Grade 1 Pablo Picasso Portraits

 

 This past week my class and I learned about Pablo Picasso and cubism. We discussed the abstract portraits and the features that looked "out of place." This lesson focused on learning about realistic vs. abstract artwork and creating a composition. We also talked about symmetry and determined these portraits were asymmetrical.

          

  

We started with small wooden pieces that would replace eyes, nose, ears, and other features. I let the students be creative with this and they came up with some great results. This also allowed students to work on their fine motor skills by painting and handling the small wooden pieces. 

Next we painted the cardboard piece we used for the face in different colors and designs and glued them on.

Here are some final pieces. The student who created this artwork above decided they wanted to add some hair  :-) 

Grade 3 Jackson Pollock Splatter Painting

My students and I discussed the technique Jackson Pollock used while painting and learned about his background as an artist. We talked about the action and the process of painting as well as the end result. During this project, I helped my students to think about the whole composition and how to change where they were standing and the motion they made with their brushes to get a different effect. We also used smaller and larger brushes to add variety to the brush strokes. This was done all with watercolor paints, both metallic and glitter! 

I first placed a large white paper down on the floor and then added a 9 x 9 piece of paper for each child on top. 

Students enjoyed seeing the end result when they picked up their piece of paper to leave a print behind. 

The results ended up being very different as the students each used different watercolors and techniques of splatter painting. 

Grade 2 Boston Marathon Collage

During April Vacation I taught a class at the Danforth Museum. Since the Boston Marathon was also happening that week, I decided to create a lesson based on the Marathon. My students and I discussed the importance of this Marathon and the history of the race. 

First we looked at the Boston City Skyline and talked about perspective lines, value, and space. 

Next we practiced drawing our own 3-D  buildings on white paper 

After we cut up light and dark pieces of newspaper for our buildings. 

And colored the sky in the background 

Next it was time to glue everything down! We added some green paper from magazines for the trees and a boardwalk as well. I also talked about parts of the landscape such as foreground, middle ground, background, and the horizon line. 

1st Grade Clay Creatures

We made clay creatures from pinch pots yesterday. We started this by making a pinch pot with air dry clay and then added claws, and legs as well. Then we made a base for our crab and added shells, sand, and acrylic gloss mixed with blue acrylic paint for the water. And of course googley eyes as well!

1st Grade Eric Carle and Mr. Seahorse

I read Mr. Seahorse to my first and second graders. Then we talked about different types of lines we could make using crayons, markers, watercolor, and pastels. Here are the results below!

We used watercolor paints for the background and started making horizontal lines across the page.

Next we took a new piece of paper and used crayons, pastels, and markers to make different types of lines for our seahorse. Then I made a model and then the students traced and cut our their sea-horses. 

They made fish and other sea creatures with colored construction paper as well. I made sure to encourage students to add different types of lines for the details on the fish.  

Finally, we glued torn pieces of tissue paper to the bottom of our picture to hide some of our fish! 

3rd Grade Winslow Homer Seascapes

Today we learned about Winslow Homer and created collage seascapes. This project was challenging but also very fun for the students to mix different colors and show texture with sandpaper. Here is the process below!

First we painted paper for the sky, water, and sand. Then we used sandpaper to add texture to the painted paper. 

After we tore and cut our paper, we assembled it onto the page to show the sand for the foreground, the water for the middle ground, and the sky for the background. 

Then we added beach umbrellas and sail boats!

1st Grade Solar System Collage

Summer Vacation Workshops have begun! This week I am teaching a 3rd grade class in the morning and a 1st grade class in the afternoon. Here is some of the work we have been making!

Grade 1 Solar System Collage

First, we painted paper with different watercolors

Next we found different circular objects in the room and traced them onto our painted paper. We cut these shapes out and used them for our planets.

Then we used Mod Podge and added swirls onto a black piece of paper. I walked around the room with glitter and poured it onto each piece of paper. 

Then we glued on our planets and added charcoal to show shading and value! Our last step was to create rocket ships and add them onto our solar system. They turned out great!

Welcome!

Welcome to my art classroom! I am currently an Art Teacher at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA and will be teaching at Byam Elementary School in Chelmsford, MA starting in the fall. Stay tuned for more posts soon!