Kindergarten Expressionist Animals

Kindergarteners observed and discussed two paintings of cows. One was realistic and one was Expressionist. We discussed how, a long time ago, people expected art to look realistic- but then artists started to take big risks and to change shapes and colors in their work.  Some of these artists called themselves Expressionists, because they used color as one way of expressing their feelings through their art. 

Children and a Cow, Albert Cuyp

Yellow Cow, Franz Marc

In kindergarten, we have been learning about line, an element of art. I showed them how when lines are strong, they can be outlines. I demonstrated how to use different lines to create shapes and draw an animal. They drew with pencil, then outlined in black paint. Finally, they used bright colors to create their Expressionist animals.

Prints Inspired by Kanga Cloth

Fourth graders learned about Kanga cloth from Tanzania. Kanga cloths have geometric patterns and include a message or a blessing in Swahili. They are gifted, traded, and worn as clothing. 

The fourth graders designed their own Kanga cloth by creating an abstract design that communicated their message or blessing. They carved the design into styrofoam, then used printmaking techniques to create a series of prints, resulting in a pattern. Finally, they wrote out their blessing and created an additional border design with another geometric pattern.

 

Second Grade Pastel Leaves

Second Graders learned about Georgia O'Keeffe and observed and discussed several of her large flower paintings. We talked about why an artist would supersize something, and the students pointed out that this made the flowers more noticeable and detailed. 

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For our connecting project, second graders created "Georgia O'Leaf's"! First, they layered light-colored oil pastel. Then, they created additional layers of darker colors. They used a wooden stick to carve lines through the layers for the leaf veins, and this revealed the colors underneath. Finally, they created colorful backgrounds with watercolor. 

 

Seventh Grade Value Shading

Seventh graders created these pieces with pencil, using shading techniques. First, they drew simple line drawings. Then, they used additional lines to chop up the page and the objects. Finally, they created a full range of light and dark values inside each shape created with the dividing lines.

 

Second Grade Portraits

Second graders created these beautiful portraits by examining the proportions of the human face, drawing them with pencil on black paper, and then going over the lines and shapes with glue. Finally, they used soft pastels to create blended colors.  At the start of each of the four classes, we looked at a work of art and discussed what they could tell about an artist by looking at their self portrait. 

Faith Ringgold

Frida Kahlo

Rembrandt van Rijn

Vincent Van Gogh