Dancing Into Spring - Butterflies with Ms. Baier's Class

Ms. Baier's class chose to create their mural with pictures of butterflies. Each child selected a favorite butterfly and then carefully drew the butterfly on the mural first with a pencil. Then they traced it with a "sharpie" and finally added color with pastel chalk. We learned to draw the outside or contour edges of the butterfly first, then added structural details. As a final touch, children blended blue and white chalk to create the lovely background that completed their mural. These drawings are really exceptional! One of the goals of the mural is to help the children get past drawing "symbolic" art and work towards drawing more realistically. In art class, we teach this by observation and practice. Great job!

Mrs. Wall - Wonders of the Sea

Mrs. Wall's class chose to draw pictures of fish. Each child researched different fish and then drew a fish on the mural. Children then added coral, seaweed and other decorative elements to the mural. We learned to draw the outside or contour edge of the fish first, then adding structural details. Each child used pastel chalk to color their fish and then helped blend chalk to create the background for the mural. Beautiful job!

2nd Grade Murals 2010

Each 2nd grade class had the opportunity to create a mural. The objective of this project is for the children to work together in a constructive manner to create beautiful art as a cooperative project. The murals this year are just lovely! When we compare the overall quality of art this year to last year, it is amazing how one more year of art instruction has helped the students develop their skills! These murals are totally amazing. Each mural will be posted separately, but here is a master list. The murals tied in with the 2nd grade core curriculum as well as the art curriculum. Most were completed with blended chalk. Please come back and check out the individual murals as they are posted.

Ms. Baier: Dancing into Spring - Butterflies

Mr. Christensen: Geometry in Motion - Math

Mrs. Cook: Art around the World - Geography

Mrs. Marx: Garden of Beauty - Flowers

Ms. McCoy: Creating a Community of Caring - Russian Architecture

Mrs. Oakes: Animals of the World - Geography

Mrs. R. Slaugh: Care for one another - Community and Self Portraits

Mrs. Wall: Wonders Under the Sea - Fish

3rd Grade Manga Art

The 3rd graders have been having a wonderful time drawing self portraits "manga" style! Manga is a japanese word that means "whimsical picture" and this art style is fun and popular! Portraits done in "manga" style typically have big eyes, big hair with wild colors, and small noses and mouths. Chances are, you will see lots of cute Manga art all over the school right now in the form of comic strips, cards and little cartoons! Miss Foley's class even taught their parents how to draw "manga" at the art show!

Our Spring Art Show was Great!

The Spring Art Show was a great success and we want to thank all the parents who attended. If you didn't get chance to attend, we hope you will come to the school in the next few days to see all the art that is up on the walls. The school is really beautiful! I will try to post more pictures of the art on this blog in the next few days, so check back often. Thank you for your support!

In this mural outside the Art classroom, you can see the colorful chameleons painted by first grade artists. Kindergarten butterflies in the style of Eric Carle are flying overhead! This was a favorite display as every child took time to point out his or her chameleon to parents and friends!

In these cute self-portraits, 2nd grade artists drew themselves wrapped up in a blanket in the style of Gustav Klimt. Each child painted pastel colors as a background and then added geometric and organic pattern to create the quilts. Great job 2nd graders!

Eric Carle was in the news last year when his book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" celebrated its 40th anniversary! In celebration of this occasion, kindergarten and first grade artists created artwork in the style of Eric Carle. The kindergarten classes created butterflies and the first grade classes created these very beautiful flowers. We talked about the life cycle of a flower, growing from seed to flower. Students learned how to fold paper to cut multiple leaves and petals as they created beautiful floral designs.

1st Grade Birds in Nests

I just had to post a picture of this little bird created and painted by one of our first grade artists! The workmanship was just exquisite and the painting was really well done too! This one was great, but ALL the birds were really well done. I have been amazed as I have seen the quality of work improve after just one year with regular art classes in our school! Thank you, parents, for your support!

3rd Grade Southwest Pottery

3rd grade artists created pinch pot with red clay, and then added painted accents and designs similar to the art of the southwest anasazi artists. We studied line, pattern, geometric design as we learned about the native american people who created this art in the past.