Color Mixing and Textures

This last week we continued on our color wheel and mixing activities.  Kindergarten is finishing their color wheel clowns, first grade is almost done with their "Mouse Paint" palettes and second grade is having fun painting their color theory scarecrows (pictures to come when we are all finished).  Third grade created texture paintings that will be used in making our Eric Carle style animals.  Fourth grade is adding more colors to their abstract, hidden color wheel and fifth grade worked on original Op Art pieces.  Fourth and fifth grade are also learning about actual and implied textures in art.  We are enjoying celebrating our creativity!

Exploring Color All Over!

These past weeks have been busy!  We have moved from learning about line and pattern to working with color.  All of the students will be learning about primary, secondary and complementary colors as well as warm and cool color.  The older grades will add tertiary colors, tints and shades/values.  We will complete several projects exploring color and continue many others throughout the year.

Storybook Pumpkins

Our school had a pumpkin decorating contest this past week and it was just awesome!  We sure have some very artistic and imaginative students here at Polser.  There was such a great turnout and all of the pumpkins were related to a children's storybook.  We also had a group of pumpkins that were selected for a Twitter contest.  Votes were counted through tweets and retweets.  It was such a super way to include our world-wide community.  Great job Polser Bears!

Collaborative Cube Sculpture

Our fifth graders worked really hard over several class periods to complete the sculpture that was unveiled at our school carnival.  I was so proud of them! We practiced a lot of geometric vocabulary and added abstract and realistic faces to our cubes.  Our idea came from a sculpture that was completed by students from the Nasher Museum Summer Institute for Teens.  Click below to watch our slide show to see the sculpture from many angles, just as if you were there in person.  After our unveiling, the fifth graders took turns reassembling the cubes into different arrangements.  In small groups, they discussed and critiqued their own work, looking at the elements of art and principles of design.  It was a wonderful learning experience for all of us!

Cube slide show: http://bit.ly/1glLVXl Nasher Museum Summer Institute for Teens http://on.fb.me/HvHevt

Red Ribbon Week

 This week is Red Ribbon Week, so we prepared last week with our collaborative projects.  Kinders through third grade created their own "brick" to be joined with their classmates in creating our wall against drugs.  In kindergarten and first grade we talked about cool and warm colors and using mixed media to create our art.  Second and third grade took it a step further by learning how to make bubble letters and creating Zentangles (artistic doodling), inside our letters.  Fourth and Fifth grade traced their hand and made numerous Zentangles inside, using many more complicated patterns.  Their collaborative project was "Hand in Hand We Stand Against Drugs".  They both turned out so well!  This Saturday will be our fifth graders unveiling of their collaborative sculpture.  Stay tuned!

Kandinsky, Van Gogh and Carle, oh my...

Weeks 6 and 7 were spent finishing projects in all grade levels.  Kindergarten and 2nd grade both created caterpillars and butterflies from the the book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.  They both practiced their tracing and cutting skills as well as adding personalized details with bodies, heads, antennas, etc.  They used "bleeding" tissue paper to add color by overlapping pieces and brushing on glue.  1st grade finished their paintings demonstrating motion after discussing and viewing, "Starry Night", by Vincent Van Gogh.  3rd grade finished their Kandinsky abstract paintings demonstrating their knowledge of the different types of lines and geometric shapes.  4th grade finished their Kandinsky remix, by cutting apart their oil pastel circles and rearranging them in an unique way, similar to artistic couple Sonia and Robert Delauney.  They turned out so cool!  5th grade is continuing their work on a collaborative sculpture to be unveiled at Polserfest.  You will have to come to the art room during our carnival to see the awesome artwork completed by our fifth graders.  I've included some of the beginning work, but no finished project until after the unveiling!  Can you guess what they are making????

Kindergarten

2nd grade

3rd grade

1st grade

5th grade

4th grade

Polser Quilt Week

Last weekend I was totally "buried" in Polser shirts to make a quilt for our school carnival.  After many different pieces, sizes, rearranging and deciding on a final layout, I got down to sewing and quilting.  I worked after school most nights and straight through the weekend, then came home straight after school Monday and worked until bedtime until it was done, whew!  It turned out really cute and I am looking forward to seeing how much money the PTA can make on the raffle.  Tickets go on sale starting this Tuesday, $1. 00 each or 6 for $5.00!  The winning ticket will be drawn at, Polserfest, our school carnival, on Saturday, October 26th.

Shapes, patterns and paint...

Our 5th week concluded with a study of shapes, creation of patterns and different styles of painting.
Kindergarten kiddos manipulated shapes into a design of their choice and created a new piece of art, 1st grade demonstrated motion in their paintings and 2nd grade finished a watercolor resist lesson.  3rd graders began an activity with geometric and organic shapes, 4th grade continued work on their oil pastel, Kandinsky circles and 5th grade finished patterned, name towers. It was another awesome week!

Dot Week Continued......

To continue our "Dot" week, 3rd grade created a Kandinsky circle, torn-paper collage.  Some students chose to create centered circles, while others had a unique take on the famous artwork and created off center and multiple circles.    4th grade has started work on an oil pastel rendition of Kandinsky's, "Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles".   They will complete this project next week with a special collaborative twist!  5th grade chose one circle to incorporate into an original artwork to "make their mark".  I was surprised to see such creative imaginations!

Dots, Dots and More Dots

image borrowed from:
http://bit.ly/19oXKoF

image borrowed from:
http://bit.ly/1f5mPMT

This past week we celebrated "Dot" week, school wide, based on the book "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds.  The students discussed how they can "make their mark" and how that mark is unique to them.  Every grade level completed a different dot activity.  In addition to reading "The Dot", we learned about the Russian artist, Wassily Kandinsky, focusing on his abstract works and more importantly his, "Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles".  Kindergarten made, "Not A Dots", with dot painters; first grade created radial symmetry with coffee filter art, then integrated their creation into a final piece of artwork; 2nd grade used oil pastels to create Kandinsky circles, then used watercolor resist to complete the project.