Pop Art in Second

2nd grade began their study of Pop Art with the Brazilian-born artist, Romero Britto. We all practiced with hearts as our focal point, then branched off with our own unique designs.  We drew our subject, separated the background into sections and filled the sections with interesting patterns.  Finally, the bright colors were added using tempera cakes.  The students did such a great job! The finished paintings make you happy just looking at them.

Positive Negative Zentangles in 4th & 5th

After reviewing positive and negative space, students chose their own subject matter and created a basic sketch on white paper.  The sketch was then cut out and reflected to the opposite side of the black paper.  The artists used inspiration zentangles and created original designs to fill the positive spaces, leaving the negative space to outline and accentuate their designs.  Every design was unique and meaningful to the artist, which made them even more wonderful!

Ben Day Dots in 4th & 5th

4th and 5th graders learned about Ben-Day dots as a printing process.  The process was named after the printer and illustrator Benjamin Henry Day, Jr.  The technique used dots of color and varied spacing to create effects like we can see now in some comic strips. We learned about Roy Lichtenstein, a pop artist, that was well know for using Ben-Day dots in some of his artworks. For our try at using Ben-Day dots, the students started with an original design and used the dots to create the varied color necessary for their chosen effect.  They were dot-a-rific! 

Ornaments for Days.......

Clay is one of those mediums that almost all students can't wait to try.  We decided on a quick, school wide, clay project to review procedures and practice some of our previously learned skills.
Students in all grades created several unique ornaments with clay, then after firing painted them in many interesting color combinations. They were all proud of their work and some even had time to create a few more for gifts.  The kiln was going crazy for a week, but the results were awesome!

Printmaking in 1st

In first grade we explored printmaking as an artistic technique. Students used various sized printmakers to create circles with black paint.  We learned about filling space, overlapping and balance. Finally we painted inside, between and around all of our printed circles in our abstract design. The final works turned out wonderfully colorful and unique!

Polser's 2nd Annual Art Show Fundraiser

     Our 2nd annual art show fundraiser was a great success!  We had awesome feedback and our students enjoyed showing off all their hard work.  Every art student from kindergarten through 5th grade had an original artwork framed for viewing.  This fundraiser will allow us to purchase the needed supplies to consistently fuel our artistic expression and creativity.
     Along with our individual art pieces, our collaborative art pieces created quite a stir.  Artists and their families were able to interact with our artwork and take pictures of themselves as a winged figure.  Many "birds" took flight at our show!

Lots and Lots of Dots

Dot week brought about various dot artworks throughout our school.  Third grade created dot fish, using the book, You be You by Linda Krantz, for inspiration.  We demonstrated line, pattern, space, shape and color in our unique fish.  Our Kinder and Firsties explored printmaking by using various sizes of circle stampers (lids, caps, rolls, etc.) and creating wonderful abstract artworks.  4th & 5th grade collaborated by created a 1/4 dot to join into giant dots.  All of our creations were dot-tastic!

A New School Year

It's good to be back in the art room!  It was a busy summer with packing, unpacking, and sending both my boys off on new adventures.  Now I'm ready to start new adventures with my Polser kiddos in the art room.  We are starting off the year with a collaborative art work completed by all the students from Kindergarten through 5th grade.  The students worked hard and even included the PreK kiddos that don't come to art classes but are still part of the Polser family. Props to fellow art teacher Cassie Stephens at cassiestephens.blogspot.com for the wonderful idea.

M"art"ch Madness Champion!

We finally have a M"art"ch Madness Champion!  Some of the races were close and some were pretty one sided.  To be honest, the winners were not the ones I expected the students to choose.  It just shows how much our artistic opinions can vary, which was an awesome twist to this lesson.  Students gave very specific reasons they chose their favorites, from color choice, realism, connection to a personal memory/activity, ways the art made them feel and everything in between.  They reached a lot further than I ever imagined.  I also want to thank all the artists that took their time to respond through Email, Facebook and/or Twitter.  The students connected to their community and even learned where some Texas towns were located that we didn't know.  It's going to be hard to top this years M"art"ch Madness, but we have some great ideas for next year... Stay Tuned!  

If you would like to review the brackets and results please select the link below.
Martch Madness 2016 final

M"art"ch Madness Update!!

We are getting down to the wire on our M"art"ch Madness bracket. We have made it to the final four and the voting is getting tough.  The Championship Finals voting will start Monday! Check out our updated presentation below to see the breakdown of the results.  There aren't any winners or losers because all of the artwork is awesome and we have learned so much about the artists themselves, observing, critiquing, admiring, sorting types/styles, decomposing and composing and many more!  Stay tuned for the results next week!!!
Martch Madness 2016 Final Four