Parker Art Blog

6th grade Greek Masks

2009-05-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

Sixth grade is learning paper mache techniques through making Greek Masks. We talked about the Greek Theatre, and the difficulty of reaching out to thousands of people in a performance. Without speakers and microphones, how does the audience know what is going on? The answer is in the masks. The mouths form tiny megaphones that amplify the sound. On the front of the masks, symbols tell the audience who the character is, so they never need to worry about heros vrs. evil-doers.

After studying the proportions of the face, students worked on created exaggerated expressions on their masks. They used paper pulp and paper mache strips to form cheek bones, chins and forheads that stick out. They looked at the lines muscles made when people frowned and the swinty eyes that form when cheeks push up into the eye socket space.

After designing their masks, they decorated them with tissue paper and paint for skin color and an assortment of feathers, beads, cloth and yarn for hair and additional decorations.

Subtractive Sculpture

2009-05-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Our last big project of the year is plaster carving. Plaster is our form of imitation rock. Rock is hard to carve and takes a long time. Plaster is a little easier, but still takes a great deal of patience before you can see the image your imagined.

Students begin by making a solid plaster form. Some have decided to go organic, and have poured plaster into a baggie and allowed it to dry into an amorphic shape. Others have poured plaster into cups, creating blocks of plaster similar to blocks of stone that would be bought from quarries

Student are using plastic knives to carve the plaster. But in order to do this, they must keep the plaster somewhat wet. We spritz the plaster with water to make the carving easier, and keep them in sealed plastic bags so the moisture doesn't escape.

They must design their carvings carefully. If a part is too thin, it will break off. Arms must be connected to the bodies and thin legs cannot hold a heavy sculpture. They need to think of how they can compact a sculpture so that it can be carved easily from one solid form. For example, making a sleeping cat curled up is much easier than trying to carve a cat standing on four legs.

Sculptures can be polished to a high shine with butchers wax, or made shiny by rubbing layers of milk into the plaster with a rag.

Guest Bloggers : Zach F. and Ray C.

2009-04-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

In art last year I made a really cool clay sculpture. It was a picture of Jason I got off the computer and I traced it onto a piece of clay. After that I cut it out with clay tools and I formed texture on how it would feel in real life. It was a really fun project and I would like to do it again. After all, the project turned out great and it went to the art show.--Zach

This year I drew an abstract art in class. I was very proud of it. It got put in the art show. I don't know how I got the idea of it but I did. It was a picture of a flat landscape and a really cool abstract moutain range. The sky, ground, mountain and sun all blended in making it look good. I was very proud.

Check this out: Sculpture faces out of Toilet Rolls

2009-04-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

www.loudreams.com/2009/04/06/toilet-paper-roll-sculptures

Greek Pots: Black Figure and Red Figure drawing

2009-04-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

The sixth grade students are looking at Greek art and natural figures. They have looked at how pots are made in an earlier unit. Now they are seeing how glazes made a big difference in the art world. With only one color glaze, Greeks made black figure and red figure pottery, and were able to create epic stories on the contours of their pottery.

Students experimented with working with these methods by creating an oil pastel pot, and drawing over it with another oil pastel, as if it were the glaze. Black figure drawings started with silhouettes of figures drawn in "glaze". They scratched through the glaze with scratchboard tools to create details in their black figure designs.

Red figure designs created details by drawing into their figures with the glaze, and filling in the negative space on their pot compositions with glaze.

Sculpture: George Segal and plaster wrap bandages

2009-04-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

We are all familiar with the plaster wrap bandages that are used when someone breaks an arm or a leg. George Segal uses this material to capture the human form exactly.

George Segal made his first artwork from plaster soaked bandages in 1960. His work began by covering parts of a body, then plastering the body parts together until they formed an entire person. His work is displayed as unpainted plaster forms, monochromatically painted forms and cast in bronze.

Sculpture students at Parker have used George Segal's style to make plaster hands. Their assignment was to create a message with the hand, by painting and/or adding other media to that sculpture.

Some have become hands of friendship or peace, others have transformed into animals, flags and robots. All have found personal statements can be made with the small gestures of a hand.

Donate to Food Banks by making Computer Art

2009-04-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

You can donate $1 to Feeding America by making computer art.

Go to breadartproject.com and you will find a museum of toasted bread art. Go to the workshop and make your own art for display in their gallery. For every piece of art you make, they will give $1 to Feeding America. Then go to the galleries and look at what other artists have done with their toasted masterpieces.

Abstract Sculptures

2009-03-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

With wire and nylon stockings, we've made abstract sculptures that take on odd mysterious forms. Students first bent wire and coathangers into many angles. They drilled wallboard for a base, and glued the wires into the wallboard. By taking a nylon stocking and covering the wires, wrapping the stocking all the way around the base, they have created new and unusual forms.

THE ASSIGNMENT: First, find an image in this form. It can be a wave, a squirrel, a face, a tree, etc. Then make your viewers see that image clearly by painting and adding items to the scupture, until it is recognizable.

SCULPTURE IS ABOUT COMMUNICATION. How can you manipulate an abstract image, into a concrete idea? What do you want the viewer to go away with?

7th grade art history Research

2009-03-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are having a hard time getting all the information for your web quests, you can finish these projects at home.

Just go to edline, to your art classroom and click on the link on the right hand side of the page.

For Hudson River groups, click the hudson river quest.

For all others, click on web quest.

All students will be given a group grade, an individual grade on research and an individual grade for their landscape drawing or painting.

Congratulations!!!!!!! Scholastic Art Winners

2009-02-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

2009 Scholastic Art Awards Winners!!
Parker students win 5 Art Awards!
We are pleased to announce that four Parker students won five Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards in this year's contest! They are:
Julia Dudley-Kramer: Gold Key Award and Silver Key Award
An Le: Silver Key Award
Emily O'Sullivan: Honorable Mention
Sarah Parker: Honorable Mention
This is a very prestigious contest for students and we are very proud of each student who entered this year. Congratulations!

Murals Murals Murals in 8th Grade Art Studio

2009-02-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

The mural bug has bit our 8th grade art studio students. We have a large variety of murals in progress around our school. We have recently finished some murals in the boy's locker room, and are designing ones for the girl's locker room. We have one pointing to the library, and designs that trickle down the stairwell from the eighth grade hall.

8th grade art studio works on a contract basis, creating a portfolio of work they design and impliment throughout the year. At the end of the year, each student will go home with a portfolio of their work, as well as short essays on subjects such as what makes a good artist, what are the best art materials, and who do I admire as an artist.

7th Grade Figures Class

2009-02-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

7th grade figure class has been looking at movement and proportion in figures. We worked with gesture drawings, looking at how legs and arms bend, how backs twist and how feet support the body, and tried to make our figures in proportion by making the bodies 6-8 heads tall. Using wire armatures, we created figures in mid-action. Characters are in the middle of a leap, catching a ball, dancing or skiing off a ski jump. Each of these characters are in the air, and so we will display them by hanging them from a string or using wire to balance them in the air, above a base or a stand.

Using paper towels for the body, we are covering them with tissue paper skin and using cloth and twisted paper for clothing.

6th grade Art Studio Weaving

2009-02-12T12:41:00.000-08:00

Making cloth is long and hard. No wonder children in the colonial age only had one or two outfits to wear. We couldn't imagine having only one pair of jeans and a T-shirt. But students in the art studio class can. They understand how long it takes to weave, and how hard it is to put a design into that weave.

Students have been working with cardboard looms, practicing simple weaving, and then working with needles to weave designs or letters into their cloth. Their final project is to make a clay wall hanging, where their weave is an intricate part of the art. They will use found objects such as feathers and sticks as well as yarn to create this interesting woven effect.

It's all about Balance

2009-02-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

Sculpture students are learning how balance effects what they make.

We've all had Christmas trees in our lives that weren't balanced. Sometimes we tied them up, or tacked parts to the wall to create a better balance. But sculpture artists must make a piece of art that will balance on its own.

We started this unit by looking at the king of balance, Alexander Calder, who invented the mobile. He could take any tiny thing and make a balanced and most often, moving sculpture from it. Students learned about asymmetrical, symmetrical and radial balance, then practiced these in sculpture form. By puttting their first sculpture on a wire, they not only needed to balance it successfully, but needed to consider where the center of gravity was, how to increase the strength of the wire for heavier sculptures and how to create an interesting piece that would attract a viewer's attention.

Their second sculpture is an asymmetrical mobile, hanging from the ceiling or sitting as a table-top mobile. Calder made many humorous sculptures (a seal balancing balls, leaves blowing in the wind, a juggler) in his mobiles so that they had a theme as well as colorful balance. Our students must also have a theme to connect the ides of their sculpture. Some of our student's themes are space, growing flowers, monsters and arrows.

7th grade Art History through Landscapes

2009-02-12T12:21:00.000-08:00

7th grade is looking at five styles of art from 1800 through 1950. By looking at these art styles, they are able to see how art changes as a reaction to what has come before it, and also as a reaction to the political and historical times it is created in.

Students will examine an art style closest to their own by completing a web quest. They will discover the rules of their style of art, and see how it fits into the political and historical surroundings of the time. They will work with their small groups to create a powerpoint or a podcast to present to the class. And they will finish their study by creating a landscape that uses the rules of their chosen style, but is an original work of art.

Students are beginning this unit by reading paintings to discover clues that will tell them about the art style and the time period it was made in. They are seeing how perspective rules help to create the illusion of space, and will follow up with lessons on one and two point perspective.

Egyptian Parody in 6th Grade

2009-02-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

A parody is a work that imitates the characteristic style of another work, either for comic effect or ridicule.

In the 6th grade, we are working on Egyptian parodies. But you can't make a parody until you understand what you are making fun of. We are learning some of the most dramatic rules of drawing Egyptian art. Using at least five of those rules, we will be making modern ideas, drawn in traditional Egyptian style. Imagine an Egyptian skiing down a pyramid, or going to a mall, or an Egyptian rock star. By putting modern images into a painting that follows the old Egyptian drawing rules, we not only learn about the art, but transform it into a parody.

Some of the rules we are learning are:

How to draw people: face in profile, shoulders front, legs and arms in profile, eye facing front

Borders: geometric over organic

Perspective: Profile, Bird's Eye View, Frontalism, Mixed perspective

Stacking: one on top of another

Standards: like comic strip formats

Size Changes: the more powerful the person, the bigger they are

Horror Vacui: fear of empty spaces

Sculpture in the Round

2009-01-15T07:27:00.001-08:00

6th graders have learned about Mesopotamian relief sculptures. In Relief, one side is always flat and the other is raised up 3 dimentionally. In sculpture in the round, sculptures must be interesting from all sides. Most students think of things as looking at them from the front. It is a real challenge to make the back as interesting as the front.

Students are working on sculptures similar to that in Mesopotamia, working with good luck charms, on heroes or bravery and on warnings or narratives. After choosing one of the themes, they create a sculpture that uses horizontal lines (feels orderly, organized or soldierly) horizontal lines (peaceful and quiet) or diagonal lines (action) to help get their concepts to read to the viewers.

Of Teapots and Tea parties

2009-01-15T07:13:00.000-08:00

How else to end a clay class, but to combine all we have worked on and make a teapot?
Teapots can be made from coils, slabs or pinchpots. We learned how to make lids that stay on by constructing boxes. We learned how to make spouts by rolling out slabs. Students finished their classes by making teapots that combined all their skills into one form. This week we are having a tea party to end the semester with. Students will be able to drink from their teapots (those that are finished)or cups, and share a snack while we wrap up our ceramics to go home.

A quick reminder. Clay pots do not go on a stove. Instead, they are to hold hot water. They also get very hot in the mircrowave, so it is not recommended. However, they do pretty well in the dishwashers, and can be washed that way.
Good bye 8th graders. Have a great next semester

guest blogger: Grace

2008-12-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

I like to sketch scenes from the Lord of the Rings, and from the movie Twilight, because I likke fantasy, and I enjoy challenging myself by attempting to recreate the aura of magic and mystery that surrounds many of these fictional characters. I also enjoy writing quotes from the books/movies that I think represent the scene best. I think that the hardest part of sketching is shading things in just the right way, to create shadow and depth.

Ceramic Houses with Attitude

2008-11-20T07:17:00.000-08:00

The ceramic classes are pooling all they have learned on working with slabs into making houses with attitude. They created templates or patterns for their houses, putting these paper houses together before creating their final piece. Some of their houses slant, some have curved windows and doors, some are shaped as fish or train cars. But all of them have a non-traditional way of looking at living spaces. Each house is decorated with incised designs and painted with underglazes for a detailed watercolor look, or traditional glazes for a bold glassy finish.

Colors and photo mosaics

2008-10-16T09:00:00.001-07:00

This site is great. It grabs images from their data base that matches the colors you pick. So you end up with an assortment of phots and illustrations that all match one color. Lots of fun. You've got to try this.
labs.ideeinc.com/multicolour

Art is more than just making Stuff.....

2008-10-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

There is more to making Art than just making stuff.

Go to: http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/~TriciaFuglestad/VisualArt/page14/page15/page26/page26.html

to see how Tricia Fuglestand and her art classes talk about ARTICULATION!
The words to their song say it all:

"There's more to making art than just pleasing your eyes
here is the place whre we learn skills for our lives
stratagise, compromise, plan and visualize
integrate, concentrate, learn to relate
exposed to cultures and eras in history
we're trained to be thinkers with visual literacy
we fine tune our motor skills while growing in self-esteme
we follow directions and understand sequencing
in ART."

Composition

2008-10-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

Composition is how you lay out the images you put on the paper. How do you design your art? Do you make your image big, or tiny? Do you put it in the middle of the page or going off the edge of the page? Do you make everything similar or emphasis one part or create variety throughout? Here are a few simple considerations when looking at composition.

Balance is the consideration of visual weight and importance. It is a way to compare the right and left side of a composition.

The brown butterfly above by itself is essentially symmetrical. Both sides are similar in visual weight and almost mirrored. Because symmetrical balance often looks more stiff and formal, sometimes it is called formal balance.

Asymmetrical balance is more interesting. The black butterfly above has sides that are similar in visual weight but not mirrored. It is more casual, dynamic, and relaxed feeling so it is often called informal balance.

Variety - You create variety when elements are changed. Repeating a similar shape but changing the size can give variety and unity at the same time. Keeping the same size, but changing the color can also give variety and unity at the same time. In visual composition, there are many ways you can change something while simultaneously keeping it the same.

Depth - Effects of depth and space projecting toward the viewer add interest. Linear perspective in the real world makes things look smaller in the distance. Some artists try to avoid depth by making large things duller and small things brighter, and so on, to make the objects contradict realism. Many artists don't believe in realism even though they could do it if they wanted to. It seems too boring to them. Realism wouldn't be art for some artists.

Repetition - Some ways to use Repetition of the Visual Elements are size variation, color saturation and overlapping.

6th Grade Art Studio: Day of the Dead

2008-09-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Students are working on creating tinfoil armatures with lightbulb heads. What better way to start their own skeleton sculptures. Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration of family and ancestors. Families create shrines to those who have died and honor their memories with ceremonies and picnics on the last day of Oct. through Nov. 2nd. Throughout Mexico and the southwest America, we can find skeleton sculptures that celebrate this holiday. Skeletons range from brides and grooms to rock bands, farmers to investment bankers and dancers to drag racers. Whatever you could do in real life, these skeletons do in their own magical worlds. Students are creating poses and making gesture drawings of those action poses, then recreating those positions in sculpture form.

Values- 7th Grade Still Life Project

2008-09-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

Value drawings show depth by showing light and shadows on an object. You can use many different marks to do this, but the three most popular ones are smudging or tonal values, crosshatching and linear values. No matter what style of art you prefer to draw in, all three use lights and darks to show that edges are round, sink in or push up and what is in front vrs. what is behind.

Using Line to Create Moods

2008-09-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Vertical images make us think of organized strength, like a soldier or an orderly bookshelf. Horizontal images make us feel peaceful and restful. Diagonal images create energy and action. How you choose to lay out your composition makes a difference in how others percieve it. It is important to think about what you want the viewer to come away with after experiencing your artwork.

7th Grade Drawing-Contour and Values

2008-09-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

Students are looking at drawing with contour lines and values.
The assignment is:
1. To use the viewfinder to create an interesting composition in contour lines.
2. To create a mood for the composition by using horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines to move the eye and create a specific kind of energy in the drawing.
3. To use thick and thin lines to show shadows and value with the width and darkness of the lines
4. To use 3 shades of values in their drawings: can be linear, crosshatching or smudging.

6th grade: Making Tools and Paints

2008-09-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

What options did cave artists have to make art? They probably started by picking up a stone or rock that looked like something else. Maybe the marks in the rock looked like a face, or the stick looked like an animal. But what if they wanted to make their own images of animals? Students looked at what they could use to make their own marks. They experimented with sticks and combs, styrofoam and feathers to make a variety of marks on paper. What made the best textures? What looked more like fur? What made the best lines?
They looked at what could be used to make paint. How would you make things stick to the walls. Students experimented with Carbohydrates and sugars (flour and corn syrup), Protiens (egg yolks and milk) and fats (lard) to see what mixture would make the best paints. Each has an advantage, and a disability when it comes to drawing. Students made their own choices on which they liked best, then learned how egg tempera and milk tempera were popular art materials for hundreds of years.

8th grade Clay

2008-09-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Eighth grade students are exploring slabs and texture. They have created relief sculptures (flat on one side with many layers of depth) using incised (cut into) and raised relief(images that stick out)for designs. Students are now decorating slabs with surface design, creating textures with stamps, cloth, printmaking plates and clay tools to make fascinating surfaces on the outside of their cups. They are practicing their technical skills at connecting clay with adding handles and seams.

Sixth Grade Cave Art

2008-09-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Do walls talk? If they did, what would they tell us? Who built them? Why? Can you imagine a world without walls? Talking walls, based on the book of the same name by Margy Burns Knight , is a project that introduces children to cave art and a variety of cultures by looking at important walls from around the world.

Sixth grade students will be looking at wall art through a variety of books and videos and discussing theories of why people think these drawings exist. Students are experimenting with making drawing tools and paints like prehistoric artists, and will be creating their own "rock" walls by covering ceiling board with plaster.
We will look at the compositions of cave artists and talk about elements of art that these ancient artists used. They will design compositions on their own walls,using specific elements and principles of art. Students will seal their walls with a varnish, so that the art wouldn't crack and fall off the plaster, as did much of the ancient work in the Lascoux caves.

Observation Drawings 7th Grade

2008-09-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

Predicting vrs. Observing

By the time they get to middle school, kids know a lot. Their minds are constantly filling with information. In order to move to the next thing quickly, they learn to predict. What is the teacher really looking for? What is going to happen next? What is the story trying to tell us? Their minds are dealing with facts and figures and calculating what the next question will be.
But this makes learning to draw difficult. The mind, in its hurry to move on to the next lesson, tries to anticipate what you are seeing. If you look at a vase, your mind registers that it is a vase and drops in a symbol of a vase in your mind's eye. But in art, we can't work with just symbols. Sometimes we need to draw a specific vase, this one right before you. We need to rely on observational skills to get that right.

One of the lessons we try to teach students is to observe. In order to do that, they need to look carefully at details, slow down their thinking (so the symbols don't replace what they are looking at) and draw slowly. We teach them to move their hand in sync with their eye, following the outline of an image as a contour line drawing. By learning to observe, students not only become better drawers, but they learn to notice more, to see what others are doing and feeling and to be better witnesses when the need arises.

Welcome to the New Year- First Units

2008-09-05T04:32:00.000-07:00

Sixth and Seventh grade will start the year with learning about the language of art. It is very difficult to talk about art, when you don't have the right words. By learning the elements of art (the tools you use to draw with) and the principles of art (how we put those down on the paper to get people to see what we want them to), we have a better way to talk about the art we look at and make.

Clay students are reviewing the basic vocabulary of clay, and learning to recycle clay that has dried out. Soon they will be working on their first extended project.

Art Studio 7 is begining a project on Super Hero Vegetables and Fruits. They will be creating giant paper mache sculptures to hang in the cafe.

Art Studio 6 is beginning a poster series, creating "READ" posters for the library.

Art Studio 8 is working on a classroom mural of elements and principles of art, and beginning their individualized contracted projects.

New! Art Club!

2008-08-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

New at Parker. The Parker Art Club!
Mondays: 2:30-3:30

Do you want more art time? Do you need a place to do projects for other classes? Do you want to enter the scholastic art contest, but don't know what to do? Do you want to experiment with different media, outside of the regular curriculum?

Come to the new Art Club on Monday afternoons in room 202. We're here for you!

Welcome Back!

2008-08-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

It's so good to see you all again.
We are looking forward to a wonderful year of creativity, time to find out who we are and how to express ourselves to the world. Sixth grade will be examinging art cultures from around the world, and looking at how we express our culture and ourselves through art. Seventh grade will be looking at how art is a reaction to literature and society around us by examining American artists and art styles in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ceramics will be examining the techniques of hand clay building, as well as learning to express our thoughts and feelings through the medium of clay. Again, welcome! We love our subject, and hope you will love it as much as we do.

Final Project- grade 7

2008-05-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

the 7th grade is working with clay, converting what they know about proportions and faces into 3D. They are to imagine they are casting directors, producing a new movie. What will it be? A comedy, a tragedy, a romantic comedy, a hero adventure?
They must figure out what assumptions people make about these type of characters so that they can cast an actor for the part. How do we think someone evil looks? Or someone funny? By using what they know about proportions,beauty thorugh the ages and styles of art, they will adapt a face design to clay. Students will create characters that will play the main part in their movies. It is up to them to create a character that the audience will instantly react to.

Open House This Thursday- May 15th

2008-05-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Open House is Thursday Night. Come see artwork from the entire year decorating the school. We have artwork everywhere. This is our opportunity to have a school wide art show. Come see what's new!

Arts Fest 2008

2008-05-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful showing at the artsfest 2008. Hundreds of pictures and sculptures lined the walls and panels from one side of Main St. to the other at the High School. We were able to show all the fine work from Parker Middle School as well as track what some of our best artists were now doing in High School. As a viewer, it was fantastic to see the level and quality of the work these students produce. As an art teacher, it was a thrill to see what the other art teachers were doing in town. We shared ideas and built on lessons already produced. It was such a joy to spend time among all this work. And the music! How awesome to have a jazz ensemble playing while you look at art. The programs from elementary through High School were superb. We really appreciated all the rehersal work that students did to put on such fine performances.
For another look at the day, see the Superintendent's Blog http://superintendentblog.blogspot.com/ for a great understanding of why the arts are important in all our lives.

ART SHOW ART SHOWART SHOW***

2008-04-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

The district wide art show will be held at the high school on April 30th from 5-8, May 1st from 5-8 and May 2nd from 5-9.

Hope you can all make it.

Art from Elementary through High School will be on display.

Rather than give everyone notices about what artwork is in the show, we will try to get in as many art pieces as possible. Please check this out. With the art show on for three evenings, we should be able to have everyone attend.

Report Cards

2008-04-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

Report cards are out. Don't forget to look on edline to see your grades.

My it's been a long time....

2008-04-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Time is just flying by.... What has been happening in class?

6th grade is working on Egyptian parodies ( mimicing the style of an artist or culture to make a joke) by putting a modern subject in an Egyptian setting. Egyptians had very strict rules of art, which is why we can recognise the art so readily as Egyptian. They must choose five of the ten rules we studied in class, to make their parodies . It's interesting to see what they find funny.

7th grade is working on proportions of the face in self-portraits. They took a test to see what style of art their own art preferences was closest to, and are creating self-portraits in that particular style of art. Some styles, like surrealism, may only show a small portion of their face and use symbols to tell the rest of the story. But all of them will reflect some statement or aspect about themselves. Students are choosing from Realism, Impressionism, NeoClassicism, Romanticism, Cubism, Post-Impresssionism, Expressionism and Surrealism.

Sculpture Classes are working on paper mache sculptures. By building an armature first, they give substance to the sculpture that will hold up the flimsy paper mache. By layering it many times, they give strength to their sculptures. They are working with action in their projects, as action gives interest to a sculpture and makes us look a bit longer to figure out what is happening.

ABC 6th grade have finished self-portrait pencil drawings and are working on learning to weave.

ABC 7th grade have finished their drawings and paintings and are reading to start individual contracted projects, in preparation for next year's independence in art.

ABC 8th grade continue to work on individual projects, but are also doing some group work with two wall murals going up in the art wing and repainting a display table for the art show, as well as several of the table legs on the desks in the art room. All of this work will stay at the school.

Guest Blogger:Sabrina

2008-02-12T06:24:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy doing art. At school it is my favorie special(subject) to do. In art class I enjoy drawing and doing free art. When we do free art I like to draw and make things. I thought making clay pots was really nice. After we made them they were put in the kiln and we glazed the peices. Also I thought narrative art was really fun.

Guest Blogger: Sara

2008-02-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

What we are doing in art right now is finishing up working on clay. When we paint it we use this stuff called glaze. It is the same thing as paint almost but when we put it on our sculputers the color that comes out is different than how it will look when we are done. It is really fun. We jusst finished our Mesopotamia unit and we are about to go on to Egypt. It shuld be fun!

Do you need hands to paint? Not when you have toes...

2008-02-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

Here Phil uses jeans to paint on, and toes to paint with. Don't let limitations stop you from making art. Anything is possible.

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1897311

OK, Phil's videos are great. Candy art for valentines day!

2008-02-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?ei=UTF-8&gid=106835&vid=1872362&b=1

Phil Hanson- watch how he makes his art

2008-02-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

This artist makes art that is conceptual. You need to think about it to understand what he is trying to get across. You can see it on two levels. One is just the picture or portrait that he is drawing. The other is to look at what he is working with for materials. Why did he choose those materials and not others? Who is this person, and how do the materials relate to who that person is and what they do in their lives? Each is carefully selected to make a point.
For ex. Mother Teresa is often refered to as a light in the dark, one who is beautiful and gentle and kind in her work with the homeless and the sick. He makes her portrait out of dandelions which are yellow and could mean light, are beautiful to look at and what could be more gentle than a flower. Compare that to the portrait of a fire fighter, burned into wood that is constructed to look like the framework of a house or the picture of a homeless man painted by walking all over the picture, his feet leaving the paint that creates the portrait.

Scroll down each picture to see what he was trying to say about each piece of art, and to see the video of how it was made.

http://philinthecircle.com/daudi.html

Miss Ropple's Identity class from last term

2008-02-06T13:02:00.001-08:00

The kiln is fixed. Your clay is fired. Please come after school and finish your projects.

New Term Sculpture Students

2008-02-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

Please bring in a metal coat hanger and a knee-high nylon stocking for a future project.

Last Term Clay Students

2008-02-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

Your clay has been fired. Please see Mrs. Davis about staying after (or some other arrangement) to glaze your work!

McDonald's French Fry Paintings

2008-01-31T10:28:00.001-08:00

Ever wonder how much oil there is in McDonald's French Fries? Here's a video that shows an artist using french fries to blend his drawings and create values in his art.

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1790948

More Choices for 7th graders

2008-01-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

"I dreamed that I was Flying" is the theme of the 7th grade expressionist paintings. Students have been studying moods, color and painting techniques for the past few weeks. Now they need to make their choices for their Expressionist paintings.

They must choose:

What expression of flying do you want to portray?

What mood do you want to show?

What color scheme will best show that mood?

What type of line quality will express that mood the best?

Students will be working with tempera paint, concentrating on mixing the exact colors they feel will express their painting and using the best brush for the line quality they wish to express it with.

It's all about Choices!

2008-01-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

I often ask my students to brainstorm before a project. There are so many things they can create, but they first need to think of them. I find that most students go with the first idea that comes to their minds. And that idea is often one that they've seen before or is a classic symbol of what I've asked them to think about, like love = hearts. But by brainstorming as a class, we make a list of hundreds of variations on an idea and this gives the students choices.

For instance, the 7th grade is now doing paintings on the theme: I dreamed that I could fly. What does flying mean? Most often I get responses such as birds, airplanes, wings and spaceships. But with group brainstorming, we came up with kites, being shot from a cannon, jet packs, red bull has wings, floating like a snowflake, meditative flying, flying on a magic carpet, flying in a dream, air balloons, aliens, flying high as a mood, swimming as flying through water, flying on rollar skates or ice skates, flying into someone, flying as a butterfly or a dragonfly or a fly....

By looking beyond your first idea, artists can find new meanings in old themes, expand on a personal interest, look for double meanings in a word or image, surprise the viewer, give a subject more complication and delight the viewer with new interpretations. Making good art is all about choices. Taking the time to make those choices makes all the difference in your art.

Lines in Art

2008-01-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

Did you know that lines in art can make you feel a certain way? Artists know this, and choose their lines carefully. Vertical lines are very orderly and rule based. They make you feel safe and organized. Horizontal lines are quiet and peaceful. They make you feel calm and sleepy. Diagonal lines are active lines. They show excitement and draw your eye right to them.

Mondrian was very concerned with how his lines were used. In this picture, Rhythm of Lines, he uses vertical and horizontal lines to create peaceful harmony in his picture. Your eyes follow the lines up and down and back and forth across the picture as if you were following roads through a city.

Because there are no major surprises, the regular patterns it creates are pleasing. How would it be different if one of the lines suddenly bent? Would it draw your eye to it? Would it interupt the pattern of following the lines around the artwork? How would it be different if there were no horizontals at all? No verticals?

Lines do make a difference.

Message from Ms. Ropple

2008-01-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

It seems I have too much technology to play with these days and find that I am posting the same information in several places -- on the ParkerArt web pages, Edline, and PTO Newsletter, and here. For the remainder of the year, info will be organized a bit differently. Current project descriptions and homework deadlines will be posted under the Assignments section of students' Edline class pages to keep parents informed of what's going on. Photos will be added to the ParkerArt class pages and lined to edline as often as possible.

Art Studio 6 Update

2008-01-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks we have been making quilts. We've made collages with fabric and sew it to a backing. It is really fun. A lot of us learned how to sew. I can't wait to finish the quilt.

JS

Narrative Art: Art that tells a story

2008-01-22T06:47:00.000-08:00

The sixth graders are working on NARRATIVE ART, art that tells a story. How do you tell a story without words? We need to consider the same things that a story does. Who is the main character? How do we know that? Where are they? Who is the antagonist? How do we know that? What is the action happening in the story? What do you think is going to happen next? How can you tell that?

Reading a picture is called VISUAL LITERACY. The artist must leave enough clues in the picture so that the reader can figure out the story. If he artist isn't clear on what is happening and in what order, the reader will be unclear as well.

Look at this picture of the three little pigs. How do we know the pigs are the main characters. See how they are right in the center of the picture? They are painted a bright color and they are walking, so they have an action to them that draws your eye to that spot. Where are they? We can see trees and grass and a river and a bridge, so we conclude that they are walking through the countryside. Who is the antagonist? The wolf. How do we know? He seems to be hiding behind a tree. What is he doing? He is trying to get some food. How is that going. Poorly. He must be the bad guy because the worms are cutting his fishing line and the fish are hopping out of the frying pan. What is the action here? He is looking at the pigs and licking his chops. We assume since he is hungry, that he sees the pigs as a much better and bigger meal than the tiny fish trying to hop out of his pan.

All this information is in the picture. What can you do to make your pictures read like a story?

A new kind of illustrated novel: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

2008-01-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

The invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is a new kind of novel, at least one I haven't seen before. The author/illustrator writes and draws this book as the mood strikes him (at least that is what I've been told) so that when he thinks it is more appropriate to show a scene in images, he draws the story and when he thinks it is more appropriate to use words, he writes it. Thus the book starts with 21 double spreads of the most stunning pencil illustrations, then breaks into words as the story continues. Throughout the book we see movie stills, pencil illustrations and photos in black and white, making this a 524 page book that you can easily read in an afternoon.

I find this book fascinating as I am teaching narrative art (art that tells a story) and visual literacy (reading a painting) in my classroom right now. Here is an example of "reading" a picture in a more literal way. Not only can we read the clues that an artist puts into his/her work, but we can read the story as it continues through each picture and see the subtle changes as the action/plot changes. I find this type of novel very exciting!

Graphic Novels- American Born Chinese

2008-01-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Graphic novels aren't new. They'be been around for over 25 years. But they've been primarily in the sci-fi adult world. Now graphic novels have reached down to the young adult and middle grade crowds, giving them age appropriate books with a stunning visual compliment.

Graphic novels aren't exactly comics or novels, though they do tell an entire novel in a comic form. Pictures and text are so related, that people used to just reading have to slow down with graphic novels, in order to get all the infomation in the pictures as well as the words.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen is a story in three parts. The first part relates a Chinese traditional story about the king of the monkeys wanting to be other than who he really is. The second section is about a Chinese-American boy trying to fit into an all white suburbian school. And the third section ties the first two story threads together with the theme of fitting into your own skin and accepting and liking who you are.

Through the illustrations we see the emotions of the characters, the changes in how they are thinking and their reactions to situations, all without words. Through the words, we understand the plot, the themes and details of the story.
Graphic novels aren't for everyone. But they are a quick read with all the joys of reading a traditional novel, in less time.

Guest Blogger: Arianna

2008-01-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

What I like most about art is drawing. My whole family thinks I'm a fantastic drawer. My mother even wants me to make her a book of all my drawings that I can think of. I also like clay , model making, and every kind of art especially drawing.That is what I like about art.

Guest Blogger: Travis

2008-01-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

Chrismas Tree

In art class the best days are when you can make what ever you want. Today I made a chrimas tree. My tree has two ornamants. One is fancy, and one is not. Those are the best days in art.

Happy 2008!

2008-01-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

I love new years. It's like a new beginning to get something right. It's a chance to do over what didn't go right before. The new year gives me energy to try new things and finish all the old things that I had put aside. This year my goal is to make more projects for myself. I always make things to give away as gifts. But I've got a large piece of rock in my office just waiting to be carved, and a square of clay under my desk that is dying to be pulled out and shaped. Take time to make something for yourself. Something not for an assignment, or a gift, or from a kit. Make something from the heart. Believe me, you'll be thankful later. It feels so good to make something just for yourself.

Gurest Blogger- Kevin

2007-12-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

I like art. Clay is my favorite type of art because its more fun. My favorite project was my texture pot because it had nice texture. I don't think art would be as much fun with out Mrs. Davis. Art is my favorite subject in school and I look forward to it every otherday. I also like painting my clay sculptures.

Guest Blogger- Hayden

2007-12-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

I like to make clay things and when I make clay things I usually like to make pots. I like to make pots that you can use at home, such as pots that you can put money or pencils or other things. My favorite pot that I used was when I made it last year. I took a giant brick of clay and then I hollowed it out, and made a lid that had a little hole in the top so that I could put money in it. Other things that I like to make are sculptures, but overall my favorite things to make would be anything that you can use.

Guest Blogger-- Sam

2007-12-21T05:15:00.000-08:00

I have always loved art. The type of art I love the most is sculpting. Making shapes and seeing that I have created them gives me the best feeling. Some day I hope to build a life size model of an action hero and keep it forever.

Guest Blogger- Nick

2007-12-21T05:07:00.000-08:00

I just finished making my "lazy" cow. He is an abstract work of art. I think he is abstract because to paint him, I used all different shades of blue.

Happy Holiday Break Everyone!

2007-12-21T04:42:00.000-08:00

Finally able to post some pictures....8th grade art

2007-12-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

There is more to making Art....

2007-12-19T09:35:00.001-08:00

http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/~TriciaFuglestad/VisualArt/page14/page15/page26/page26.html

According to Tricia Fuglestad's art class....

There's more to making art than just pleasing your eyes

here is the place whre we learn skills for our lives

stratagise, compromise, plan and visualize

integrate, concentrate, learn to relate

exposed to cultures and eras in history

we're trained to be thinkers with visual literacy

we fine tune our motor skills while growing in self-esteme

we follow directions and understand sequencing

in ART.

New Art Materials? Cool, but now what?

2007-12-18T11:12:00.000-08:00

For me, holidays meant new art materials. But sometimes I'd be so excited about using the materials, I couldn't think of what to draw. Here are some ideas for when you get stuck:

Worm's eye view: get down on the ground and draw things while looking up.

Design a new bedroom. If I had a million dollars, what would I do?

How about a mural? Would your parents let you paint one on your bedroom wall? What about on a huge piece of paper instead?

Try your hand at one point perspective. http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/

Draw your hand. You can imagine it holding all sorts of shapes: a glass, a pen, an invisible dollar.... What do hands look like in American Sign Language shapes? Hands can keep you busy for days...

Texturize it. Look carefully at the textures of everything around you. How is the floor texturized? Does it have a rug on it? Is it shag or tightly woven? Is it embroidered? Is the floor wood? Is it Linoleum? Look at the couch. Is it cloth or leather? Tightly wrapped around the frame or stuffed? Fluffy or smooth? Look at the chairs, the tables, the bookstand. Everything has textures. How can you show those on paper?

Mirror, mirror: put things in front of a mirror and try drawing them and their reflection. Look at the reflections in things like a toaster, a frying pan, a pool of water...

Blow up an image. Make a giant drawing of a candy bar, or a piece of jewelry, or a toothbrush. How does it feel different when you look at it large? Blow it up another way. Imagine someone pumped up a toothbrush with air, or an apple or a notebook. What would an inflated leaf look like, or a fork or a computer?

On a Snowy Weekend....make ART!

2007-12-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Don't let a snowed in weekend get you down. Try some fun art activities.

Check out Portrait Detectives from East Liverpool Museums: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/nof/portraits/

Make a sculpture and play games at Smithsonian for Kids:

http://www.si.edu/kids/

Make snowflakes by going to Snowflake Patterns for kids and fight back the weather with your own snowflakes:

http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/dstredulinsky/kids_patterns.html

The Artful Teapot- Sculpture Class

2007-12-12T06:06:00.000-08:00

Students are working on artful teapots. They will choose a form of clay manipulation (pinch, coil or slab) that works best with the design of their pots. They will be working with some new clay concepts: handles, spouts and lids; and will be designing a teapot that doesn't look like a traditional teapot. It may be different in shape (maybe it looks like a hershey's kiss or a kitten), in texture (it may look as if it is made of wood or leather), or in color (it may have a full portrait painting on the outside or an elaborate design painted in undercolors).

Each student will make a matching cup, and we will have a tea party with our pots and cups on the last day of class.

In past years we've had teapots shaped as presents, dragons, pigs, candy, money and houses. I look forward to seeing this year's selections.

Fun Stuff for free time.... Making interactive art

2007-12-12T05:12:00.000-08:00

The ARTIST'S TOOLKIT:

lots of fast cool games based around art concepts, but done in fun ways such as a shooting arcade or videos of artists making their art. Worth checking out!

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/

Inside Art- help! I got sucked into a painting....

2007-12-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. I tried to focus on the wall of paintings in front of me. My feet were killing me. I'd rather be anywhere—outside, playing with my friends, even brushing my teeth—anywhere but this art museum. Then I heard a strange sound behind me...

http://www.eduweb.com/insideart/ Great Fun!

Utilitarian Objects- 6th grade clay projects

2007-12-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

Utility means useful. You've heard of a utility knife, or a utility shed? These are useful items because of their versitility. Utilitarian means useful as well. Utilitarian art is art that has a useful purpose, such as a box, mug, pot, vase, etc. These art items can be highly decorated, but ultimately they are useful. As we look back through history, we see that even cave artists made their utilitarian items beautiful by carving or painting on them.

Non-Utilitarian art means art that is meant to be looked at aestetically, art that is pretty on the walls or nice to look at as a sculpture. Non-Utilitarian art is decorative. It can move you emotionally or spur you into action through depicting social themes, but it has no physical use other than as something to look at.

Sixth grade students have been working on clay manipulation, learning how to change clay into objects by using pinch, coil and slab for construction methods. They are presently working on a Utilitarian object that is decorated with relief and incised artwork. Some are making mugs, bowls or plates. But all the objects have both a useful purpose and a beautiful design to them.

Expressionism- 7th grade study on styles

2007-12-11T05:15:00.000-08:00

Expressionists distort or change an image to express the emotions of the artist.

Throughout history, people have distorted images to show emotions. Medieval artists exaggerated faces to show deep religious feelings. Mesopotamian artists made kings larger and more powerful looking than the rest of the populace. Famous speakers are shown looming above the crowds. But expressing emotions did not become a international style until the early 1900's. Starting in Germany, artists began focusing on their feelings and emotions rather than what the world looked like. They exaggerated, left out, extended, colored and erased parts of their drawings in order to push the emotional response to the image.

Did it work? Do we care about these emotions the artists tried to show? How many of you recognise the emotions in "The Scream" ?

7th grade students are experimenting with showing emotions through their art. How do line, shapes, texture and colors effect emotions?

Splatter Painting

2007-12-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

Who doesn't like to splatter paint? This site allows you to experiment in a Jackson Pollock-like way. Have fun splotching, splattering, dripping and spillling your way into art.

Cool Online Drawing/Painting program

2007-12-06T09:26:00.001-08:00

http://artpad.art.com/artpad/painter/

Use a virtual pencil, brush, spraycan, etc. to do your drawings and paintings. Watch a replay of your own drawing skills and hang your work in the gallery. Or watch other artists paint and see how they make those great pictures.

One of the better, simple drawing sites. Lots of fun.

Fun Art Detective Game

2007-12-04T07:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.eduweb.com/pintura/

The Case of Grandpa's Painting....

Photo Mosaic: a cousin of pointallism

2007-12-03T11:45:00.000-08:00

Robert Silvers invented a form of mosaic that could be called a cousin to pointallism. Each picture consists of hundreds of tiny photographs.

He starts with a picture, breaking it down in tiny pixals. He substitutes each pixal for a full photo which has the same value and color as the original pixal.

When viewed close up, Robert Silvers' pictures look like thousands of images. But when viewed from a distance, we see the images as colors, creating a larger overall picture. Just as Seurat relied on the viewer to blend his dots together with their mind's eye, Robert Silvers asks his viewers to blend the tiny photos together into one large image.

Guest blogger- Emily O'S.

2007-11-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today in class we were working on Post-Impressionism:pointilism. Although this is not my favorite media it is still fun. My favorite media is clay. I love to make stuff totally your own and hold it, paint it and use it. When I'm not doing clay I'm usually drawing. I love drawing shadows on different flowers . A lot of people on my team have my drawing personalized.

Check out some great color fun!

2007-11-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

labs.ideeinc.com/multicolour

Guest Blogger: David

2007-11-29T09:03:00.000-08:00

When I think of art I see clay and large statues like the Thinker. Also clay is my favorite thing to use in art. Thanks to Parker, I can have one of my favorite things for a period of time and it gives me an Idea of what to make and having a criteria gives me that reason. With out the criteria I wouldnt be able to go into my artistic self. Without it I would draw randomly and not learn how to use multiple art styles and make myself a better artist. That is what art means to me.

Guest Blogger - Kevin O.

2007-11-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

The project that I just finished was one of my favorite ones. It was a texture scupture of a bear that is cornered. It was a large bear that has matted hair and against a stone wall. It had three textures: the matted hair, the floor were it's standing and the stone wall behind it . This project describes me the most because the only time I'll ever fight back is if it's my only option.Another project that I worked on is two arches overlaping each other and a pillar in the center. It has two diffrent textures with lines on the arches and jagged holes in the bottom .

Paste Paper Bookmaking 7th Grade

2007-11-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

Paste papers are decorated papers with stamped, scraped, dribbled or drawn into textures. These were used by Colonial America as endpapers in books, as a way of simulating the marbled papers of old Europe.
Students in 7th grade Art Studio made paste papers today by mixing art paste with tempera paint. We wet the paper to make the fibers more accepting to the color, then painted this colored mixture onto the paper. We made desgins by scraping and dragging textures through the paint.
Students will use them for endpapers on the books we make and for designs on covers or for bookmarks.

The Festival of Trees- Arts Alive 6th grade

2007-11-26T11:43:00.000-08:00

We have been asked to represent our school by producing a tree for the Festival of Trees this coming Saturday. Students in the 6th grade arts alive classes are working together to create a book theme. They are looking up their favorite childrens books on the internet, and copying the covers of these books onto book ornaments. Inside they are letting the reader know why they think this book is great!

They will also be making bookmarks for the tree, decorated with marbled papers and splatter paints. We are looking for donations of childrens books to add to the tree itself, or to place under it. We will be adding a gift certificate to a local bookstore as the centerpoint of the tree.

See you at the festival on Saturday!

Post--Impressionism: Seurat-- 7th grade

2007-11-26T04:44:00.000-08:00

Impressionists focused on light and color. But what are Post-Impressionists? They came after the Impressionists anso must be different. But so many of these artists are listed as both. How do they differ?

It's true. The connection between them is strong. Most of the Post-Impressionists were friends with the Impressionists, and like them, loved to play with light and color. The difference is that they thought the Impressionists didn't go far enough. Impressionists were concerned with capturing the moment, looking at reality and interpreting it in terms of the lights and darks. Post-Impressionists went one step farther.

Each of the Post-Impressionists had a different take on where they wanted to go with their art. George Seurat took light and color in a scientific direction. He looked at the latest research that examined how light was reflected or absorbed by a particular color. He combined that information with how the eye sees. He layed dots of different colors next to another, so that the human eye combines them to create a mixture of the colors. Thus, to make a green, he would place a yellow dot next to a blue dot. He still adhered to the Impressionist style of painting with complimentary colors and emphasising lights and shadows, but he did so in a controlled way. He planned his paintings carefully, working out a theme rather than drawing just what he saw. As a result, Seurat's paintings tend to look stiff and calculated, rather than as a glance or an impression.

Students are working on creating a Seurat style scientific drawing by painting with points of color.

just for fun: http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/~TriciaFuglestad/VisualArt/flashmovies/whatsthepoint.swf

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2007-11-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

Have a great day!

What is an armature?

2007-11-20T10:48:00.000-08:00

An armature is a structure that holds up a sculpture. Some materials will not hold up by themselves. Paper mache is too wet and shapeless to stand alone. It needs to be wrapped around a form (balloon, wire, face or junk sculpture) in order to take on that shape. The 6th Grade Arts Alive class used armatures of bent wire when making their people sculptures. They shaped wire to reproduce gesture drawings of classmates who posed for them. After contructing the armature, they thickened it by wrapping the wire with newspaper, and then paper macheing over the newspaper for a strong finishing layer. Students gave their characters clothing, props and scenery to further the story and to create strong personalities in their art.

Guest Blogger: Tyler S.

2007-11-20T09:47:00.001-08:00

6th grade arts alive is really fun!!!!! We are currently working on paper mache people. I think this is the best project we have done so far. It's fun dressing up the people that we have created. I can't wait to start our next project this year!!!!!!!!

Guest blogger -Micaela K.

2007-11-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

Eighth grade art has been wonderful. I look forward going to clay and sculpture every other day. the projects that we're doing help me understand art, and how I interpret art. But clay is not the only type of art the interests me. I love photography. I don't know much about photography other than the many photos I have taken. I enjoy scenes that aren't caught from the naked eye. anything to do with nature, or the sky interest me, which helps me in science. I feel that abstract art is a lot easier to explain. But often times it is the hardest form of art to understand. That's why photography interests me so much. No matter what I'm taking a picture of it is real. No matter how abstract it looks. That way people can understand it, while I can explain it. The time spent in clay and sculpture is probably the best time used during my day. I am more productive in this class then any other class I study. This is also a problem, but I can fix it. Mrs. Davis is an extraordinary teacher, and I look forward to the rest of the year and the rest of my art life. YAY.

Guest Blogger-Julianna W.

2007-11-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Art is something that has always been important to me. I try to incorporate it in my daily life but, with sports, homework, and other out of school activities, it's hard to find time. Thats why I was thrilled to enter the 8 th grade and find clay sculpture as a choice. Over the summer I crossed my fingers to get in and when I did I was thrilled! I knew little to nothing about clay sculpture but I entered with an open mind and love for art and it took off from there. We started with basic pinch and coil pots,with a lot of direction and little free thought. Now, however, I am on my sixth project and each one has a special meaning to me, all unique and straight from my brain. I always look forward to clay sculpture after a long and grueling test or class period, its like entering a world outside of school were it's okay to be yourself and express that in any way you wish. All in all clay sculpture is a very important part in my life.

Guest Blogger- Julie G.

2007-11-20T07:06:00.000-08:00

Art is really fun. My favorite thing to do is clay. My favorite project yet was a bowl that I did made of clay leaves. I had to cut out leaves and then slip and score them together. When it dryed and got fired I painted it with all fall colors. I used brown,yellow,and orange. Now after it got fired for a second time it looks like real leaves becuase there is some black color in the brown and it spread to other leaves so it looks really realistic.

Gesture Drawings

2007-11-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

A gesture drawing is similar to a gesture itself. It is made up of short, fast lines that show movement. Often students focus on details in a drawing, losing the spontaneity and excitement of their original sketch. A gesture drawing captures the movement and excitement to use as either an underdrawing, or as a reference point for their final drawing.

We practice gesture drawings to focus students on movement rather than details. We encourage them to draw quickly, with feeling rather than accuracy. They must capture the action of the model within one minute, thirty seconds and fifteen second drawings. The kids enjoy being a model as they stand on the tables and try to hold a pose for a specific length of time. They love switching poses from a basketball star to a disco dancer to a person in a tug of war game.

7th Grade Art Studio--Bookmaking

2007-11-16T10:36:00.000-08:00

The Seventh Grade art studio classes are designed as mini courses. This semester we are teaching Bookmaking and Idenities. In Bookmaking, we are starting with Accordion books. We began with a tiny version, 1 inch by 1 inch, made from an accordion shade and two covers made of tag board on the ends. We also began work on larger triangular or rectangular acordian books. The wonderful thing about these books, is that they can be read in two directions. Like a flip book, you read all the pages on one side, flip the book around and read in the other direction. There is no sewing involved, and so they are quick and easy to make. Add some specialty paper and you've got some stunning artwork, just in the books alone.

ART-ICULATION

2007-11-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

Check out this awesome 40 second video on why art is important in our schools.

http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/~TriciaFuglestad/VisualArt/page14/page15/page26/page26.html

CLAY! CLAY! CLAY!

2007-11-15T12:03:00.001-08:00

Our sixth grade students are finally working with clay. After watching all the wonderful things coming out of the 8th grade clay classes and the abc art classes, they are dying to get their hands in the stuff.

We are starting our Mesopotamian unit with a quick history of the area. Why is clay so important? What do they use it for? How is the beginning of writing connected to clay?

And they are focusing on the question, does where you live effect how you make your art? Clay was readily available in Mesopotamia, and it made a profound effect on all aspects of their lives.

We are looking at the beginning of writing. How do you keep track of trading animals without a formal writing system? You keep a record of it by drawing in clay. We are looking at how Mesopotamians kept records and how that led to writing. We are looking at how they made signatures with clay cylinders and stamps and are making stamps of our own to sign our pottery and sculpture.

Guest Blogger- Tristian B. (Arts Alive)

2007-11-15T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hello my name is Tristan. In arts alive we are working on making people with metal wire, paper mache , then painting them, and putting clothes on them. At the end it will turn out to look like a real person. I picked arts alive because I like to make things , color, andwork with clay. I like it because we get to do all the things I like to do.

Guest Blogger- Isabella G. (Arts Alive)

2007-11-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

I love art but I think my favorite thing is to work with clay. I have never worked with it before, but it is what I want to do most. The project I'm working on now has been my favorite ever. I love art because I like to work with my hands. That is why art is my favorite period of the day.

7th grade Impressionism

2007-11-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

7th grade students are learning about a radical art style from the 1860's called Impressionism. Artists had the gall to go outside and paint, focusing on light and how it effects color rather than what things actually looked like. No wonder the museums in Paris refused to display their art. Such radical ideas should be ignored, and surely they will disappear...

But Impressionism is one of the most favorite art styles around the world today. By capturing a moment in time, Impressionist artists don't focus on minute details. Instead they capture a broad idea and let your mind's eye fill in the rest of the picture. They ask the viewer to look at the picture with wonder, to notice how reflections dance across a surface or how color changes depending on the time of day.

A way to remember Impressionism and what they cared about, is to remember the word ELBOW.

E- Everyday subjects. This was new as people tended to paint heroic ideals, religious paintings, paintings of rich patrons...not kids on a beach or people at a picnic.

L- Light was the most important element they looked at. How does light change colors? How does your eye mix colors so that we see the combination of them. How do complimentary colors work in shadows as as highlights of light?

B- Brushstrokes. Impressionists used short undefined brushstrokes to give an impression of color, shadow or highlights. Brushstrokes and blending of colors all one into another are two aspects of Impressionism that make it so unique.

O- Outdoor painting was unheard of. But with the invention of paint in tubes, artists were able to paint for long periods without their paint drying up.

W- Water was wonderful. It cast reflections, it was see-through, it floated things on it's surface. And with the newly invented inexpensive blue colors and orange in a tube, painting water was much easier than ever before.

Our seventh grade is working with oil pastels to capture the lights and darks in a fall still-life. By shining a bright light on the still-life, it gives the leaves and pumpkins a very dramatic effect.

Clarification of 8th grade sculpture/clay elective

2007-11-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

I teach clay in the fall and sculpture in the Spring. Those students presently in my clay class will continue working with clay through the second term until January. Those coming into my art elective in the Spring will be taking two semesters of sculpture, working in a variety of materials.

The first project of the second term is to create a self-portrait in metaphor. Students will brainstorm, listing a variety of traits that represent them, such as strength, honesty and loyalty. They will seek out metaphors that use these traits and create a self-portrait by building a sculpture that visualizes the metaphor.

For example: They might want to talk about how strong they are. Perhaps they are as strong as a mountain, standing strong against a storm. How would they show this in clay? These sculptures usually come out amazingly well and show great insight into their personalities.

8th grade Art Studio

2007-10-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

Eighth grade art studio is a time to find out about yourself as an artist. Students are working on a year long slideshow that includes their work and their thoughts about what they like in other artwork. By examining their own work in a critical way and by looking at what they admire in works of others, in specific materials and in what artists have to say, they discover more about themselves as an artist.

Most of the students have chosen to work in clay this term, although we also have life size drawings of sports figures, popcycle stick cities, murals, collages and drawing studies in progress as well.

Before beginning their art, each student must think carefully about why they want to make their work, answering questions such as:
What is the theme of your work?
How is it different than any other work you have done?
Why is this valuable for you to do?

Upon completion, students must do a self critique, considering the following questions:
Describe: Wht did you create? Did the project stay close to the original plan or did it eveolve into something else. What elements did you use in it and where?

Analyze: Is the composition good? What art elements and principles ae working the hardest in your piece to express your idea?

Interpret: What meaning does your project have for you? What do you want the viewer to see in it?

Judge: What parts of the project are most successful and why? Are there any parts that you wish you did differently? Explain.