Art

Hey everyone! What a busy 5 weeks we’ve had in the Art room since our return from winter break! We used all the time we had to create art for the Auction. We are complete, the art created for the Auction was received with praise and joy, and now we are ready to move forward with the curriculum and explore new projects. I’m excited!

The focus on the past month was block printing, well, at least our expression of block printing.  Instead of carving on wood or rubber with cool, yet, sharp tools, we etched on foam boards for the same impression. 

The kids drew (with lots of pressure on the pencil) on the foam to then roll ink with a brayer unto the handmade stamp to transfer the image. We made many proofs and created awesome, one of a kind prints. To warm up to the technique, I had the kids draw out a pattern using shapes and lines. 

The following week we agreed on a theme and picked nature to stay cohesive as a class for their art presentations.  

Beautiful!!  

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The good thing about the 3rd/4th grade class is that we meet twice a week, once for art another for leadership.  I was so thankful to have this extra time with this group during Auction prep time.  In leadership, we focused on the collective art project titled “our tree”. This class project was 100% created by the kids. It was their vision to make a tree that highlighted the kids and their own personal expression, together, in a form of a tree abundant with life, having one side be sunny and the other half showing nighttime.  Their hands as leaves, growing in the sunshine and catching rain.  It was a huge accomplish created with cooperation, enthusiasm, and happiness.  Not sure how much it went for at the Auction, but I’m my eyes and heart it was a priceless piece of art. 

Jack and his hand masterpiece he created for the tree.  

This Tuesday we will have our Chinese New Year celebration at school, so I thought it would be cool to do some art for the occasion.  I had the kids practice writing the Chinese character for “Dog”.  We used pencil first and traced that with black paint.

We also discussed and looked at many examples of gorgeous eastern Asian art to view Hanko Seals, the way eastern artists “sign” their artwork. The kids created their own hanko stamp with red colored pencils for the final touch on their paintings. They came out great!

Next up! Charcoal and still life.