|
ART ROOM
NEWS
The art room has been a very busy place since I have last
written. The children participated in one art show and three contests.
Congratulations to our 27 students whose artwork was displayed at the WCET
Create A Fest and our 3 winners. Fifteen students art work was chosen to
represent
Crosby
at the PTA Reflections contest. Results should be announced sometime in
February. Twelve third grade students had their posters entered in the
Woodsy Owl “Lend a hand, care for the land” contest. The garden club of
Harrison
will release results in May. Kmart
sponsored a show of our first, second and third graders art in November.
Whew!!!
Needed Items
Begin saving cardboard toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes and
gift wrapping paper tubes for future sculpture and junk art projects. Send
them to the art room. Thank You!
Mark your Calendar
The Drawing Story Lady,
Jan
Peak
will be performing at the
Harrison
branch of the public library on Monday, January 21 at
1 pm
. The program is geared to children. I have seen her work and it is quite
impressive. Luckily school is closed due to the observance of Martin Luther
King Day.
The library also hosts workshops for adults. Upcoming workshops
include, knitting on January 5,
10:30
-
noon
, scrapbooking on January 9,
6:30-8:00 pm
and cross stitch on January16,
7-8:30 pm
.
Summer Art Camp
I received information about the Interlochen summer art program
for children in grades three trough twelve. The camp is held in
Michigan
and offers programs in creative writing, dance, motion picture arts, music,
theatre arts and visual arts. Financial aid and scholarships are available.
You may download the information at www.interlochen.org/art08.
Applications are due
February 1, 2008
.
Recent art projects
The first grade students created Native American villages. We
studied the Plains Indians who were known for following the buffalo herds
and making their tepees from the animal hides. The children looked at
photographs of clothing, moccasins and power shields. They also identified
Native American pictographs and used the symbols to decorate their tepees
and power shields.
The second grade children studied about the Northwest Coast Indian
tribes. These groups were known for their hand carved totem poles and wooden
masks. Unlike the nomadic people of the plains, the Northwest Coast Indians
did not travel; their homes were constructed of wood with totem poles
affixed to their entrances. The boys and girls created paper totem poles and
paper plate masks.
The Native American tribes of the Southwest inspired the third grade
students. The children learned that these tribal groups made Kachinas, small
dolls, for their children. The dolls symbolized their ancestors and the
spirits the tribal members honored in ceremonies. We crafted Kachina
headpieces in art class. We also
watched a video showing the adobe brick apartment style homes on the pueblo,
and Native Americans wearing traditional garb performing the eagle dance.
Color families and color mixing have inspired the fourth graders
recent projects. The children created beautiful oil pastel designs. They
traced ten objects, (glue bottles, hole punchers, tape dispensers, etc.) and
colored them with warm or cool colors. The background spaces were filled
with patterns. The results are stunning. The paintings of Sean Scully, an
Irish abstractionist, inspired our color mixing lessons. The children used
tempera paint and mixed tints and tones with white, brown, gray and black
paint. The color swatches were then cut into geometric shapes and arranged
on black paper to create an abstract composition. The subtle variations of
color are mesmerizing.
John James Audubon, the artist who is featured at
Miami
Whitewater
Park
Visitors
Center
, provided motivation for our fifth grade printmaking project. The children
learned about Audubon’s life and his love of nature. They drew birds while
looking at a photograph. Next the image was transferred to a Styrofoam plate
which they inked and printed on paper. The students really enjoyed the
printmaking process. They applied their color knowledge and mixed a variety
of interesting shades of ink Today they matted their edition of four prints
to a large sheet of construction paper.
Asian scroll paintings from
Japan
and
China
gleaned the attention of our sixth grade students. Landscapes, seascapes,
flowers, volcanoes and tidal waves were rendered by the watercolorists on
silk and paper. The children manipulated their watercolor paint creating
both opaque and transparent layers of color.
The children also enjoyed learning about still life paintings. They
drew from a large display of bottles, flowers, books, baskets, canisters,
fruit and containers. Next they applied oil pastel or marker. The children
also received instruction about shading. They learned how to create the
illusion of three dimensional forms by shading some areas darker than
others.
Wishing you a very Merry
Christmas and a wonderful winter break !
|
