notes from the art room
This month, we have been very busy in the art room. Our Kindergarten classes are in the process of working on Cubism portraits similar to the painting titled The Head by Paul Klee. We are working with warm and cool colors and tissue paper to create a collage, then we will be cutting geometric shapes from construction paper and adding them for details for the face.
In first grade, our students are in the process of painting a landscape using warm and cool colors. We have been learning the difference from foreground, middleground, and backgrounds within a landscape. The students have also been practicing the correct way to paint with watercolors.
The second grade students are in the middle of creating a still life of apples similar to the style of Paul Cezanne. We are learning how artists use the element of art “value” to illustrate shading and highlights, as well as giving their pictures a three dimensional feel. In addition, we are using the elements of “line and shape” to create patterns for their paintings. We will be using a watercolor wash to finish these works of art.
Our Third grade students are also working on a still life watercolor painting of some Henri Matisse fish bowls. Students had quite the challenge of drawing a 3-demensional table that the fishbowl will sit on filled with exotic fish. We will also be incorporating the elements of line and shape to create patterns using oil pastels followed by a watercolor wash to finish up their masterpieces.
In fourth grade, some of our students have been working on a still life of bottles using symmetry and showing value scales using artist’s charcoal. We have been practicing how artists use their fingers as well as a tool called a blending stump to blend with. Others are working on a Cubism watercolor still life of bottles. We are also incorporating symmetry into this lesson.
Stop by my blog page at www.rsd17.org to see a few i-Movies and some more exciting things we have been working on in the art room.
Please continue to save and send into school recycled supplies. I've included an updated list with some additions of materials again that we could use. We are particularly in need of newspaper on a regular basis. Does anyone have a source for getting outdated newspapers that are going to be thrown away from possibly a store? We have had some volunteers come forward to help in the art room this year with jobs such as mounting and name tagging art work, or helping to hang a bulletin board in our school. We could always use more help. Please send me an email if you think you could spare some time.
Please send any of these items into school washed out when you are done with them. Please, no metal cans with sharp edges or glass.
- Frosting containers (ie Betty Crocker or Pillsbury)
- Styrofoam Meat Trays
- Plastic trays (similar to what mushrooms might come in)
- Yogurt Cups 6-8 oz. or larger
- Cottage Cheese containers 16oz. or larger
- Sour Cream or Ricotta containers
- Oatmeal round boxes large or small
- Pringles containers
- Stouffer’s Black oval trays (or similar) from single meals
- Nestle Coffee Mate bottles (or similar)
- Newspaper
- Cool Whip containers (or similar)
- Margarine, Cream Cheese (or similar)
- Sherbet (or similar) plastic containers
- Paper towel / toilet paper rolls
- Egg cartons
- Shoe boxes
- Decomposeable packing chips (like styrofoam)
- Other???
If you have any other items which you think we could use, please e-mail me at jgranucci66@rsd17.org
Thank-you for your help and continued support!
Mr. Granucci