Week 3

Week 3 was a very busy week!  As choices for creating art we added Collage and Sculpture to our list.  Rather than tell you all about what we did, we'll show you instead!

Week 2

Week 2 saw the addition of painting as one of our choices for art materials to use.  The transition into Choice Based art making has been going rather smoothly.  The students seem really excited by all the items in the Idea Station which they can select to draw or use as inspiration.

This student finished his house this week.

I have a group of boys who are insisting on making their pictures look "old-fashioned" by only doing black and white pictures so we talked about how there are black and white, but lots of grays in the pictures too.

A kindergartener's light bug.

This 1st grade picture was inspired by a lot of different things.  I was really impressed he took so many ideas we talked about first semester and put them together in this picture.

This week the art room saw a lot of standard landscapes; grass, sky, sun, trees and with some animals.  Rather than see this as phase or a down side to the week I instead see this as an opportunity to discuss with students the other points of view they can use to create a picture.  Does we have to show the whole deer or can it be just a close up?  How do you as the artist want to depict this deer?  Instead of having them just do something, because that is what the assignment requires or the technique demands we can discuss the possibilities and choices that each student has to make the best possible decision for that particular student on their artwork.  Since the student is highly invested in their art and ideas I feel these discussions will be more meaningful for them and have a greater effect on their artwork.

Week 1

This week I introduced to the students just a few drawing media choices for their artwork.  I didn't want them to get overwhelmed with the amount of choices that they had access to and have their artwork suffer as a result.  Instead they took their time getting to know the idea station and work on ideas they have been saving for just the right time to draw.  Next week we will add a new media to our list most likely painting, because the students are very familiar with this process.  It has been a great week and everyone seems excited about the freedom of choice and all the possibilities ahead for creativity.  Here are some of the fabulous pictures that we worked on this week.

2nd Grade

This is just the beginning to a 2nd graders picture.  He loves to create stories about his artwork as he goes along.  This one is about a truck that has been struck by a meteorite that passed through the sun. 

This young man is working on a dinosaur museum.  He knows a lot about dinosaurs and it shows in his work.

Though we may be a large school we are in the heart of farming country.  I have several boys that just love their John Deere tractors.

As a new addition to the Art Room I have added chunky crayons (pictured below) that I made by melting old crayons in my oven.  ( What a mess! I am waiting to do more until the summer sun will do the melting  for me.) This student's picture was a experiment to see how those crayons worked.  Love the pattern and the direction of the lines.

 This young man worked the whole time on this fabulous gorilla.  He and several other students really enjoyed working with the drawing books to help develop their skills.

Another drawing book inspired picture.  I know this student is planning a great background that he will be adding next week.

A jungle coming to life.

Even though I have showed students how to create new colors by mixing I never see too many apply the idea to their art.  This young man used several colored pencils to get the texture and color of the bricks just right.

A student came to me and said she was having trouble with the roof of her house.  She was realizing that when she drew the shape of the roof it didn't look quite right on top of the building.  She was realizing the need for perspective on her own, so we sat down and discussed perspective.  This was the result.  I know that she had doubts and struggled, but I was so pleased with her effort and perseverance.

 1st Grade

Going through postcards of artwork and architecture this student came across a photo of a Japanese building.  Even though the photo was in black and white the student selected his own colors to bring it to life.

The beginning of a camping adventure.

Two girls were using the same dolls as models for their artwork.  As I approached I was nervous that this would lead them to copy one another.  When I started to ask them about their art they explained to me that one of them was having the figures be fashion models on stage while the other girl was showing the figures as girls collecting seashells on the beach.  I was so proud.  They also made sure to share the story of their pictures with the classes explaining how they used the same tools, but made their own unique pictures.

Kindergarten

This may be the start of a scary picture.  Beware we have a werewolf and a zombie on the loose!

This young lady found a picture of a bird in my files that she really liked.  She worked very hard to illustrate the details, by mixing and layering crayons to get just the right effect.

Another experiment with mixing crayons.

Keep in mind that most of these pictures are unfinished and as they continue to work on them I'll keep you updated on their progress.

Meet Witchie-pooh

Growing up I was exposed to a lot of art.  One of my favorite pieces as a student was a Witch that was created by one of my mother's High School students as a 'Screamer' project.  Several years ago she had to completely move out of her classroom.  (There was 38ish years worth of things she stored for projects not to mention, the supplies, tables, art, and everything else an Art Room needs to function.)  She began to return student art to the students who had given it to her over the years.  When she asked me if I wanted the Witch I had nicknamed Witchie-pooh I said YES!  Witchie-pooh now presides over my classroom and it is always funny to see the students reaction to her.  Most just go about as normal, but there seem to be a few like me that really like her.  Last year a student made a card for me to give to her and this year I had a portrait of me with Witchie-pooh in the background.  I was impressed with this quick drawing, because of the details that he tried to add in the short time he was working on it.  Plus I love that Witchie-pooh and I have our pictures together.

Slowly Shifting into a Choice-Based Classroom

As we make the transition to a full Choice-Based Art Room we are taking little steps to get there.  Too many choices too fast could be overwhelming for some and the quality of students' artwork would might suffer.  Instead the classes are starting with just a few choices of materials and we will add more choices as time goes on.

Just before we left for break I started this idea, but didn't fully explain to students where we were heading in making our Art Room Choice-Based.  (I instead choose to share that with them after we came back from break.)  Even though we were just getting started on our journey I could see there were going to be great things to come.  Here are just a few of the stories that happened in art before Christmas Break.

This is a drawing by a 1st Grade boy.  He used one of the houses from our Idea Station to draw.  After working on the house for about 30 minutes this is what he created.  I was really impressed with how much improved this drawing was over his normal drawing level.  He was really proud of the results and so was I.  You can see his attempts of trying to understand perspective and he is only a 1st grader!

This snowman was painted by a 2nd Grade boy.  I love the personality that come through on the snowman's face.

A 2nd Grade girl came to show me her painting after she was finished.  I was really impressed when she told me how she had fixed her mistake.  (This is something I always encourage my students to try to do.  When they actually try this instead of turning it over they are always really proud of their hard work and they come up with the best solutions to fix their mistake.)  She had made a mistake behind the sleigh and she decided to turn it into a present with a parachute that Santa was sending to a child's house.  We both thought this might speed up Santa's deliveries!

This painting was also by a 2nd Grade boy depicting his football team.

Finally, one more painting by a 2nd Grade girl.  I love the color she chose for the background.  It really makes the snowman stand out.