Monochromatic artworks are those that contain only one color. 4th Grade artists chose one color and created tints of this color by adding white and shades by adding black. Tints were painted around the moon and then the shades after a ring of pure color. The final step was to use an eyedropper to drop a little India ink on the edges of the paper and blow it towards the center using a straw to create moody tree branches. 

Thank you to my sister Amy Clay for the lesson!

We looked at the cutouts made by master artist Henri Matisse.  After a career as a painter, Matisse was bedridden at age 72 and began to create art with cut-out shapes. We found geometric and organic shapes in Matisse's artwork.  Using organic and geometric shapes, kindergarten artists created their own shape cutouts. This project took 2 days of art class.

Last year I found that we were wasting a lot of time at the end of the class lining up. It took too long, students used that transition time for talking, and weren't pushing in their chairs. To solve this problem, I created our line-up cards.

These cards hang on a push pin near the door.  The "Star of the Day" is responsible for getting the cards and lining up his/her class by flipping the cards silently.

At the beginning of the year, I go down each class list and alphabetically assign every student a letter to stand on for our line-up. The letter stays the same the entire year. I also have a picture of a little star at the beginning of the alphabet on the floor in case the class has a "line leader." Having the students line up the same way everyday prevents arguments about who is first or behind so-and-so and makes the line-up very efficient. If we don't line up quietly, then we lose a letter and practice first thing the next art class. 

Watch Mrs. Harris' 4th grade class line up. 

Update: The Figge opens at noon today to allow time for snow removal. Family Free Day hours 12:00 noon - 5 pm today. It's a perfect day for hot cocoa and cookies at The Figge!

Mark your calendars to attend the Holiday Kick-Off Family Free Day at the Figge on Saturday, November 21! The art museum opens at 10:00 am. There will be complimentary cookies and hot cocoa. Visit the galleries and create an ornament to display at the museum or bring it home to decorate your Christmas tree. For directions to the Figge, check out the map below or click here to be directed to the Figge's website. See you there!

Where:
Figge Art Museum
225 W 2nd St, Davenport, IA 52801.

When:
Saturday, November 21, 2015

Time:
10 am-5 pm

One of the ways I encourage good behavior in the art room is my Art Party Gameboard. Each class has the opportunity to win 3 points each 45-minute art class. These three points are represented by the "A R T" letters above the gameboard. If the class gets a little too loud, is especially talkative during instruction time, or doesn't line up silently at the end of class, a letter gets flipped, starting with the letter "A." If it happens again, the "R" gets flipped. A third time (which rarely occurs) results in the "T" getting flipped. The back of the "T" card states "No talking." I set my timer for 5 minutes and the students work silently for those five minutes. After the timer goes off, students earn their "T" back and continue working and talking quietly. The number of letters remaining at the end of the class designates how many spots they move on the gameboard. When they reach the end, they earn an Art Party! It is possible to earn one art party per quarter.

What is an Art Party?
I set up three different stations -- free paint, modeling clay, and shaving cream. Each student spends about 10 minutes at each station.  They paint, build, or draw their choice of artwork at each station. The shaving cream station is usually the favorite:)

Congratulations to Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Bendixen's class! They were the first to earn an art party this year and had a blast!

Now that kindergarten students have explored line, we are focusing on shape. First, we read the book Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert and talk about the names of the shapes and the number of sides they have. Next, we play a clapping vocabulary game followed by Shape Bingo. Students use their knowledge of shapes to create a shape painting. Ask your kindergartener what a parallelogram is!

Thank you to Cassie Stephens for the shape lesson!

One of the learning targets for third grade artists is to demonstrate knowledge of radial symmetry. These Mexican Folk Art Mirrors were created with Sharpies, construction paper crayons, sequins, and metal tooling. Students cut out a circle, added pattern and color, and glued on sequins. We used dull pencils to emboss a pattern in the metal tooling before taping it to the center of our mirrors. 

2nd graders learned how to draw people showing movement. We looked at some ideas from Ed Emberly to help us. We always started our people with circle, line, rectangle, and then all we had to do was add angle, curve, or straight lines for the arms and legs. We added meat to their bones by following the arm and leg lines. The students were required to draw the horizon line, 4 people and 4 details. We outlined with Sharpie and added color using crayons and tempera cakes. I love how each drawing is different and shows the personality and interest of the artist. Great job, second graders!