Team Up with Tile Finale!!

Almost a year ago I found out that we had been awarded a grant from LEF (LISD Education Foundation). THANK YOU LEF!!!! The grant, titled "Team Up with Tile", allowed us to purchase tons of clay, a slab roller, tile cutters, glazes and many clay tools so that every student in Kindergarten through 5th grade could create their own unique tile.  Those tiles, close to 500 when all was said and done, were all joined together to create a backsplash and more within our art room.  Since it was going to create a construction zone in the classroom, we waited until the summer break to install ALL THOSE TILES!  My husband and son were my terrific tile guys and without them it wouldn't have turned out so wonderful.  So a big thank you to both of them for all their hard work and dealing with my "particularness" (not a word, but the nicest I could think of for my type A, persnickety behavior during installation). Another giant thank you to LEF, since without them this project wouldn't have been possible. I CAN NOT wait until the kiddos get back to school and see our awesome collaborative project.

*5th graders from last year: If you want a picture of your tile and can't come by the school yourself, send me an email and I will take a picture and send it back to you!
siegrista@lisd.net

Clay Owls are flying in fourth

Fourth grade has finished their clay owls and they look awesome!  We started with a slab of clay rolled with our new slab roller purchased with grant money from LEF.  The students then used a needle tool to cut a circle, folded in the sides for wings and the top for the heads/ears attaching with a score and slip technique.  They then used various texture tools to create their unique owl.  After they were fired in the kiln, students used acrylic paint to make their owls even more original.  They are currently hanging in our display cabinet and look right at home.

Kinder Fun

Kindergarten has been busy.  We read about a selfish Rainbow Fish that wouldn't share his shiny scales.  We were glad in the end, that he learned that sharing made him feel great, just like when we share with our friends.  The students were able to use marbles to paint with metallic paints.  When their creations dried, they were cut into strips to weave into our unique fish.  After weaving, we added creative fins and other details to finish our colorful fishes.  Next, we studied the artist Georgia O'Keeffe and created our own versions of close up flowers.  The kiddos first drew their flower on a four inch square, then enlarged it onto a twelve inch square.  They then used tempera cakes to fill with awesome color.  Our flowers turned out wonderfully, don't you think?

Pallet Bookcases for the Artroom

Started a new project for our artroom this week.  Saw something similar on Pinterest, but wanted it to make sense in our room and to be able to use it as a teaching tool.  After having my husband cut the pallets apart the rest was up to me.  I sanded and primed each one, then used complementary colors for the base and different values of each color as circle/stripe accents.  Once again I asked for the help of my wonderful husband to hang them in our room.  They turned out even better then I thought.  Now all of our art books are easily accessible for all students!

m "ART" ch madness

With March madness upon us, we decided to create our own art bracket.  The entire school K-5th voted week after week to narrow down to our final winner.  Some brackets were very close, while some were quite one-sided.  By the end our Champion for the 2015 m"ART"ch madness was the one and only "Starry Night", by Vincent VanGogh.  Can't wait to see who makes the bracket next year!
(special thanks goes to Mrs. Hahn of minimatisse.blogspot.com for this wonderful cooperative project)

Grid Posters

5th grade used technology, math, social studies and a lot of cooperation to complete these block posters of famous African Americans.  After each class choose their subject, we found an appropriate photo to transfer.  We then used the Photobrick app on our Ipads to digitize each picture and separate it into 6 sections.  Each table took a section and used their Ipads to follow the colors on the grid.  They worked together to cut appropriately sized arrays to correctly complete their section.  When complete, all sections were joined together to create final artwork.  It was a wonderful collaborative project.  We have received a lot of ooohhh's and aaahhhh's.  Our Oprah Winfrey and Muhammad Ali even hung in the gallery at the LISD East Zone art show at the MCL Grande Theater. 

Patterned Hearts and Mosaic Monograms

1st grade explored different styles of lines, while creating concentric hearts out of oil pastels.  After they completed all of their hearts, they filled the spaces with original line styles.  The students then used watercolors to paint over their creation to explore the resist of oil to water.  The kiddos are always amazed at how the watercolors just roll right over the oil pastels and color the paper without changing the lines.
3rd grade learned about mosaics from around the world, as well as comparing and contrasting mosaics and collages.  They then created their own monogram mosaic "tile" from cut paper.

Texas Hill Country Tree Weaving

4th graders study Texas Hill Country in their classrooms, so we built on that knowledge to create the background for our weaving.  We looked at several examples of Texas Hill country landscapes and students created their own version for their background.  After painting their landscape and creating their warp strings as the tree trunk and branches, students began weaving the tops of their trees.  Some students chose to add beads to represent fruits in their trees, while others choose wild colors to demonstrate their artistic choices.  All so different, but all so wonderful!

Clay Monsters

5th grade had a great time working with clay to create their monsters.  The students started by learning how to make a pinch pot, then used their creative imaginations to turn that pinch pot into a monster.  Some were silly, some were funny, some were scary, but all were different and unique.  After firing in the kiln, they got to choose from 24 different colors of glaze to further individualize their monsters.  After firing again, the monsters came out of the kiln with shiny bright colors.  They were awesome!

Landscape & Still Life

3rd grade has been busy going from chalk landscapes to a tempera still life.  We started our landscape study using Ted Harrison's artworks as our inspiration.  We learned about the people, weather and landscapes of the Yukon.  The students drew their landscape on black paper then covered those lines in glue.  After the glue dried they filled the spaces with chalk pastels, blending to creating different shades/values of their colors.  We also learned about the stone symbols left behind by the Inuit Native Americans of the Yukon, called Inukshuk.  The students created their own Inukshuk and added them to their chalk landscapes.  After our landscape study we moved to an ornament still life.  Students created layered circles, then added shading, cross hatching, details and reflections to create the illusion of form.  They used tempera cakes, which was a new medium for them.  Both artworks were so original and beautiful.