Students then worked together to add lots of vibrant color.  These are beautiful - please come see them in person on Thursday February 6th at Zilker Family Night!  Our school will be open to visitors from 5:30 - 8 pm....hope to see you there!