Self Portrait Progress!

Miss Farrow's Intro to Art classes are plowing through their Tribal Self Portrait project. Their tribal studies are complete, and they have begun the ever-frustrating, always-infuriating drawing of their own faces! After many deep breaths and several 'you have a beautiful nose' pep talks, students are kicking some serious self portrait booty!

Back to the Beginning

With the start of a new semester, it's like the first days of school all over again. Intro to Art students are preparing for their tribal self portrait project. Miss Farrow transforms her kiln room into a professional photo set and starts yelling, "C'mon, VOGUE" to all her students. (This may or may not be a true statement). 
Students will draw these photographs using graphite pencil, adding in specific tribal ornamentation to their portraits (tattoos, piercings, face paint, head dresses, etc.).

Students in Basic Wheel are getting into the swing of things! Their daily mantra is: Patience & Practice & Patience & Practice & Patience & Practice . 

                                                               And lots of deep breaths. And even some smiles!

Symmetrical Scariness at West Park Elementary!

Mrs. Anderson is doing fun and fantastic things with Lake County's littlest learners. Our amazing 1st and 2nd graders learned symmetry to create their very own,  super cute (but also SUPER scary) monsters! Our favorite custodian, Donnie, thought these were self-portraits...but we won't tell the kiddos that!

Pop Art & Perspective

Miss Good sure is doing GREAT stuff with Lake County's elementary students. These kids are kickin' butt and takin' names with their creativity. Yeah art!

You know Andy Warhol? He was that guy who was a leading figure in the Pop Art Movement. Think Campbell Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe. Students in 6th grade designed their own popular culture image, creating a contour drawing of it. These images were then colored using their knowledge of color theory. If you recognize the images below, then it means these students hit the nail on the head!

In other news, 5th graders spent some time learning how to make their artwork more realistic by using one point perspective. They rocked it!

Color Matters!

As our semester comes to an end, students in Intro Art are diving head first into color and working hard on their final projects: Native American Animal Totems using oil pastels. Each student chose an animal that represented unique characteristics of themselves. Here are some works in progress:

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for." - Georgia O'Keeffe

"Color is a power which directly influences the soul." - Wassily Kandinsky

See you all next semester...and at our annual, district wide Art Show on Friday May 8th!

Morning Meditation in Art Class

Exciting news: Miss Farrow's 7th and 8th graders found their Zen last week. Students were led through a meditation where they focused on their breath and explored clay, ultimately creating pinch pots. When they finished, students got to reflect back on the process. You'll notice that each student is sitting quietly, focusing on their breath and the clay in their hands. That's right folks, 7th  and 8th graders SAT IN SILENCE for an entire class period. As you can see below, students really got into it. It was magical!

5th and 6th graders do the snow dance!

And by snow dance, I mean painting winter! The high country needed some snow, so what better what to call to the snow Gods than paint some winter trees? Bonus: Miss Good's class learned about foreground, midground and background.

                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                 ...and yes, it worked!