3rd Grade - Ink Monsters

The Ink Monsters have returned!  This was one of my favorite projects from last year.  Third graders looked at the artwork of Stefan Bucher, then created a monster out of an abstract inkblot.  The process starts with a small puddle of ink, which the students then blow around the page using a straw.  They then interpret the lines to be a part of their monster (hair, wings, etc.) then add their own details using a Sharpie marker.  The artwork isn't completed until the students give their monsters some place to live.  It's endlessly fascinating to hear the ideas the kids have about their monsters.  Ask your third grader about his or her work!

Kindergarten - Line

The Kindergartners have spent the year learning about all sorts of lines.  We've done a lot of different projects with line with a lot of different media.  The kindergartners have spent time drawing, painting, cutting, and even making lines with string.  Here are just a few pictures of what we've been up to:

1st Grade - Kandinsky

The first graders held a great discussion interpreting the artwork of Wassily Kandinsky, who compared creating art to creating music.  To do this, we looked at some examples of his paintings and talked about if the paintings were happy, sad, energetic, slow, etc., and also what the artwork reminded them of in general.  We also looked at this example from the Disney movie Fantasia, and saw how other artists interpret music using line, shape, color, and patterns.  After the conversation, we listened to music and created our own Kandinsky compositions using oil pastel and watercolor, paying close attention to the lines we were making and the colors we were choosing so that they made sense with what we were hearing.  It's always fascinating to see how different each artist's artwork is, even though we all listened to the same thing.  Make sure you check out the video at the end of this post!

4th Grade - Op Art

The fourth graders worked on strengthening their technical skills with this Op Art project.  We learned how to use curved lines and value to make our artwork look 3D.  Adding value is a tough challenge for the art students, but we worked hard and pulled through.  To finish the project, we balanced our drawings by adding value throughout the composition.