We have hit the school year off with a wonderful bang! Thanks to a new and improved schedule, young Flatonia artists have been able to spend more time in the art room, allowing more opportunities to develop ideas, skills and create. This is a great supplement to your student's academic growth.
Let's talk about our theme: this year students are being encouraged to DISCOVER, EXPLORE, THINK
and CREATE.
To DISCOVER, I feel it is important to introduce children to art made by a diverse range of artists. We first took a look at a whimsical circus painting by Marc Chagall. The next class session we discussed the painting titled “The Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali. Following these discussions, students brainstormed and started creating illustrations of happy memories and dreamscapes. They created these inside their process visual journals (aka their sketchbooks).
With this activity students were allowed to EXPLORE a pretty wide range of art medium and techniques. Some included
- watercolor paint
- wet and dry pastel
- oil pastel
- wax relief rubbings
- graphite (our fancy-pants word for pencil)
- permanent marker
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After experimenting with all those mediums to create dreamscapes, students went on to EXPLORE the beautifully woven textiles of Michelle Chesson. After talking about Michelle Chesson and her business Roving Textiles, the students gave it a go at weaving paper. Using paper magnifies the ins and outs of weaving, allowing the kids to really see and understand the process. Some children asked why we were learning weaving? Weaving has been used by most cultures all over the world throughout time, from making textiles (aka clothes, fabric) to making baskets to carry and hold things. Learning this helps the students connect to other cultures. Plus weaving helps our kiddos better understand pattern, process and working within a three dimensional space. Here are some pictures from the days that we tackled weaving paper.
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If students were not weaving, they were still practicing using a ruler to make straight lines and using scissors to develop their fine motor skills. We have been DISCOVERING all kinds of ways to use our rulers, from going outside making patterns with sidewalk chalk, to creating paper strips to build paper sculpture. You can see more pictures of this below. Overall, the students have been getting good practice at handling these trickier tools. In doing these activities they are also learning how bend, crease, fold and curl paper in creative ways. Oh, and I almost forgot: students are learning to use glue effectively. No more messy glue puddles in my room! 😉
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The last thing we really celebrated this cycle was Dot Day, inspired by the book The Dot by author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. This is an encouraging story by an author/illustrator about not giving up.
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The last thing we really celebrated this cycle was Dot Day, inspired by the book The Dot by author and illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. This is an encouraging story by an author/illustrator about not giving up.
To celebrate Dot Day, activities varied over the course of about a week. Some students painted BIG, BOLD dot paintings like the main character Vashti in the story The Dot.
Other students collaged “dot-ISH dots” inspired by Reynold’s other story, Ish. Some students created big circle dots using dot markers or bingo daubers mixed with other fun medium, like waxy crayon and rubbings to create a wax resist. Older students created illustrations on dots that show people helping others from their daily lives, creating positive impacts.
Other students collaged “dot-ISH dots” inspired by Reynold’s other story, Ish. Some students created big circle dots using dot markers or bingo daubers mixed with other fun medium, like waxy crayon and rubbings to create a wax resist. Older students created illustrations on dots that show people helping others from their daily lives, creating positive impacts.
Now that we are done with Dot Day (and I really think we should do this every year - it was such a success) we are moving on to other new and exciting things. Next cycle we will be creating portraits of our favorite toys and stuffed animals, monotyping and taking a stab at Gyotaku printmaking. Below is a sneak peak at what monotyping looks like in the art room. Warning: it has the potential to get MESSY. 😏 Thank goodness my young artists are so helpful during clean up! Do you see those sparkling tables????
Until the next post, over and out!
Sincerely, Your Dear Art Teacher
Until the next post, over and out!
Sincerely, Your Dear Art Teacher
