Little Blue Art

Welcome New School Year!!!

2009-08-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Students and Parents . . . welcome to a new school year in art. We have some fun things planned this year.
To start off the school year, Mrs. Coulombe's class visited the special collections in the library and learned about illuminated manuscripts. Students were able to see an actual book that was created somewhere in the 1480's in England. To view a digital copy of this book go to http://digital.lib.usu.edu/u?/devillers,97 .

Did you know:

The paper they wrote on was made out of animal skins?
The paint they used was made out of vegetables?
The entire book was handwritten?

Soon we will post our own illuminated manuscripts on our blog for all to see! What a great start to a new year!

Sand Painting--A Contemporary Approach

2009-04-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

The sand paintings pictured below were done by kindergarten students. Students were given a spoon-full of red, yellow, and blue sand. With those primary colors they were able to mix their own colors. Once they spread a thin layer of sand onto the tray, they were able to make their own temporary sand paintings with their fingers. Photographs were taken to document the artwork.

Sand Painting

2009-03-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

After learning the history of sand painting done by the Navajo culture, students in all grades created a series of mini sand paintings. These sand paintings were done using red, yellow, and blue sand. Secondary colors were mixed by students as well as tints and shades (using white and black). Some artworks were abstract and some were realistic . . . all were fantastic!

Note to teachers who might want to do this project: Sand was purchased at a craft store for about $2 per pound. The adhesive used was elmers glue and students applied it using their pinky finger or a Q-tip (which didn't work as well as the finger). Art works were done on scrap mat board (normal paper would warp) cut into 3" x 3" squares. Many framing galleries are willing to donate their scraps of mat board.

Shapes and Hatching

2009-03-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Kindergarten students reviewed their shapes and learned a new technique by creating these great abstract pieces of art. We started out by playing a game where students were asked to draw a given shape all over their paper. They could make the shapes big or small and even overlap them to create new shapes. Then students were asked to create another shape until they had covered their entire paper. Using a warm or cool color scheme, students were then asked to hatch or cross-hatch inside their shapes to create these fun compositions.

One More Winner

2009-03-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Doodle 4 Google Contest Winners!

2009-03-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

"No Child Left Inside" Logo Contest

2009-03-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

Students!

Here is another great opportunity to share your artistic talents. The "No Child Left Inside" logo contest is coming due April 3, 2009. For more information check the poster in my classroom or go to www.childrenandnature.org

Mrs. Shakespear

Wrapping Paper: A Study in Pattern

2009-03-19T19:55:00.001-07:00

This past holiday season, students at Edith Bowen studied wrapping in art class. Students concluded that many wrapping papers have patterns. This class of first graders expanded their pattern skills by first creating as many different patterns as they could out of different holiday shapes on the white board. Second, students were asked to create shapes of their own (both geometric and organic) on foam.
Foam shapes were then glued on a cardboard backing with a glue stick. This created a stamp. Each student made three different stamps.
The shape on the stamp was then painted using tempera paint. Students were careful to make sure that paint got only on the foam and not the cardboard.
Once painted they were able to stamp on their paper. By using all three of their stamps and maybe even sharing stamps with peers, students were able to create some interesting patterns using shapes that were all their own.

Google Sketch-Up & Architecture

2009-03-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Created By 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders

2009-03-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Collage: noun. A form of art in which various materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric are arranged and stuck to a backing.

Work done by 4th and 5th grade students.

Quilt Designs by 2nd Graders

2009-03-03T20:25:00.000-08:00

Our Tankas

2009-03-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

February is Black History Month

2009-03-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

Faith Ringgold was often inspired by Jazz music . . .

February is Black History Month. We learned about an African-American artist named Faith Ringgold. Faith is known for her story quilts. We created a small story quilt of our own by painting or drawing on fabric. We then mounted our fabric and created what is called a tanka. Faith Ringgold was inspired to make her quilts by seeing ancient Tibetan paintings mounted on fabric called tankas.

If you want to learn more about Faith Ringgold, go to her websites below:

http://www.faithringgold.com/

http://faithringgold.blogspot.com/

Freedom of Press

2009-03-03T19:49:00.000-08:00

In 1941, Dorothea Lange was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for excellence in photography. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she gave up the prestigious award to record the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans to relocation camps, on assignment for the War Relocation Authority (WRA). She covered the rounding up of Japanese Americans and their internment in relocation camps, highlighting Manzanar, the first of the permanent internment camps. To many observers, her photograph of Japanese-American children pledging allegiance to the flag shortly before they were sent to internment camps is a haunting reminder of this policy of detaining people without charging them with any crime or affording them any appeal.

Her images were so obviously critical that the Army impounded them. Today her photographs of the internment are available in the National Archives on the website of the Still Photographs Division, and at the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley.

Since Dorothea’s photographs were not allowed to be printed during the internment . . . which First Amendment right was violated?

Autumn Leaves

2008-11-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

This my favorite picture out of my book called autumn leaves.

The Scary Monster

2008-11-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

A scary monster. I'm in second grade. I used my paints to make this. This is part of my book.

Etan's Art

2008-11-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

My art is a sperm whale .It is blowing air out of it's spout.

Blue Bird

2008-11-07T09:31:00.001-08:00

I'm in the third grade. I was born to do art. This is a picture of a blue bird in a book I'm writing.

The Process of Making a Book

2008-10-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

When our guest artist was here she taught us how to make a storybook. There are three basic steps:
1. First we made squares by tracing around cards that look like credit cards. These shapes set up what will become a storyboard.

2. In the boxes we drew out what we wanted our story to look like. This is called a storyboard.

3. Then we painted what we drew on our storyboard onto a larger book. This is called a book dummie. This what artists send to a publisher for them to decide if they are going to publish the book or not.

Guest Artist

2008-10-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

This week at Edith Bowen we are so thrilled to have artist Sherry Meidell working with us. She illustrates pictures for children's books. Sherry likes to use watercolors to create her pictures. This is a picture of students watching Sherry paint.

Pop Art

2008-08-28T14:58:00.001-07:00

Pop art is a visual art movement that emerged in the mid 1950's in Britain and in parallel in the late 1950s in the United States.

Why is it called "Pop Art?" Much of what artists choose as their subject matter was from popular mass culture. Or in other words, they chose to paint things that were popular.

Two artists and their artwork that we studied in class were:

Andy Warhol and his Campbell Soup Cans

Jasper Johns and his American Flags

These artists choose subject matter that people saw everyday. What do you see or use everyday? What is your visual culture?

Celebrating American Art

2008-08-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

This year in art we are studying the work of American Artists. We will learn about different artists such as: Georgia O'keefe, Louis Tiffany, Grandma Moses and more. As we take this tour of the different artistic movements of our country we will also be learning about our First Amendment Rights.

This blog is a portfolio of sorts that will exhibit the work of our most senior artists at Edith Bowen Laboratory School (the 5th graders). Each student will be using a screen name to post their work and/or artist statement. Students, parents, faculty, and staff are encouraged to respond to student work using the comment feature on this blog. All comments will be filtered by Mrs. Shakespear.

Ready, Get Set, Let's Learn!!!