3rd and 4th Grade Artwork

The 3rd graders have been learning about the artwork of Romare Bearden, a collage artist.  The students created their own self portrait collages using magazines. 

In 4th grade we've just finished a unit on Picasso.  We learned about Cubism and the Blue Period.  Students created several Picasso inspired pieces, including some crazy clay masks inspired by Picasso's mixed up faces.  Our clay pieces are in the kiln or on the way to be fired.  Today we started a new unit on circles.  We looked at various ways that circles are used in artwork.  Then we started making our own circles that show radial symmetry.  They are inspired by round stained glass windows.  And the best part is that we're using shrink plastic!  The students started coloring their circles today.  Next week the circles will be ready for the oven.  Once they bake, they reduce in size by 50%!  Stay tuned for the finished product. 

Our shrink art circles with radial symmetry

Here are some of our cubist animals.  Can you identify our complimentary color schemes in each one?

Love Bugs

To coincide with Valentine's Day and our unit on bugs, today the second graders in Mrs. Carter's class made love bugs.  I let them have a lot of freedom with this assignment so that they could be creative and come up with an original idea.  The only parameter was that they had to use hearts to create the bug.  Look at the amazing results:

 

2nd Grade is Going Buggy

Second graders have started a unit all about bugs.  We learned about how author and illustrator Eric Carle makes the collages for his books.  Then the students created their own painted papers inspired by Eric Carle.  After the paper making, the students drew sketches of bugs and then created their own bugs out of the painted papers.  We've also been learning characteristics of insects.  Did you know that insects have 6 legs and 3 main body parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen?

Non-Objective Symmetrical Name Designs

The fifth graders have been learning about the difference between objective and non objective artwork.  They created these radial symmetry designs using the letters in their names.  They also chose a color scheme for their work (primary, secondary, complimentary, warm, cool).  Can you find their names hidden in the artwork?

Kindergarten Sculptures

I've been realizing lately how much simple art activities are often the best and most rewarding for kids, especially when they involve opportunities for exploration and lots of creativity.  Artwork should be more about the process of the creation than the actual final product.  A good final product often follows when there was a successful process of thinking and problem solving along the way.  I think that the thinking process and creative exploration was very evident in the work below.  The kindergartners made wood scrap sculputures after looking at the artwork of Louise Nevelson.  They loved sorting through all the junk and gluing everything together and had to learn what sorts of pieces would work for the bottom to sustain the weight for the top.