Fifth Grade Notan Collage

Fifth graders learned the Japanese word Notan, which refers to the balance between darkness and light in art. Using this idea, they created collages with the balance of positive and negative space. The results are these striking examples of abstract art.

First Grade Self-Portraits

First graders explored the essential question: What can you tell about an artist from their self-portrait? We discussed portraits by Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, and Andy Warhol and the different lives these artists led.

With a step-by-step demo, they learned about the different lines, shapes, and proportions of the face to create these beautiful self-portraits.

Sixth Grade Wire Self-Portraits

Sixth graders learned about American artist Alexander Calder and his wire sculptures and mobiles. They practiced wire techniques such as crimping, coiling, and cutting. Then, they used wire, beads, and buttons to create these innovative wire self-portraits.

Second Grade Birch Tree Paintings

Second graders created these beautiful birch tree paintings using several painting techniques, including masking and dry brushpainting. First, they created the shape of their trees with masking tape on watercolor paper. Next, they painted all around and over the masking tape to create the land and sky. Then, they removed the tape and used 2B shading pencils to create the distinctive bark markings. Finally, they used dry brush technique to create hundreds of textured leaves. 

We also explored paintings of birch trees by American artists Georgia O'Keeffe and Milton Avery. It was exciting for the students to discover that there are birches right on the school campus, and we took full advantage of the great spring weather to go visit and observe the trees in person.

Fourth Grade Warhol Parody

Fourth graders learned about Andy Warhol’s pop art classic soup can paintings.  They created their own parodies of the painting by turning the cans into stories about things they “can” do.