Thiebaud-inspired Cupcakes

Kindergarteners were looking at the art work of Wayne Thiebaud for this collage lesson. We watched the beginning of this video on CBS Sunday Morning . Of course, the students loved his art work! We began by discussing geometric shapes and students used a trapezoid template to trace and cut their cupcake wrappers. They decorated the wrappers with all of the different types of lines that they had learned. We used secondary colors for our lines. During our second class, we glued the trapezoids down to a background and also added the "frosting". The students got to pick if they wanted chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry frosting. We tore the paper strips for the frosting, emphasizing going from smallest to largest. They were finished with a circle cherry and review of geometric shapes. This was one of my favorite projects so far this semester.

1st Grade- Beverly Buchanan Clay Houses

 

1st graders studied the sculptures of Georgia artist, Beverly Buchanan. Her sculptures and photographs of poor, Southern sharecroppers' homes sparked our conversation about what the word "home" means to us. The students used small pieces of clay to create triangles and squares that were attached using scoring and slip. The students created textures on the surface. After the houses were bisque fired, the kids colored  them with oil pastel. Then, they gave it a surface wash of watered-down black tempera. I sponged it off a bit for them so the textures would show up and then we added a coat of glossy mod podge. I also tied a piece of twine through the hole for them. I just think these are so sweet!



Kinder- Van Gogh Ceramic Stars

Kindergarteners made these adorable stars just before our holiday break. We looked at "The Starry Night" and talked about lines and texture. We used a star shaped cookie cutter to cut them out of a slab of clay after the students had created textures with a variety of tools. Old marker caps were a big hit! After the stars were bisque fired, they were painted with tempera. I added a coat of glossy mod podge for protection and also tied a piece of twine through the hole for them. They were so excited to take these home. It was great!

Ist Grade Impressionist Landscapes

First graders have been studying Impressionism. We talk a lot about how Impressionists painted light and reflections. We also learned about warm and cool colors. For this activity, we began by folding our white paper in half and only painting one half using purple, blue and green. Then, we folded the paper to create the reflection. The next class, we used oil pastels to make tree trunks. I told them to draw the letter "Y" for the trunks and we used to different shades of brown. Then, we used sponges to paint our warm colored leaves and folded the paper again. This was a nice, quick activity and it had a very high success rate!

2nd Grade Thiebaud Inspired Donut Collages!

This is my favorite project that we have done so far this semester. Thiebaud is one of my favorite artists. I thought these collages turned out great and the kids really enjoyed this. We began by studying the art of Wayne Thiebaud, focusing on his use of repetition. We also talked about neutral colors, geomteric and organic shapes. The students used a template to cut perfect circles for their donuts but they had to create their own organic shapes for the frosting. Then, they were able to embellish their donuts using hole punchers and glitter. Lastly, we added a smaller circle in the center that was the same colored paper as their background (also using a template) to be the donut "hole".

Painted Ladies: Victorian Architecture

My 5th graders created these beautiful contour line drawings using elements of Victorian architecture as inpiration. We looked at lots of examples from the San Francisco Painted Ladies (by the way, I was shocked to know that 5th graders watch Full House reruns and are familiar with these homes from the opening credit sequence) to some examples from hotels in Walt Disney World and then even some in our own community. We learned architectural terms like turret, pediment, dormer, widow's walk and molding. The kids used pencils and Sharpies to do the line drawings and then created a background using liquid watercolor. We sprayed the liquid watercolor with water to make it run and bleed a little more. I think they turned out great!

Back in Elementary!

I'm back!! After a hiatus into the world of teaching high school art, I am in elementary and back to doing these fun, kid-friendly projects. I couldn't be more excited to be at two wonderful schools in a great county! We're in the third week of school now and while I don't have any completed projects to share just yet, I do have some books and resources that I am excited about using this year in the art room. We use sketchbooks with all of the children in every grade level. I found this short video that I show to everyone but Kinder before we make our sketchbooks. All the grade levels think this guy is hysterical. Personally, I am glad this is a short video as I find him a tad annoying but who cares what I think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KflV1CeCj4o
The same week that I used this video with the other grades, I read "A Dot is a Line That Went for a Walk" to Kinder. I stumbled across a copy of the story on Slideshare so I was able to read it to the kids from the projector so everyone could see. They drew their lines in the sketchbook as we read the story. http://www.slideshare.net/PHrbacek/a-line-is-a-dot-that-went-for-a-walk

I also have some great story books that I found this year. These two have been a big hit so far. Both Kinder and 1st thought they were hilarious!!

I also got this one but I haven't test driven it yet. I got it for our collage activities because all of the illustrations are made from collage.

 

 

Do you have any favorite books for the art room? Finished projects coming soon!