Thursday, March 26, 2015

Grade 1 Still Life Drawings of Fruit

First Grade learned about still life paintings this week in art. We took a look at some of Paul Cezanne's paintings and noticed his use of light and shadow. Next, we started to draw our own fruit. Students drew an apple, orange, and a pear. Then we colored them in using watercolor crayons and added light and shadow. These came out beautiful! The students felt proud and excited that their drawings came out so realistic looking.













Grade 2 Andy Warhol Prints

This week, Second Grade learned about Andy Warhol, the artist that greatly influenced the Pop Art Movement. We learned about his life as a child and his career as an artist. During the late 1940's and early 1950's, Andy printed a series of shoes for a few different magazines including Glamour. We took a look at some of his designs and were inspired to take test out our own prints using Styrofoam paper. First, we drew our shoe onto the Styrofoam and then rolled ink on top using a brayer. Next, we placed the Styrofoam design onto paper, lifted up our designs, let them dry, and added them to a textured background paper. I think the students loved making prints and learning the beginning techniques of printmaking!









Monday, March 23, 2015

Third Grade CD Weaving

This year, third graders learned how to weave on a CD. We talked about the technique of weaving on a loom and learned about how to create the warp thread. The loom is the CD, the warp is the set of strings that hold the piece together, and the weft is the string that we used to weave over and under each warp string. These came out amazing and I think the third graders had a great time learning how to weave!

 















Massachusetts Art Education Association Show 2015

March is Youth Art Month. This year, we participated in the Chelmsford Public Library Show and also the Massachusetts Art Education Association Show. The reception for the show was held at the State Transportation Building in Boston on March 22nd. Five students from Byam Elementatry were chosen for this year's show. It was so nice to see how excited the children and the families were to be a part of the event. Thank you to all who came yesterday and congratulations to the talented young artists!














The show will be up until April 24th so I encourage you to visit if you are in the area!

Friday, March 20, 2015

Kindergarten Magical Castles

This week in the art room, Kindergarteners learned about castles and symmetry. We looked at a few castles that were symmetrical and a few that were asymmetrical. By the end of the lesson, most students were able to tell the difference between the two. We first drew out symmetrical castles in sharpie and then used watercolor crayons on top (so cool!). Next we painted a watercolor background and added salt to create a magical textured effect. Then we glued and assembled our castles. Some students added some magical creatures who may live in their castle. Check it out below!