Art at Arbor

Japanese Kimono Origami Bookmark

2012-02-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

Art Club on Fridays is for primary level students - 4, 5 and 6 years old.
It is a very dynamic and energetic group of kids on the last day of school week :-)
This time they created a bookmark - draw the face and hair first, then figure out how to wrap paper so it will look like a kimono. It didn't take too long!
So I asked them to draw a place for their well dressed person to live in, and paint it with watercolors.

What we used: Markers, folding technique ( simple origami) , glue, pencil and watercolors.

Van Gogh inspired torn paper collage

2012-01-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

September 2011.
15 teenagers, construction paper, glue, no scissors and Van Gogh's "Starry Night"

Origami Tulips on Watercolors Fields

2012-01-28T18:24:00.000-08:00

Recipe for this project:
Small squares of colored paper, heavy watercolor paper 8x10", watercolors, glue.
Assignment was to paint background first and while it was drying, make as many simple origami tulip heads as kids wanted.
At the end of the lesson everybody were able to finish creating spring dream.

Sock Kites

2012-01-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

Back in October 2011.
Lower Elementary students continue Asian studies. Here is our take on traditional Japanese sock kites. We used large sheets of white paper and decorated them with oil pastel, rubbing colors into each other.
After rolling paper into tubes and securing the shape with clue, we added streamers cut out of tissue paper and on the opposite side we tied strings to hold the kite.
And - outside to test them!

Oversized Fruit

2012-01-26T22:44:00.000-08:00

This is a watercolor paining i did of an overly big apple, size 20x24"

One of my favorite projects to work on with kids - to put an apple in front of them and ask them to paint it BIG, VERY BIG!!!
They start with drawing round shape with oil pastel and then paint with watercolor.

Salmon Days and Many Fishes

2012-01-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

Every year Arbor Schools participate at Salmon Day Parade in Issaquah. This year school got first prize for the float. Students created realistic and imaginary fish, totem poles with favorite animals. Working in a large scale is very beneficial for kids, they are forced to think big, to use large brushes and to plan for filling the space.

Value

2012-01-26T19:52:00.000-08:00

Upper Elementary students are working on "Value" project - it has nothing to do with money, but with dark and light parts of an image.

Very simple printing technique

2012-01-26T19:34:00.000-08:00

All you need for this project is foam container or plate to create reverse stamp.We used pencil to engrave design to be printed. I limited color palette to white, black, silver and gold acrylic paints. Red construction paper as a base. With Lower Elementary students we studied traditional Japanese kimono and block printing. With younger children we created patterns for stamping on fish body and paint around it.

Meeting Degas

2010-11-16T17:42:00.000-08:00

Edgar Degas is famous for his pastels of the ballet dancers.

Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder.

Working with pastel is easy, there are many methods of smearing and blending colors.

Using Harlequin doll as a model, Art Club students explored drawing from observation and properties of pastel medium.

Picasso style portraits

2010-11-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

Picasso experimented with cubism and shapes, studied African sculptures and developed a method of creating portraits seeing from two points of view at the same time - profile and front.

Not and easy concept to grasp even for adults, but my LE students did a fantastic job!

Learning to sculpt

2010-10-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Art Club students worked with clay on Wednesday - hand building, coiling, using"slip"as a glue.

This week we are goint to paint dry sculptures.

Finger painting

2010-10-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

For Salmon Days Parade students from Willow and Madrona classes created beautiful scaly fish using fingers instead brushes. It was a hard work, but they were so proud of finished creations.

Dolls with painted faces and Picasso inspired plates

2010-10-19T12:36:00.001-07:00

In September we made dolls, painted their faces and made fabric for dresses - we talked about design and more then one step process of creating.

Also we drew inspiration from Picasso's pottery and painted plates, creating colorful portraits.

Picasso "Blue Period"

2010-10-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Artist	Pablo Picasso
Year	1903
Type	Oil on panel
Dimensions	122.9 cm × 82.6 cm (48.4 in × 32.5 in)
Location	Art Institute of Chicago

Picasso is in Seattle Art Museum - and my Upper Elementary students are exploring his blue period.
Using only cool colors they recreated The Old Guitarist - and I am very impress with the procces and the result! We used tempera paint and 12x18" paper. Each of the students had his or her own monochromatic printout of this particular Picasso's painting.

Fall Arts 2010

2010-10-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

It is not easy to keep blogging - so after a long break we are back at school.
We did several projects:
Paper mozaic inspired by Spanish sculptor and architect Antonio Gaudi with LE

Fresco painting on a rainy afternoon

2009-10-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Last week at Art Club we created plaster surface for Fresco painting. Now it is dry and kids started by creating a sketch and punching small holes along the lines. Then , using pastel powder in a fabric pouch they transferred image to the plaster and painted with watercolors. Plaster takes water in instantly and it is impossible to change anything - the same way that Michelangelo and Raphael worked.

Fish

2009-09-29T21:29:00.001-07:00

Painting on 3D in Art Club

2009-09-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Oh no, it is not a computer programm - it is decorating a box. And it is not as easy as it seems, box has too many sides and paint is not drying... thanks for the warm weather - we can take them outside to dry!

Hundertwasser and Art Club

2009-09-23T17:52:00.001-07:00

Kids did great today! It is not easy to pronounce Hundertwasser's name, but they remembered! And created their own versions of fantastic buildings. All canvases are 11x14, so it is time to buy a frame :-)

Enviroment

2009-09-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Continuing my chain of thoughts about How to teach Art, just wanted to say that mostly there has to be an open and friendly enviroment with many choices and someone with knowlege of materials and techniques to answer questions and offer guidance.

So Montessori principles work here very well.

What is Art and how to teach it

2009-09-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

My philosophy in teaching Art is simple - the most important part is a process, the miracle of creating something absolutely new and unique and personal...

Result is secondary, some of the greatest artists never signed their works because they didn't consider them finished..

I woud like to know what do you think about What is Art ?

Upper Elementary Art

2009-09-18T21:38:00.001-07:00

Sycamorians came in today happy and cheerful. And they started to work on their art folders with great enthusiasm. Stippling, masking and salting watercolor paintings was a great fun!

2009-09-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Lower Elementary students learned about watercolor painting today- some tricks and techniques professional artists use. Painting wet on wet and adding salt to create texture are just some of it.We had Willow and Madrona together today - 22 students - but look at their faces! They were really immersed in the process.

Firs Art class with JHS

2009-09-17T19:45:00.001-07:00

Junior High School students started new school year by creating personalised art folders for future masterpieces. "Try to express visually who you are" - was my only request.

First Arts and Crafts Club Meeting!

2009-09-17T16:03:00.001-07:00

We had our first arts and crafts club meeting this Wednesday. Our first project was inspired by the Austrian artist Hundertwasser. His incredible works that make regular buildings works of art, really sparked the kids’ imagination. Using acrylics on canvas panels, they felt like true professionals!