Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Fourth Grade Artist Eyes

Fourth graders created these "Artists' Eyes" on their first day of the year in art. As prompts, I asked them (and wrote on the board): How do you think artists see the world differently? How do you see the world? What do you see that makes you want to create artwork?  The results are always so individual and so unique. 

The football eye with the baseball pupil! Awesome. This student also used creative problem solving and saved himself from an "oops" moment in the background by cutting off his mistake, and cutting out the parts of his paper he liked and mounting it on a new paper.

The asymmetry and the detail on this Artist Eye are so attention-grabbing! You can tell this is a cat lover; she draws cats often in the art room.

The textured, shaded background on this one makes the carefully outlined details stand out. The double rainbow is like a reflection, and the symmetry creates a shape like the iris of the eye.

 Singing and fashion are two of this artist's major interests, as you can see! The realism of the eye is a beautiful mix with the stylizing of the background and the details.

The patience this student used to create these planes of color was wonderful to see! They definitely took a different and fascinating approach, choosing to create an almost abstract work of art.

This student has blossomed so much! When she was younger, I often used to have to encourage her to add more detail- now, as you can see, she's got detail for days! There's so much energy and so much to look at in this beautiful work.

I love how the rainbow in this one is like the eyelid, and how the artist cleverly incorporated the pupil and the sun, almost like an eclipse. The texture of the waves stands out against the smooth background, and your attention goes right to the portraits because of the way the artist arranged them on either side, in balance. This is pretty sophisticated and intuitive composition, right here!

The smooth background, and the use of complementary colors, was a great move here! It creates a sense of balance, and it makes every color of the eye stand out. The sun-pupil is creative too!

The eyelashes are transformed into grass, which is lovely addition to the nature theme in this eye! The pupil is an adorable puppy. 

I was so impressed with the effort this student made to create detail, and smooth, thorough coloring. The color choices are vibrant and daring!

Wow! There's so much to see here- from the dramatic zig-zags to the blended colors and the movement of all the different patterns in combination. The artist was careful to explain to me that the scribbles were actually on purpose, to show that that's ok sometimes. 


Friday, September 16, 2016

I am an Artist- First Day of Second Grade Art!

Second graders created these drawings in response to the prompt, "I am an artist when..." I love this activity as an introduction to the year. In the intro to the project, I tell them there are so many ways to be creative and to use your imagination, you just have to remember to look all around you for inspiration. Maybe you'll be awed by a poster you see in the art room, maybe you'll see something awesome on vacation and wonder how to capture its image, maybe you'll be daydreaming and something will just pop into your thoughts. I'm always amazed at the variety of responses I see, and I always learn something new about the kids.

"I am an artist when I am outside."

"I am an artist when I am drawing the world."

"I am an artist when I am everywhere inside or outside."

"I am an artist when I see something that an artist made."

"I am an artist when I see a sunset or a blank piece of paper."

"I am an artist when I am in my art cabinet."

"I am an artist when I see a paintbrush and paint in front of me."

" I am an artist when I am in the forest."