Mrs. Pierce's Polka Dot Spot: May 2013

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Patricia Polacco Eggs

Third graders learned about artist/author Patricia Polacco. Polacco was born in Michigan and is from Russian and Ukrainian descent. We read her book Rechenka’s Eggs. Her grandmother taught her the art of Ukrainian Egg decorating. We watched a video of Polacco using the technique of hot wax and dyes in a video from Reading Rainbow.

For their art project, students first drew three eggs, one egg had to be overlapping another egg. Next they created patterns and designs on their eggs like Polacco. Then they traced their eggs and designs in glue (similar to the way Polacco used hot wax). And lastly they colored in their eggs using chalk pastels.

Van Gogh Sun Flowers

First graders learned about the artist Vincent Van Gogh by reading the story Camille and the Sunflowers. We looked at several paintings by Van Gogh, and we really studied his Sunflower painting!

For their project they learned about symmetry. They learned how to fold a piece of paper in half and cut on the fold to get a perfectly symmetrical shape. That is how they made their vase for the sunflowers. Students needed to create a pattern on their vase as well as the table the vase sits on. They traced brown circles for the sunflower centers and glued them to the background paper. We did a painting workshop one day and painted our own paper using yellow and orange and paint scratching tools. This paper is what they used for the petals of the sunflowers. Lastly they added green stems to their beautiful sunflowers! Happy spring!

Henri Rousseau Emphasis

5^th graders learned about the artist Henri Rousseau through a Power Point Presentation. They also viewed several of his paintings. Henri Rousseau was a French painter, who worked for the French government for most of his adult life. He retired early to pursue his love of painting. He is one of the most famous “naïve” painters, or untrained painters. Rousseau is most known for painting exquisite jungle animal scenes. The most interesting thing about the jungle paintings, is that Rousseau had never seen a jungle in his life. All his ideas came from books, magazines, and his imagination.

5^th graders also learned about the art element EMPHASIS. Emphasis is how an artist creates a main focus in their painting- an area in the artwork where the artist wants you to look first. The 5^th graders looked at several examples of artwork and had to find where the artist was creating emphasis.

For their project, 5^th graders looked at lots of images of animal eyes, all different kinds. We discussed how by drawing just the eye of the animal we are creating EMPHASIS on that part of the animal. After their eye was drawn in pencil, students used chalk pastels to color and blend in. They turned out awesome!

*Lesson Idea inspired from Green Bay Art Room*

Graffiti Names

5th graders learned about the positives and negatives of Graffiti art. We watched part of a short video from PBS about how graffiti art has impacted the art world and how it has evolved. Students were able to use the laptop minis to experiment with different styles of graffiti from a wonderful graffiti wesbsite, www.graffiticreator.net . From their they translated their computer art into 2d art. They did awesome! Below is the link to the video.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/03/the-history-of-american-graffiti-from-subway-car-to-gallery.html

Jim Dine Hearts

First graders learned about the artist Jim Dine through a Power Point Presentation. They viewed several of his paintings. They learned that Jim Dine loved to paint hearts and use bright colors in his paintings.

First graders learned how to draw a GIANT heart. They then outlined it with black oil pastel and used all different colors to color in the heart. Next, they drew all different types of lines from their heart to the edge of the paper. They then painted in the white area between the lines with water colors.

And lastly these wonderful little artists learned how to sew using a whip stitch. First they evenly measured out the spots for their holes using their hands and made a mark with their pencil. Next they used a hole puncher to punch a hole where their dot was. And lastly, the used colorful yarn and used a whip stitch to sew all the way around their artwork! They turned out fabulous!

*Lesson Idea taken from Green Bay Art Room:)

Op Art

4^th grade students looked a lot of examples of op art. Op art, also known as optical art, is a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions.

Op art works are abstract, with many of the better known pieces made in black and white. When the viewer looks at them, the impression is given of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibration, patterns, or alternatively, of swelling or warping.

Can you find the hidden image in the 4^th graders work?

Cave Art

2^nd and 3^rd graders learned about the Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France. In 1940, 4 teenagers were playing and knocked over tree. The roots of the tree revealed a giant hole in the ground. The teenagers went in to explore and discovered several underground caves all connected. The walls were covered in ancient paintings mostly consisting of animals, figures, ancient weaponry, and other symbols. The cave paintings are 17,000 years old!

The students were able to visit the caves via technology. The Caves of Lascaux has a website where it can take you on a virtual tour of all the caves. After seeing the caves, we discussed what the cave art could mean and what these people were trying to tell us.

We looked closely at all the cave art. For the project students were to choose one animal to re-draw onto their paper, they also needed to add in some ancient symbols. They painted them, used oil pastel for details, and had their handprint sprayed on. And lastly they got to crumple up their artwork to give it the ancient cave art look!