the art studio

Summer, summer, summer...

The end of the year was such a whirlwind of events and testing...our weblog missed it's usual postings. 

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation and that my favorite young artists are drawing every day!    Remember...it's not what you look at, it's what you see! The practice of "seeing" is equally as important as the practice of drawing!  Train your eye to really see things...summer is full of color and wonder.  Be sure to take the time to enjoy all it the season has to offer us.

I have been making beautiful things everyday...in the garden or painting and drawing every day with my children in the studio.  I have also been thinking about what we are going to do this upcoming school year!  I can't wait to see all of your sweet smiles!

Stay tuned for more announcements!  The first day of school is fast approaching!  Follow your Art!

Mayfaire Success!

The Mayfaire was a grand success as a celebration of the arts.  With artists, hands on activities and a student gallery, everyone kept busy!  The children performed brilliantly under the direction of Ms. Daigle singing wonderful songs and performing with the help of Mr. Darby from TJCA.  Sincere gratitude to everyone who came out and shared their gifts with our students!  We hope you got to see us featured in the paper!

Thanks so much to all who made the day a memorable one-artists, vendors, performers, musicians!  Also a big thank you to the families for spending the day with us...the art program appreciates your continued support!

Week of 14 April

Short week-  Friday is a teacher workday.

This week in the studio:

Kindergarten 

Recycled collage paintings. ~ Curriculum enrichment:  recycling, the earth.  Art history:  Romare Bearden collages.  Elements & Principles:  Color, shape, line, unity, variety, balance, rhythm.    Children will choose an image from a magazine and glue it onto paper.  They will then paint in the surrounding areas to create a scene.

1st grade

Pharoah Sarcophagus ~  Curriculum enrichment:  Ancient Egypt.  Art History:  Egyptian Art, hieroglyphics.  Elements & Principles:  Line, shape, color, pattern, repitition, balance, symmetry, texture.  Children will create a paper sarcophagus that when opened reveals a mummy wrapped up in yarn.

Ojo De Dios ~ Curriculum enrichment:  Mexico.  Art History:  Mexican crafts.  Elements & Principles:  Line, color, balance, pattern, repitition, texture.  Children will learn about the traditional crafts of Mexico and create a "God's Eye" or Ojo de Dios by wrapping yarn in a particular order around two sticks.

2nd grade

Painted Ladies ~ Curriculum enrichment: Life cycle of a butterfly. Art History: Rose windows, stained glass. Elements and Principles: Line, Shape, Balance, Pattern, Symmetry, Color, Texture, Space. Students will create a symmetrical butterfly by using Kirigami: the art of Japanese paper cutting. They will then create a tissue paper collage to put underneath their paper cut out creating a stained glass effect. Students will also paint their clay bugs.

3rd grade

Viking Runes & Pouch  ~(continued -see last week.) Students will complete their runes and use paint to give them an antiqued look. They will then stitch a bag to hold their stones out of tapestry like fabric.

4th grade

Mandalas ~ (continued -see last week.)  Students will continue to work on their mandalas and use color to create balance and pattern.

Dogwood still life ~ (continued -see last week.)  Students will complete their watercolor still life of dogwood branches and if there is time create another using black ink.

5th grade

Haiku straw paintings ~ Curriculum Enrichment:  Nature poetry.  Art History:  Japanese paintings.  Elements and principles:  Line, Shape, Balance, Space.  Students will write a haiku poem.  Students will then create an ink painting around the poem by dropping ink onto the paper and blowing through a straw moving the ink around the paper.

Week of April 7th

Don't forget to visit our BOOK FAIR this week in the media center!  Mrs. Black has worked very hard to create an amazing kid friendly environment that encourages children to read and develop a love for books!  Thank you Mrs. Black!!!

This week in the art studio:

Kindergarten:  Sunflower pastel paintings.  Curriculum enrichment:  Plants and flowers.  Art History:  Vincent Van Gogh.  Elements & Principles:  Line, shape, color, texture, pattern, value.  Children will work from a sunflower still life and create a pastel painting from direct observation using a guided drawing method.

1st Grade:  Cuneiform Name Tablets.  Curriculum enrichment:  Mesopotamia.  Art History:  Stela of the Code of Hammurabi.  Elements & Principles:  Line, shape, form, texture, pattern, repitition.  Students will create clay slabs and etch their names into them using cunieform script.

2nd Grade:  Clay Insects.  (two class sessions) Curriculum enrichment:  Insects, life cycles.  Art History:  Insects in Jewelry.  Elements & Principles:  Form, Color, Line, Pattern.  Students will create a fantasy insect using air dry clay.  All insects will have a head, thorax, abdomen, six legs and antennae, some may also have wings.  Students will name their insect.

3rd Grade:  Clay  Runes with Pouch (two class sessions).  Curriculum enrichment:  Viking studies.  Art History:  Smithsonian Viking Exhibit.  Elements & Principles:  Line, form, pattern.   Children will create small runes out of clay and etch a character into each.  They will then create a pouch of fabric to hold their runes using a whipstitch to close the edges.

4th Grade: 

Moss:  Still Life with Fruit (week two).  Curriculum enrichment:  n/a  Art History:  Cezanne.  Elements & Principles:  Line, Shape, Value, Form, Color, Composition.  Students will complete their lesson in value and color and create a pastel painting working from direct observation of in class still life. 

Wood:  Mandalas.  (week two)  Curriculum enrichment:  Mathematics- symmetry, radial balance.  Art History:  Gothic Rose Windows, Tibetan Mandalas.  Elements & Principles:  Line, Shape, Color, Pattern, Symmetry, Balance, Repitition.  Students will continue working on their mandalas, creating pattern with line and color in a radially balanced composition.

Allen:  Still Life with Dogwood Branches.  Curriculum enrichment:  NC Studies/ State Tree.  Art History:  Still Life paintings:  Van Gogh, Cezanne, etc.  Japanese screens.  Elements & Principles:  Compostition, Line, Shape, Color, Value, Texture, Form, Space, Balance, Unity, Emphasis.  Students will work from direct observation to create a still life of a dogwood branch. 

5th Grade:  Still Life with Fruit (week two).  Curriculum enrichment:  n/a  Art History:  Cezanne.  Elements & Principles:  Line, Shape, Value, Form, Color, Composition.  Students will complete their lesson in value and color and create a pastel painting working from direct observation of in class still life. 

We need vendors for MAYFAIRE!  Please tell a friend!

Week of 31 March

Welcome Back!

This week in the studio...

K:  Still life pictures as collage.  Students will be introduced to the still life as a type of picture and recreate one based on an in class still life.  They will cut shapes out of paper and overlap them to create space.

Grades 1, 3, and 5 will also be working on still lifes using oil pastels.  They will use value (light and dark)  to create form and be introduced to "tints and shades".

Grade 4:  Mandalas.  Reinforcing mathematical concepts of symmetry and radial balance, students will look at the history of mandalas, and rose windows and create their own radial design using pattern.

Week of 10 & 17 March: Art by Me features O'Keefe

Just in time for spring, a fresh look at nature's miracle and wonder. 

This week in the studio we will be working on pieces for our ART BY ME fundraiser.  The subject for these pieces is going to be flowers in the style of Georgia O'Keefe. They should make for some beautiful gifts just in time for mothers day.  We will look at the large abstract flowers by the artist, study the parts of a flower, talk about details and enlarging to the point of abstraction.  Students will work on these for 1-2 class periods.

1st grade gallery update

Sons Of Liberty Masks

Sybil Ludington Rides through the Forest

Germ-mobiles after Calder

Snowman Portraits

Matisse Cut Outs in progress

Chinese Brush Paintings - Plum Blossoms

 

K gallery update

wild animal pop ups

pattern trains

chinese lanterns & dragon puppets

radial balance snowflakes

 

Week of March 3

Busy week here at TJCG-CFA

Monday evening is Curriculum Night & Open Forum.
Tuesday is the Fourth Grade Writing Test.
Thursday is Read America Day, kids can wear pajamas and you can schedule to read to your child's class.
Friday is our Open House.  FUN!

This week in the Art Studio:

Kindergarten: After looking at some of the work of the Pop Art era, children will collaborate and create a collage using American symbols. 
1st Graders learn about the ride of Sybil Ludington warning the Patriots about the British burning of Danbury during the Revolutionary War.  They will look at the forest paintings of Canadian painter, Emily Carr,learn how to draw a horse by breaking it down into basic shapes, then create an illustration of this historical event.
2nd Graders will collaborate on doing a 12 foot grid painting of the Statue of Liberty!
3rd Graders will create abstract Solar System paintings gaining inspiration from the abstract works of Kandinsky.  They will also learn how to turn a circle into a sphere by using light and shadow to create the illusion of dimension.
4th Graders in Mrs. Wood & Mrs. Moss' class will create abstract geode paintings.  They will grid a paper into 12 parts and create geodes within each space also gaining inspiration from Kandinsky.
5th Graders will continue to illustrate poetry for their poetry journals.

Week of 25 February

This week in the studio:

Monday is the first Sit & Knit for Charity, dismissal until 3:30pm
Tuesday is the 5th Grade Studio:  cylinder study

Kindergarten: Trees in the hundred acre wood.  Art History:  Emily Carr, Art Element: Pattern, Line, Form, Shape, Space.   Curriculum Enrichment:  Winnie the Pooh stories

First Grade:  "Bakram" Masks.  Art History:  Famous Paintings of the Revolution:  Paul Revere, Washington Crossing the Deleware.  Art Element:  Line, Shape, Space, Form, Color.  Curriculum Enrichment:  American Revolution, Boston Tea Party

Second Grade:  Conner:  Complete Modigliani portraits.  Cole:  Seed Collage   Kinter:  Immigration activity, TBA by teachers

Third Grade:  Complete Klimt Quilts. 
New Lesson:  Outer Space Drawings.  Art History:  Kandinsky Abstracts using form.  Art Element:  Space, Value, Form, Shape, Color.  Curriculum Enrichment:  Solar System

Fourth Grade:  Allen:  Primitive Animals using pen & ink.  Art History:  Basquiat.  Art Element:  Line.  Curriculum Enrichment:  NC Animals Project    Wood/Moss:  TBA

Fifth Grade:  Stepp:  Calendar Contest, Allen:  Ski Trip/ no class, Guffey:  Illustrating Poetry