Artist of the Week

I posted recently that my school is doing a fundraiser called Art to Remember. All of my students spent the last few weeks creating art for A2R. I was really happy with how the program went, because I was able to teach normal, standards-based, art history-infused lessons. I just had to use their "special" paper, and when I ran out, I cut our regular art paper (a similar weight) to the same size and used that. This way, most of my students were able to create 2 works of art, and pick their best. Some classes even had a choice of over 3 works of art!

The only down-side was, once we sent the art in, every student's best piece was gone....and I had nothing to put in my display case for "Artist of the Week". Until one of my very talented 4th grade students stayed after school to finish his lighthouse, which he'd put so much detail in that he didn't get done in class. Boy was I happy to see him! Here is his piece, which didn't make it into my lighthouse post since he didn't get done until a week or two after everyone else.

Pretty Purple Flowers

Every week, I pick a student to be “Artist of the Week.” Someone who did an extra nice job in art class will get their artwork displayed in the glass case near the entrance of our school. Usually the “Artist of the Week” is someone who followed directions really well, was creative, and had wonderful craftsmanship and great attention to details. In a very structured art lesson, sometimes it is difficult to choose between similar pictures; in a less structured lesson with more freedom, sometimes it’s hard to choose between pictures that are very different and brilliant in different ways!

This week, 1st grade did an art project with a lot of room for creativity. This is the point where the difference between talented students and kids who are struggling becomes apparent! My 1st graders have been learning about secondary colors, and each week, we mixed a different color to make a new picture. This week we did purple, and the assignment was the draw the flower stems and any details with crayons, and to paint the petals with purple paint that we mixed from red and blue.

Some students made flowers in a garden. Others put their flowers in a bouquet. Some students put their flowers in a vase or flower pot. With lots of variety, there were many nice pieces of artwork. But, this week, one student really stood out to me.

This little girl used creativity to color the wall behind the flowers with the side of the crayon, giving it beautiful texture. She also used a great analogous color scheme. Different shades of blue, blue-violet, violet, and red-violet appear throughout the picture. And, she didn't leave anything white that shouldn't be white! Wow. I am very impressed. 

Nonobjective Circle Art with 1st Grade

1st Grade recently studied the artwork of Wassily Kandinsky, who is known for nonobjective art. We had a great aesthetics discussion on why you would want to make a picture that is not of something. Then, the students traced round objects to make their own nonobjective circle art. We used crayons the first day, and watercolors the second day.

The picture below is by a student who received "Artist of the Week" for his amazing work. Below that are two photos of my bulletin board, where I put up every single students' art. It didn't all fit on one camera screen! The text above the art says, "Nonobjective Art is art that purposely doesn't look like anything. Nonobjective art can be patterns, designs, shapes and colors!"

Artist of the Week

My school has a glass display case near the main entrance, and the administration has kindly let me use it for art displays. Every week on Friday, I pick an outstanding piece of student art, and hang it in the display case with a sign saying "Artist of the Week" above the art and the student's name below the art. It's really about as wonderful of a display case as I could ask for, because the back is cork covered in fabric, so I can pin pictures to it, and there are pegs for a glass shelf I can have temporarily installed when the art is 3D.

This week, my 6th graders just finished printmaking (with foam), and I was really impressed with this student's printing skills (below), so I picked his work. I love how the ink (Speedball water-based) is a little transparent, so the colors change slightly depending on what color paper they are being printed on. The blue on the left print and the middle print is the same; the yellow ink on the second print and fourth is the same; but each image has it's own beautiful hue.

It's going to take me some time to finish sorting and grading everyone in 6th grade's prints, since most students have 6 prints (three colors of ink each on two separate papers), but I will post more about this art project in a few days.

3rd Grade Hatching/Cross-hatching Project

After successfully completing the hatching/cross-hatching spheres I mentioned in an earlier post, the 3rd graders used their drawing skills to draw fruit. I was very impressed by some of the students' ability to layer lines over lines to create progressively darker shades! One especially successful drawing was the pear below. I chose this student to be "Artist of the Week".

I also created a bulletin board to show the whole school what the 3rd graders are learning. The other teachers have been very impressed with the skill exhibited by our talented students. I know I am impressed!

Letter to Parents

Each week, I choose a new "artist of the week" to display in the glass case near the main entrance of the school. This week, I chose an exceptional yarn design by a second grader. The student had created a multicolored flower with many pieces of yarn, and the finished piece impressed me, as well as our office staff, assistant principal, and a few of the teachers in the teachers' lounge.

Since I am still getting to know the students, I wasn't sure whose picture it was until I flipped it over and read the loopy second grade handwriting on the back. His teacher happened to be right there, so I mentioned to her that I would like to write his parents a note to tell them their son's good news. She confirmed that the parents did have the same last name, and I could address the note to "Mr. and Mrs.".

As I was about to go back to my classroom to type a short note, the students' teacher stopped me. "But," she said. "I don't think they speak English."

That threw a new curve ball at me! Determined to contact the student's parents, I consulted Google Translate and a teacher who is quite proficient in Spanish. The result was the letter below, which I certainly hope makes sense!

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