One of my favorite times of the year is fall. The tree leaves and vibrant colors in nature are truly a natural phenomenon and beauty to look at. We used this as inspiration for a still life study. Students are carefully observing and learning techniques on how to draw realistically. Line, Proportion, Texture, Space, and Form are some of the Elements of Art that we are applying to our works.
What inspires artists artwork? Artists are inspired by many things. It may be emotions, their surroundings, nature, memories, tv, movies, books, or other artists or their artwork. What goes on in our lives is personal and meaningful to us. When we communicate this through our artwork we are in some ways sharing a part of who we are as individuals. One of my favorite times of the year is fall. The tree leaves and vibrant colors in nature are truly a natural phenomenon and beauty to look at. We used this as inspiration for a still life study. Students are carefully observing and learning techniques on how to draw realistically. Line, Proportion, Texture, Space, and Form are some of the Elements of Art that we are applying to our works. We gathered together to have a wonderful time at our after school event on Thursday evening, Nov 2. Our art activities for the evening included Art Displays in the lobby and hallway with inspired work by grades 1-6. A skeleton scavenger hunt, sugar skull masks, sugar skull decorating with icing, and sugar skull molding. The offerenda (altar) this year was a collaborative piece. Students and staff were asked to voluntarily bring in a picture of loved ones and objects that reminded them of a deceased family member, friend, or loved one. The pictures and mementos trickled in from those that wanted to participate. If you look carefully, there are precious stories behind our work. Some of these things include the following: * A sneaker, for Grandpa because he liked to go running. * A deceased pet's favorite toy. * Earphones for a son who treasured music. May their memories not be forgotten and these messages bring happiness to one's heart. This week students got a preview of making a sugar skull from a plastic mold. If you want to learn about this tradition, please be sure to join us next Thursday evening, Nov. 2 from 5:30 - 7 p.m. Trust me...It's a sweet experience you don't want to miss! The 5th graders (Sea Lions and Sea Turtles) were delighted to discover they would be helping me pre-make some examples. We are off to a good start and want to make sure all attendees get to go through the full process of this tradition. The photographs above show the pieces we made today as they sit and dry, for it takes 24 hours for the skulls to become hard enough to decorate.
Of course this is an Art class, but we realized that Math, Science, & Social Studies are all interconnected here. So exercising multiple areas of the brain is essential and relevant. We have an upcoming event planned that will help you understand and get to experience the traditional Spanish holiday - Dia De los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This significant and joyous occasion is all about remembering and honoring loved ones who have passed. I hope you come and join us. Date: Thursday, November 2 Time: 5:30 p.m.- 7 p.m. Location: Vida Charter School Art Displays - School Lobby
Art Activities - Cafeteria
Get a sneak peek at the works in progress that will be part of the art display for this special occasion below. We have been diligently working on these educational art projects which celebrate and take pride in our students Spanish heritage. Can't wait to see you there! How many decisions do we make in life that involve color? Colors inspire us. Our choices of decoration, make up, clothing, cars, and sometimes career paths depends on our knowledge of color. The most useful tool, which helps us organize or think about how to use color is a color wheel. Here are some of students ideas on how we use the color wheel in every day life, that naturally occur and/or may go unnoticed : 1) Clothing 2) Decorations 3) Make up 4) Cars - (body shop repairing paint work & engineers designing interior/exterior of car) 5) House & School - (wall colors & functional as well as decorative interior design of space) 6) Presentations (Slide Show, Business Report, Sales, etc....) 7) Websites 8) Games (video or board games) Color is an important foundation for students to learn. Our experimentation with color is a never ending process. I personally remember doing simple or complex color wheels all the way into college. So it should be no surprise the beginning of this school year all grade levels are studying color, one of the Elements of Art. Grade K - 2 = Primary & Secondary Colors Grade 3 - 6 = Primary, Secondary, & Intermediate Colors Grades K-6This is our second year participating in a public art project called Pinwheels for Peace. The idea originally was started by two art teachers in Florida during 2005. The very first display started with 500,000 pinwheels and has grown into a world wide display of over 4 million pinwheels! To start off our school year, every student created a paper pinwheel to encourage world peace in art class. We discussed ways we could be peaceful with one another. Our pinwheels visually express each child's interpretation of peaceful ideas, thoughts, feelings, and colors. This project is designed to coincide with International Day of Peace which occurs each year on September 21. Take a look at some detail pictures and our outdoor display at the front entrance of the school. The official celebration for this school year took place on Thursday, September 21, 2017. Thanks to the Star Grant Program we are ready to start clay projects. The 4th grade, Hedgehogs began making complex coil pots. We practiced making a variety of coils. Then scored and slipped the pieces together to attach and form a final pot. These pieces you see here are still wet and waiting to be fired in a special clay oven called a kiln. I will transport the works to the Arts Council pottery department and wait for the works to become bone dry. This is when the clay dries out completely by air and is very fragile. After air drying it can be put into the kiln to be bisque fired, which makes the clay hard. Student Clay Works in Progress: Plastic / Wet Clay Note: This project was made possible due to the Adams County Arts Council's 2017 STAR Grant Program which is funded by the Adams County Commissioners and the Robert C. Hoffman Charitable Edowment Trust.
Grade 6Using a 1 x 1 gum eraser, students learned how to make a relief print. The design process started with a few simple thumbnail sketches. Then students selected their best design to draw on a gum eraser with a permanent sharpie marker. The negative space (empty or blank areas) were carved out with cutting tools - linoleum cutters and/or an exacto knife. The uncut (or raised up) parts of the eraser create the relief print. Using washable markers on the relief area of the stamp, students planned a color scheme and started to practice printing and creating a variety of patterns on their paper. To help line up the stamps, a guide or grid sheet was used. In most cases students selected to do radial balance. This means each stamp was repeated 4 times and rotated around a central axis. The end result creates patterns like we would see in bathroom or kitchen tiles. The hand crafted, Talvera tiles from Mexico are a popular decorating material you would find today and are also used to decorate stair cases. The interesting patterns and colorful designs add a bit of pop here and there. Grade 5 is learning about recycled art. There are many inventive artists who use found objects or materials that others would discard or place in the trash. We examined several contemporary works and artist in an article called Recycled Art: 66 Masterpieces Made From Junk, taking notice to how artists can creatively reinterpret and think outside the box to repurpose and create beautiful works of art. Our class project and focus is how to create newspaper coils. Students are choosing one of the following project options to put this technique into practice. Options: 1) Basket 2) Coaster / Hot Pad 3) Picture Frame These video tutorials are resources students are using for guidance and inspiration for their own original works. |
Vida Art BlogTake a glimpse into the art program at Vida Charter School in Gettysburg, PA. Archives
April 2019
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