Thank you to everyone who helped plan, volunteered at, or came to visit Wilson Creek's second annual art show. It was a fun night and a great reminder of how wonderful our families and community truly are in Manhattan SD 114. Here are some photos from the night.
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Third grade spent some time studying Vincent Van Gogh and his famous Starry Night painting. Using tempera, oil pastels, and scrap paper, they each recreated this masterpiece. I was inspired by Deep Space Sparkle, and modified one of her lessons. They all ended up so different and beautiful. Van Gogh lived a troubled life and was never given the acclaim he deserved in his life time. It is important for my students to know this as it may help define their outlook on art as well as others' opinions. Students discussed the importance of making art that YOU like. The world may change it's opinion on what is "good" at any moment. Thankfully, Van Gogh did not stop painting just because critics did not care for his style. We also watched a short video that explains that Van Gogh may have been more in tune with fluid dynamics than present day scientists. It's pretty interesting. Students practiced leaving visible brushstrokes like Van Gogh as well as double-loading their paint brushes. So we spent a few weeks talking about Van Gogh and his work. But I am not going to kid myself. Twenty years from now, there will be just one fact that I can guarantee every student will remember from this lesson. If you teach art, you know what that is. :) So this week kindergartners are working with colorful construction paper crayons (which are so fun and so easy!) We took a sheet of black construction paper, practiced using our rulers to make straight lines (and it really doesn't matter if the lines are wobbly - sometimes I have found that the projects look even cooler that way). Students use 1 row at a time to make unique linear patterns using simple shapes, lines, and colors. It was a good time to revisit types of lines and geometric shapes. A lot of students even wanted to incorporate letters into this drawing which was a good idea. They practice writing letters so much in class, I like that they wanted to carry that skill over to my class. :) I reminded them that their was always room for more detail, and that they could always make their patterns more complex. This activity held the students' attention well and filled an entire 40 minute class with no clean up time. I'm sure some of my students would have even used an additional class to add more! Above was an example I made. It was projected at the beginning of class and students thought it looked very difficult. By the end of class they were pleased to see that theirs looked just as complex and "difficult". But they all felt it was really quite easy to do.
Come follow me on Instagram! @steph-boersma or find class-related photos at #paintonourfingers .
Wilson Creek has made a big push to be more present on social media. You can find out what great things all of my coworkers are doing with their students at #wilsoncreeklearns . First grade created some AWESOME hearts in art class. I noticed I don't have many pictures of the rubbing alcohol process, but that is probably because I was to busy enjoying the process with them. Students started by cutting out their hearts. I had some classes glue their hearts onto the black paper before they painted and some did not glue theirs down until after the paint had dried. You can see the one above glued down the heart first. I like the way the paint has traveled onto the black space. If we do this again, all classes will try it this way. The trick to getting a good effect with the rubbing alcohol is to add it when the paper is extremely wet. So first graders tried out the wet-on-wet painting technique for the first time. The first practiced this technique on small hexagon-shaped paper (I will get back to this). Then, they painted wet-on-wet "watercolor" (we used tempera discs with a lot of water). They used little pipettes from the science closet to drip the rubbing alcohol on top. There were plenty of "oohs" and "aahs" from my little artists/scientists. Finally, students used scraps from the recycling bin to give their pictures a colorful frame. T
The practice papers have been Mod Podged together onto 2 canvases that will be raffled as a set at the Wilson Creek art show! We hope to see you there! The Anna McDonald ACCESS students experimented with mono-printing and chalk pastels as they created these fun Valentine artworks. They started folded their paper in half, and were only allowed to paint on one side (forcing them to print the wet paint onto the other side). We all started with basic hearts. From there, they painted more line details. The tempera dried quickly, so they were able to add color on the same day. This student got the hang of mono-printing and quickly took off with his own idea. This one looks so much like a Siamese cat face to me. I love it!
This kindergarten lesson was a summary of the seven art elements (line, shape, color, texture, value, form, and space) that have been introduced to kindergartners this year. They used scrap paper, oil pastels, cotton balls, chalk, and tin foil. We practiced tracing, cutting, gluing, blending, and ripping. (This really was quite a review lesson for these kiddos!) Their projects turned out wonderful! I love the discussions that I overheard in some of the classes too. One student explained to another student what "space junk" was (surprised me that she already knew about that!). Many students chose specific planets to draw in the background (Saturn and Mars seemed to be their favorites.) Students also looked at photographs of nebulae, and were asked to create their own in their pictures. Just beautiful. They are very creative kids, these kindergartners. :) This was one of those projects that caused crazy, cluttered tables.
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AuthorI am a K - 5th grade art teacher at Wilson Creek Elementary and Anna McDonald School in Manhattan, IL. I am also a mother of two little girls (who share my love of art)! Archives
February 2019
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