K-5 Van Gogh Unit

        

Thank You Cline Jewelers!!!!

Edmonds Art Walk, Cline Jewelers

April 21, 2016

I am so grateful to Cline Jewelers for going above and beyond to not only host, but also to truly showcase Holy Rosary student artwork for Edmonds Art Walk this past week!! The pieces looked amazing in the cases, and so many people came out to celebrate both our community and our great artists. Thank you, Cline!!!

We completed two integrated projects for the show. The 6th graders created beautiful Greek Amphorae complete with authentic black on red design as part of their study of Ancient Greece. The 4th grade class designed these intricate Washington State tiles using incised lines and low relief sculpture to highlight our great state.

We Love Georgia O'Keefe!!

 Georgia O'Keeffe has always been my most favorite artist. I even remember choosing her as the subject of a biography assignment in 4th grade! Her work stops me in my tracks, and that is exactly what our goal was for these amazing larger than life renderings of bugs and insects. Artist were challenged to make our community stop and notice how beautiful small bugs and insects really are by drawing BIG and using vibrant color to attract the eye just like Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings. I am happy to announce that as I was hanging this work in our Gallery, many many people stopped with awe and wonder to enjoy the work. Great job, 1st and 2nd grade artists!!!!! You did it!!!

Land Formations

Each year, I team up with the 4th grade teacher to integrate Science and Art for a land formations unit. This year, we used pizza boxes and I love the final displays. Artists usually struggle to conceptualize how to build armature to support form and how one form can transition into the next. We studied lots of photographs from many perspectives, and our hard work paid off. I am really proud of our artists! The class learned how to use wet on wet painting techniques to create cool texture, and added colored sand and moss to bring these pieces to life.

My City

Another great step in our Me On the Map Portfolio projects! In the past for our "My City" project, I have had artists draw our city skyline, color it with watercolor markers, spray it, and fold it to make beautiful reflection pieces. I felt like switching it up this year, so we made these cool clay Seattle City Skylines full of texture that we wrapped around plastic cups to dry. 

To the Solar System and Beyond!!

Our first graders are about to start studying the moon and the sun. We decided to celebrate this great adventure with art making! I don't usually use templates, but I found this one online and couldn't resist. We created newspaper and foil moons and tissue paper earths to bring our whole composition to life. The metallic start and silver pipe cleaners added a nice touch in these texture masterpieces.

WA State Clay Tiles

Go Washington!! 4th Grade artists had so much fun designing these 

amazing clay tiles. Students were challenged to add low relief to these 

state tiles by both incising and adding on detail. These pieces will be finished 

with watercolor, and will hopefully be on display in 

our town's next community Art Walk!

The Art of PERU

I look forward to my in depth culture study all year! This year, artists "traveled" to South America to study the amazing art and people of Peru. Peru is on my bucket list and I think it was added to a few more artists' list after these fun lessons. From designing Arpillera (I found the inspiration for this lesson online) to weaving and crafting clay llamas we did it all.

 First graders designed these incredible Arpillera. Artists learned how to cut and layer shapes to create these landscape backgrounds. We found a great tutorial online about how to add people and animals to bring these pieces to life. This lesson doubled as our Community Project for our Me On the Map integrated curriculum with Social Studies.

3rd Grade artists sculpted these cute clay llamas and are busy weaving pack blankets for each llama. Stay tuned for more!

Kindergarten artists worked together to turn a simple painted background into a living and breathing piece of the Amazon Jungle. We studied Jan Brett's illustrations in The Umbrella, and looked at loads of photos of Amazon animals to create this collaborative mural.

Pre-school artists learned about symmetry and pattern while designing Inca Masks. They also learned how to weave after watching Peruvian experts at work.

4th Grade artists enjoyed working with metal to design these beautiful Inca Masks.