Hard at work on animals

Students chose the medium for adding color to their animals. 

Learning to draw what you see ....Using your "Artist Eyes"

This week we talked about how amazing our brains are in that we can all have little pictures in our heads of what things look like. This helps us as artists to draw from our imagination and our memory. Sometimes this can trick artists when drawing what we see. We talked about using our "artist eyes" to really look at pictures of animals and draw the animal we see not the picture we have in our brains. We used images from my favorite book Zoo-Ology, to practice drawing at least four different animals by using our artist eyes and breaking them into shapes. Next week, each artist will pick an animal for a final painting.

Finished Rousseau Jungles

The Rousseau Jungles are now finished up.
We looked back at Henri Rousseau's Jungle paintings and talked about what was missing. An animal of course. Students chose one animal to draw, cut and glue down to their jungles for the final touch.

Fruits and Flowers

This week we added Fruits and Flowers to our Rousseau inspired jungles by mixing Red & Yellow to make orange and White & Red to make Pink. These jungles are so colorful!

Rousseau Jungle Green

After talking about the French Painter Henri Rousseau we started our own jungles by mixing a variety of greens using the two Primary colors Yellow and Blue.  

We used the different types of Lines to create Jungle Vines and then added grass and leaves.

  

Catching up!! Busy Fall!

It has been a busy start to the school year. The Rowe artists have been very flexible while waiting for the art room to be ready.
We have learned about color, line, pattern and texture.  Here are some snapshots into the start of the year in art.

Perspective

This week we learned about Perspective. We talked about how when an object is far away, it looks small, but, when it gets closer it looks bigger.  We learned the term Vanishing Point and looked at some examples and then got started creating our own vanishing roads, rivers and paths.

Architecture Unit cont.

Architecture: Building Design

For this lesson, we talked about how art is all around us and how creative people help make our lives more interesting.  We thought up all the different ways that art is used in our everyday life, from the clothes we wear to the buildings and houses we live and work in. We focused in on Architects and what they do and looked at creative works from Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry. 

We then used "lines" (popsicle sticks) to design our own buildings.

Self Portraits

We have been learning about Proportion while creating our self-portraits. You may see your young artists adding light lines going through the middle of their portraits. We used these lines to help figure out where all of the parts of the face go. 

We started this unit with a practice portrait that went home at the beginning of March. We are now working on our larger and final piece. 

Pop Art Heart Collages

While some artists were finishing up the Folk Art Landscapes, others created torn paper heart collages using Pop Artist Jim Dine as an inspiration.

Folk Art Landscapes continued

Tracing pencil lines with Sharpie and adding color with oil pastels. 

Folk Art Landscapes

We looked at different styles of artwork including; Abstract, Non-Objective and Realistic. We also talked about the difference between Folk Art and Fine Art. We then looked at a collection of Heather Galler's (a New York Folk Arist) paintings and talked about what we saw. Observations included: lots of color, shapes and patterns.

We then got to work on our own landscapes inspired by Heather Galler.  Starting with pencil and tracing with sharpie. Our next step will be to color in with oil pastels and watercolor paints.

Snowmen shadows

While the Pinch Pots were firing we had fun learning about negative space, symmetry and shadows by cutting out snowmen and flipping them over to show the shadow. We added a moon as the light source.

Clay Pinch Pots

First grade artists used white clay to create a pinch pot and had the option to add more details with extra clay, many chose to create faces or animals.

Kindergarten artists used red clay to create a pinch pot and could change the shape of the pot.

Complementary Color Patterns

This week we talked about a new color group called Complementary colors. The Rowe artists chose a pair of Complementary colors and used recycled cardboard tubes to stamp patterns.

A Very Thankful Turkey

Each student cut out a turkey feather and wrote one thing they are thankful for and then filled in the rest of their feather with line pattern. The feathers were then glued down around a turkey body and it hanging int he Rowe School hallway.

Art Exploration Stations

Between longer projects, I like to give the students some Art Exploration. I turn each table into a station that we cycle through.

This week the Stations were: Collage, Magnetic Line Design, Texture Rubbing drawings, and free
                                               draw with a few How to Draw Animal sheets if they needed ideas.

Here are some photos of what it looked like:
 

Adventures in Printmaking

Fall is upon us and leaves are all around! Like most artists, we have used our surroundings as inspiration and did Texture rubbings of leaves. 

We continued with the subject of leaves while also exploring new ways of making copies or prints. The Rowe artists first practiced drawing four types of leaves, and then picked one to create a foam plate for block Printmaking.

We also explored Monoprinting with chalk on water and drawing with a q-tip into a painted plate and pulling a single print. 

Here are some examples.

Welcome to the Rowe School Art Room

Welcome to the Rowe Art Blog!  Throughout the school year, I will be posting samples of artwork as well as a quick note about what is going on in your child's art class. 

I collect the artwork until the end of the school year in order to have a wide selection for the Art Show.  You will receive your child's art portfolio during the last week of school. 

We've had a great start to the school year by making our mark and painting ourselves as fish. We read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and You Be You by Linda Kranz and talked about "Creating Bravely" while also talking about color and pattern. Both these projects are displayed in the Rowe school hallway.

End of the year Art Show

I have been collecting your young artists' artwork all year and have chosen one piece to matte and hang in the Rowe school gym for the annual Ice Cream Social / Art Show / Book Fair. 

I hope you had a chance to see the gym transformed into an art gallery. 

All artwork will be coming home this week or next in big portfolios. 

Thank you for sharing your artists with me this year! 

Have a great summer!

2-Dimensional and 3-Dimensional Animal Unit

After the Rowe artists practiced drawing 4 animals they chose one to draw as a final painting and also to create a 3-Dimensional clay sculpture of. We talked about the difference between 2-Dimensional artwork and 3-Dimensional sculptures and then got to work. 

The clay sculptures are fragile and would really benefit from a car ride home if you are able to make it in to the Rowe Art room.

Collaborative Creative Chaos with Nantz Comyns

A small sample of animals in progress.

Visiting Artist, Nantz Comyns, has been orchestrating some Paper Mache Magic in the Rowe Art room over the last couple of weeks. 

Kindergarten and First grade artists have worked with Nantz to create over 15 sculptures. 

Goop!

Glittery goop

A few of the finished sculptures livening up the Rowe School Library

Nantz Comyns offers week-long summer camp sessions. During this art camp kids can create their own giant paper mache animals, similar to the giant polar bear. 

If you would like more information on Nantz's camps, her facebook page is under  

Creative Chrysalis.

EXCITING NEWS

Starting next week we will have a Visiting Artist joining our art classes.  

Maine fiber Artist, Nantz Comyns, will be collaborating with all of the Rowe school students to create 5-6 Paper Mache animals inspired by the Eric Carle book The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse. You may have seen Nantz's large scale paper mache animals at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick.

Here is some background information on Nantz from an excerpt out of Portland Public Library's Programs:

"As a touring artist, Nantz specializes in developing creative educational programs, based in her process of sculpture. A diverse and energetic artist, Nantz encourages creative collaboration among children to help them learn about their world and their relationship in it. Her birch twig moose and colorful paper mache’  sculptures can be found in hundreds of public facilities and private collections throughout Maine!"

March is Youth Art Month

Congratulations to Gad Tangila mesu! 

Gad's Henri Rousseau Inspired Jungle Painting is framed and hanging at the Portland Museum of Art, as part of the Youth Art Month exhibit. 

Youth Art Month was started in 1961 through The Art & Creative Materials Institute, Inc. (ACMI), Youth Art Month exists to:

1. Recognize art education as a viable factor in the total education curricular that develops citizens of a global society.
2. Recognize art is a necessity for the full development of better quality of life for all.
3. Direct attention to the value of art education for divergent and critical thinking.
4. Expand art programs in schools and stimulate new art programs.
5. Encourage commitment to the arts by students, community organizations, and individuals everywhere.
6. Provide additional opportunities for individuals of all ages to participate in creative art learning.
7. Increase community, business and governmental support for art education.
8. Increase community understanding and interest in art and art education through involvement in art exhibits, workshops, and other creative ventures.
9. Reflect and demonstrate the goals of the National Art Education Association that work toward the improvement of art education at all levels.

Using our Artist Eyes: Animals

We used our Artist Eyes to really study the Shapes in animals and talked about how all things are made up of Shapes.We learned that we all have an idea in our heads about what animals look like and how we need to try to erase those and really look at the picture of the animal.We used the book Zoo-ology by Joelle Jolivet to find images of 4 different animals and practice drawing the shapes.One animal was then picked for the final drawing.

Catch up & Exploration

Due to snow days and holidays, Monday classes still needed to finish their Rousseau Jungles this week. While those were being finished others did some Exploration stations. Here are a few pictures of students exploring different art techniques.

Magnet boards & metal bead strings, Collage, Free draw & Texture plates