March
Art Newsletter
Growth Mindset Quote of the Month
we must lose our fear of being wrong.
~ Joseph Chilton Pearce
Kehinde Wiley at The Toledo Museum of Art
Lessons
Young Fives: Pattern Pets
Shapes and lines make the best designs!
Young 5 artist are line and shape pros and this lesson has them combine the 2 to make interesting designs. On the first day they fill their paper with lines and shapes. Then they trace their design with marker and demonstrate their coloring skills. Next time, they will fold, cut and glue their paper to transform it into a pet.
Kindergarten: Vincent Van Gogh inspired Sunflowers continued
Unit Abstract: Students understand that art has been used to communicate ideas throughout time. In addition, they make connections to how it relates to their own world.
Kindergarten artists explore the art of Vincent Van Gogh and his love of sunflowers. They practiced making different kinds of lines and shapes to create variety in their art. They practice their fine motor skills and craftsmanship as they add color to the flowers and vase with construction paper crayons. Then they experience the technique of watercolor resist. They paint over their flowers and vase with watercolor and the crayon will protect itself since the wax will resist the paint.
1st Grade: Art History- Henri Matisse
Unit Abstract: Students understand that art has been used to communicate ideas throughout time. They recognize that art is a record of history. They identify how it relates to the their community and environment.
1st grade artists explore the art of Henri Matisse and how it changed throughout his life. Matisse transitioned from painting to "drawing with scissors" when he created his paper cut outs. In addition, they categorize shapes into 2 groups- geometric and organic shapes. They use their knowledge of shapes and fine motor skills to create their own "drawing with scissors." Their paper cut outs serve as a background for their work of art inspired by Matisse's The Goldfish. Next they create a 3 Dimensional fishbowl using the crayon and watercolor resist technique.
** A family visit to The Toledo Museum of Art- There is a huge work of art by Henri Matisse called The Apollo. Discuss the shapes and colors you see.
Soon they will start their Cultural Art Study. They focus on the Art of India and The Jaipur Elephant Festival.
2nd Grade: Art History- Van Gogh inpsired SNOWY Starry Night
Unit Abstract: Students understand that art has been used to communicate ideas throughout time. They recognize that art is a record of history. They compare and constrast subject matter and symbols from past and present art.
2nd grade artists are reviewing Vincent Van Gogh and revising his Starry Night. They explore multimedia art which is fancy way of saying, "many art tools." They use regular watercolors, liquid watercolors and construction paper. They even make their own snow paint using glue and shaving cream.
Some classes will start their Cultural Art Unit. They will create Japanese Fish Prints called Gyotaku. Thankfully we have rubber fish and do not have to use real fish, yuck!
3rd Grade: Art History study of Ton Schulten
3rd Grade Artists are excited to be studying an artist who is alive today and is currently making art. Ton Schulten is a Dutch painter who primarily paints landscapes using bright blocks of colors. They explore his style by drawing a cityscape and dividing it into squares, rectangles and triangles. Then they paint these geometric shapes with different values of colors. We used this video to help us learn about values, tints and shades.
4th Grade: Art History Study of Kehinde Wiley
The Artists in 4th Grade are another group who are studying an artist who is alive today and is currently creating art. Kehinde Wiley is photorealist painter who is inspired by Renaissance paintings and European portraits. He takes these influences and fuses them with casually dressed African-American men posing similar to prophets, saints and angels. Artists he draws inspiration from include Raphael, Titian, Tiepolo, Gainsborough, Ingres and Sargent. His more recent work includes men and women from various countries and cultures.
This unit is a work in progress. Over a decade ago I taught a Wiley unit to my 6th Grade Artists. That unit is still taught at the Junior High by the current art teacher so I wanted to come up with something new. His current exhibition made me feel so inspired that I have some new ideas. The 4th Grade Artists will use color mixing, printmaking and portraiture for this project. Please see how our unit evolves through our Twitter and Instagram accounts.
His work is currently on display at the Toledo Museum of Art and I got to meet him! A dream come true.
5th Grade: Cultural Art: The Art of India
This unit is a work in progress since I am trying new formats that provide more choices for the students. We know that they will study India which builds upon their Banyan Tree project. The students can choose from 2 projects- Jaipur Elephant Festival or Rangoli. They will have more decisions to make when they select the materials to create their project. Currently, I am considering scratch film, liquid watercolor, crayons, color pencil, markers and pastels. I am excited to offer them more choices. However, more choices means more responsibility for the students and we need to gauge what they can successfully handle at this time. You can see this unit evolve through our Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Teacher Contact
Monroe Road Elementary
Email: melanie.matney@mybedford.us