The Arrrt of a Pirate!

Ahoy Mateys!  It's "Talk Like a Pirate" Day at Pleasant Valley!  Students school-wide are finishing up their drawings for Square One Art, a fundraiser run by the PTO and executed in the art room.  Since many students are close to done, I set up a "Pirate Arrrt" station.  Using their handprints, they'll create their own image of a pirate with oil pastels.

What Does Mrs. O'Brien LOVE About Art?

As an art teacher, I am often asked questions such as what is my favorite color?  Who is my favorite artist?  What is my favorite work of art?  In response, I've designated one of the bulletin boards in the art room to address these hard-pressed questions.  The board will grow and evolve during the school year as it houses more and more answers.  Realistically, one bulletin board will not be enough!

Finding Flow in the Art Room

Years ago, I read a book called Finding Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in which he author discusses awareness, engagement and the attributes of being "in the zone" or "finding flow".  Naturally, my biggest goal is to have engaged students that can "find flow" in their art-making.  One facet of this that I have been exploring is the environment of the art room.  How can I maximize work space while maintaining a "meeting place" in the art room?  Where do I store supplies so that they are out of the way yet accessible?  How do I give students more ownership of the art room so that it functions more as an art studio rather than art classroom?

Welcome to a New School Year!

Pleasant Valley School opened it's doors today to a new school year!  Students re-entered the school a little taller, a little tanner and a bit wistful about the all-too-short summer.  Yet, the undercurrent of excitement and anticipation rose as students made their way down the familiar hallway to their unfamiliar classrooms.   A new school year brings with it the promise of new beginnings and a fresh start.  How fortunate are we to have this opportunity?  Let's make the most of it!

A Tour of Van Gogh's Room

The first graders recently took a visual tour of Vincent Van Gogh's painting The Bedroom.  Painted in the year 1888, it is of Van Gogh's room in his "Yellow House" in Arles, France.  The first graders noticed two striking things about this particular painting.  First, the first graders observed Van Gogh's thick use of paint.  Second, they commented on how cool colors were used in the backgound while the warm colors were used on the things in front.  We became familiar with the terms background, middleground, and foreground during our discussion.

Creating a Warm Chair in a Cool Room

Fold a piece of white paper in half.  Make two cuts about two inches apart in the side that has a crease.

Fold the flap and make a crease.

Unfold your piece of paper.

Push your flap through so that it makes a pop-up.

This pop-up will become the chair in the drawing.  The top part of the pop-up is the seat.  On the bottom part of the pop-up, draw the front two chair legs.

Finish the chair by drawing the back two legs and the back of the chair.  What else is in the room?  What's on the wall?  What's on the floor?

Come Swirl With Us

                                                                        

The kindergarteners have been studying the painting The Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh.  The kindergartners have observed how Van Gogh applied paint in thick, undulating swirls.  We identified the warm and cool colors and started painting in swirls of our own, first using just the warm colors, then using the cool colors.  





Sweet Tooth

Here are a few pictures of our second graders hard at work.  Each student drew their favorite dessert, cut it out and used the cut-out as a tracer to fill in their white papers.  Once their papers were filled to the brim with sweet treats, the second-graders used black glue to redraw all their desserts.  To make the black glue, I just mixed 1 part glue with 1 part black tempera paint, and voila!

Creating a Delicious Drawing

Draw a dessert on a piece of 6"x9" tagboard and cut it out.

Use the tagboard as a tracer and fill a paper with desserts.

Use black glue (yes! black glue) to outline and draw the desserts.

One Sweet Artist

Wayne Thiebaud

Here are some images of artwork done by the artist Wayne Thiebaud.  Wayne Thiebaud's sweet paintings of desserts are the inspiration for our next second grade art project.

 

Creating Op Art

To start, draw between 5 and 10 TINY, organic shapes.

Then, outline around the shapes, drawing continuous rings around each shape.  The rings will eventually meet and extend past the edge.  Fill the entire page with rings.

Once the paper is filled, choose two complementary colors to color in the rings.  Alternate  back and forth between the two colors.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Hey Fourth Graders!  Look what I saw last week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art!  There was a whole section of the museum space devoted to Georgia O'Keeffe's artwork.  We spent a long time studying her and her artwork last fall.  I know you know a lot about her! 

See if you can answer some of the questions below..

Georgia O'Keeffe painted this mountain range over and over again. 

Do you remember where she was living at the time when she painted this?

Why do think Georgia O'Keeffe painted bones?

How is this building different from a building that you may see in Connecticut?

Why do you think this one was made differently?

What do you think Georgia O'Keeffe was thinking about when she painted this?

What was she trying to show?

What does think painting make you think of when you look at it?

Bridget Riley

While I was viewing the artwork in the contemporary section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I stumbled upon this piece by Bridget Riley.  Her Op Art is looks even better in person!

Alberto Giacometti

Here are two photos of Alberto Giacometti's artwork that I saw at the Museum of Modern Art.  I saw many more at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

At the Met...

Here is a drawing of Giacometti's famous sculpture, Walking Man.

Not only did Giacometti do sculptures of figures, but he did animals as well. 

Can you guess what animal this is?