Chihuly Artwork

The 3rd graders have been learning about glass artist Dale Chihuly.  First we made some preliminary sketches of his work.  I am always impressed by the details they include when they are really focuing on observing the artwork.  After sketching they created their own Chihuly inspired pieces by creating a printed background using styrofoam.  On top they drew and painted Chihuly inspired glass bowls and added a border of brightly painted paper.  This assignment was a great opportunity to utilize multiple media in one project including printmaking, painting, drawing, and collage.  Thanks goes to http://elementaryartfun.blogspot.com/ for this project idea.

Holiday Art Around the School

The 1st graders created these beautiful tree sculptures.  Isn't it amazing what you can make from pasta?!

Below are some Kindergarten tree collages.  They were able to practice cutting shapes for to create this artwork.

Finished Clay Pieces

Finally, I am nearly finished firing all of these clay pieces.  The 5th graders created some delectable desserts to go along with our unit on Pop Art.  These food sculptures are making us all hungry!

 Below are clay flowers created by the 3rd graders.  They learned about the artist Georgia O'Keefe and the giant flower paintings that she created.  Then they sculpted some of their own miniature versions of flowers.

Finished Clay Pieces

We have finally glazed and painted some of our clay pieces.  The first pictures below are tiles that my Art Explorers' students made.  I'm so impressed by the texture and the way that they really made the petals 3-D. We are hoping to hang these up in the office of our school.

 Below are the clay castles that the 4th graders just finished this week.  This is our last project in our architecture unit.  Now we are starting to learn about Picasso.

And finally, the pillow pals below were made in Art Explorers.  For many students this was their first introduction to sewing. 

Monsters and Clay

The first graders have started a unit on imaginary creatures.  They just finished creating alien monster collages by cutting various shapes.  This was a great opportunity to use up some of the many paper scraps that we have been storing up in the art room. 

 Most of the art room has been an explosion of clay lately.  The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have all made a clay piece in the last 2 weeks.  Let's just say that I'm quickly running out of storage space to dry everything!  Below are pictures of the pieces before they've been fired in the kiln.  The projects include frogs, castles, flowers, and food.  After the pieces are fired we will glaze them so that they are brightly colored and have a glassy surface.