Footprints in the Hall

If you see a few white footprints on art day, they are coming from the art room. Kindergarten has made medallions and hungry caterpillers that are waiting to be fired. First grade is finishing up their clay frogs. Some are on lilypads. Second graders are making a person doing something fun. Do you wonder what they will be doing? Many are playing sports, but others are holding pets or babies. Third graders are finishing their coil bowls and adding animal features. Fourth graders are making clay face vases. Most are working on noses and eyes and are ready to add mouths and details. Former students tell me how precious these clay items are to them. They give them to moms, dads, and grandparents. Grandmothers and moms have told how they keep them in prominent places even after the child has graduated from college, because the work is so special to them and the child. Creating is a form of play and also a way to keep an element of their lives for the years to come.

Third Grade is Blooming--Georgia O'Keefe We Love Your Style

We are drawing large flowers from photos and using tints and shades to paint them. The goal is to learn to use gradations of paint to create lights and shadows, as we did with the pastels in our still lifes to make them look three dimensional, not flat.

Fourth Grade Paints Chuck Close Style

Fourth graders are painting self-portraits by enlarging their photographs from 1 inch squares to three inch squares. They are using tempera paint to paint at least three tints on their faces. We paint the background first, then paint forward to the front. I can identify many from their drawings. Great job fourth graders! These are unfinished portraits.

Third Grade Shades Their Fruit

Students viewed a photo of a bowl of fruit that was arranged in the classroom. From that we drew the still life and learned how to shade from light to dark and blend colors to create shades and tints. Great job third graders!

Pop Up First Grade!

First grade students learned how to create animal or elf pop-up cards. Look at all the ideas they had.

Kindergarten Texture Cats

Kitties are all around with fur on their backs. Students have used small brushes and watercolor paint to create visual texture.

Back to Art

Play dough art is happening in kindergarten. When we follow the procedures, we get to play with play dough. We are learning how to pass pencils, write our names and class codes on top, and how to stack papers at the end of class. We will be identifying and creating lines, shapes, and eventually using paint to create these lines and shapes.

First grade is making sketchbooks and reviewing lines and shapes.

American Art takes a front seat this year! Four artists from a particular time period are featured at each table.

Second and third grades are viewing and drawing an art work from the table label at their table. Fourth graders are making an art "cootie catcher" that features questions about the artwork at their table. They will glue four art pictures on the cootie catcher, write a question about each one, then provide the answer.

Do you know why Dolly Madison was still in the White House when the British were burning down Washington, DC? It has to to with art.

More HARA pictures

Exhibitors are Savannah Weston, Lilly Brodbelt, and Elizabeth Hostetler.

Heartland Artist Art Exhibit Celebrates Youth Art Month

Over 125 students exhibited their artwork in downtown Plymouth as the line snaked out the door on Friday evening, March 12th. Parents, grandparents, teachers, and friends enjoyed the work that students from Plymouth Elementaries and St. Michael's Elementary had created this year. Work varied from Egyptian portraits, violin performers, and Abraham Lincoln to 3D creations.
Youth Art Month is a national event to celebrate visual art and its benefits for youth in our schools.

"Well-developed programs of making and studying art serve many functions. They help students better articulate their perceptions and shape coherent responses to their experiences. When children learn to appreciate form and color...when they learn the importance of fashioning their own images of the world around them, they achieve greater discipline and self confidence. Further, the arts have extrinsic public value as they are increasingly important to this nation's economy."
Council for Art Education

Congratulations to the students and their families!

Heartland Artist Student Exhibit in March

March is Youth Art Month. To celebrate there will be an exhibit of art works from the Plymouth Elementary Schools beginning March 10th. An open house will be Friday, March 12th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the art gallery located at 203 North Michigan Street.

The hours are Wednesday thru Friday, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Wednesday thru Friday, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday, 9:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m.

Congratulations to all the winning artists!

Clay Days

Clay is all around in February. Kindergarten students listened to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, rolled coils from clay, and created texture to make their own caterpillars. After they are fired, they will glaze them.

First grade will begin making frogs after painting their portraits of George Washington.

Second grade is making people doing fun activities. Some people are reading, some are snowboarding, and some are throwing footballs.

Third grade is making coil bowls that are being transformed into animals.

Fourth grade drew self-portraits and are using the slab method to create clay face vases.

January Art

Kindergarten students made Chameleons on a Sock, Monsters in the Closet, and Wild Things.
First grade students made Patterned Hippos and Egyptian Broad Collars with a jewel and glitter glue.
Second graders are making 3D masks with paper.
Third grade is finishing "My Passion", writing stories about art prints, and making flexagons.
Fourth grade added a border to their design project, are drawing faces, and will begin making clay face vases.

Building Construction and 4th Grade Murals

Second grade students are finishing their symmetrical buildings. They had to draw one half of the building, then transfer the lines to the other half. After coloring one side the other side was to be the same, but flipped to make it symmetrical.

Murals are coming to a completion in several groups. The two murals that are featured are Diego Rivera's Flower Carrier and a lion from the Ishtar Gate at Babylon in present day Iraq. Each group had to enlarge and paint 3-4 squares.

Art from Other Cultures

Here is a drawing of a Native American basket. Notice that the design is set on the diagonal.

On the top is a representation of Adire Cloth. It is made using stamps to print wax on fabric. The fabric is then dipped in dye. This process can be repeated several times. After it has dried, the wax is removed.

Paint Connections

4th Grade Murals

Asian Dragon

We are beginning to get out the paint. Some current projects are:
Kindergarten--Designing a plate with a pattern, creating texture with crayon and watercolor paint on Beautiful Numbers.
First grade-- Using lines, shapes, and patterns to create name designs, watercolor painting on lines and the names, and drawing a sea monster with a seascape behind him.
Second grade--Drawing pictures from an art culture. Cutting out and categorizing geometric and organic shapes. They are currently designing a symmetrical building which will be colored with colored pencils.
Third grade--Drawing pictures from an art culture. Shading scales using graphite, colored pencils, and chalk pastels. They have begun drawing a still life from a photo and will be using chalk pastels to color and shade it.
Fourth grade--Drawing pictures from an art culture. We have worked to enlarge pictures using grids. Each table of students is working on enlarging an art picture on mural sized paper and has begun painting it with tempera paint. What a great way to remember art cultures from around the world.

Cultures for the Table Labels

Students are studying new cultures for the 2009-2010 year. They are African, Asian, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, Oceania, Native American, and South American art cultures.

The classes are creating the following:

Kindergarten--Self-portraits, patterns on plates
First grade--Drawing one item from the table label, a self-portrait, and making a sketchbook
Second grade--Drawing one item from the table label, making a sketchbook
Third grade--Drawing one item from the table label, presenting it to the class to teach about their culture label, and making a sketchbook
Fourth grade--Observational and contour drawing, learning how to enlarge using a graph, mixing colors and painting a mural from their culture

Arts Activities for the Summer

All the art exhibits are over, the projects are home, and you might wonder where to go this summer for art activities. Parents ask for ideas each year. Some are:

The World of King Tut--Visit this exhibit with strong emphasis on children's activities. The exhibit runs from June 27-October 25, 2009. The website is http://www.childrensmuseum.org/
The South Bend Museum of Art has summer events, art fairs, and children's art classes. Their website is http://www.sbrma.org/
Other art museums are:
Snite Museum of Art at Notre Dame features the largest collection of Olmec artifacts outside of Mexico. http://www.nd.edu/~sniteart/
Elkhart Museum of Art has a large collection of Norman Rockwell and several pieces of pottery my Maria Martinez famous for her blackware. http://midwestmuseum.us/
Plymouth has it's own Heartland Artist's Art Gallery at 203 N. Michigan Street. http://www.heartlandartists.org/ Their hours are Wednesday through Saturday12:00 Noon - 5:00 p.m.

Student Art Exhibit at Heartland Artists' Gallery

During the month of March students art work from Menominee, Washington, Webster, and Jefferson will be on exhibit at the Heartland Artists' Gallery downtown Plymouth (203 N. Michigan Street). Don't forget to look in the window, as some will be showcased there, also. The hours are Wednesday through Saturday, noon until 5 p.m.

Come see the great work of our students!

Syphony in Color

Several entries for Symphony in Color were sent to Indianapolis. The students listened to music that the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra have in their concert series this year. Then they painted art work to go with the music.

The Scream Dream

Third and fourth grades viewed "The Scream" by Edvard Munch and imagined what the person must be thinking. They created their own "Scream" telling what their fears are. Shown is artwork from three third graders.

The first person is afraid of tornadoes and especially bees. She was stung by a bee for the first time this year and it really hurt. The second girl is afraid of a variety of things including homework. The third work shows a fear of fire. Good job third graders.

Brush in the New Year

It is time to paint in the art room and several classes have already begun. This is what we will be doing in January:

Kindergarten will finish painting their ducks, Piddle, Puddle, Widdle, Waddle and Little Quack with water color. They are learning to make some walking, some flying, and some swimming. Next, some tie dye bugs will be invading the classroom as we dip Dippity Dye paper into food coloring. After we discuss what the primary colors create, we will begin using tempera paint to paint our favorite outdoor landscape scene.

First grade is drawing and painting a violin picture for the Symphony in Color contest held in Indianapolis. They are using and mixing their own colors with tempera paint. Learning how to hold a brush, clean the brush, and keep the paints clean are all part of the process. Students take turns cleaning tables and washing plates.

Second grade is at different stages. Some are finishing their 3-D playgrounds that they have designed, then on another paper will draw and paint it using water colors. We will then switch to tempera to learn how to paint a tree with branches and impressionistic leaves.

Third grade is finishing their shading scales showing how to use the side of the pencil lead to create light to dark shades on their papers. At Webster they drew a still life and used pastels to blend the colors on them. At Jefferson we have begun drawing a violin for our still life. After viewing some cubist paintings, we will paint our violins, cut them apart, and reassemble to create our own cubist art work. Webster will begin this soon.

Fourth grade is also participating in the Symphony in Color Contest by listening to "Meeting Scene" and "Cool Fugue" from West Side Story. We viewed photos from the movie and plays. We are using abstract to realism to draw a scene to match the music. We will use tempera to paint it.

Happy Painting to All!!!

December Art Projects

Kindergarten has finished painting their textured kitties with watercolor paint. First grade made 3D animal cards. The mouths open when you open the card. Some are adorned with feathers. Second grade is finishing their symmetrical buildings and 3D paper playgrounds. What great creations they have. Third grade is beginning their Symphony in Color artwork. They are drawing musical instruments. We are going to draw the violins, color them, cut them in slices and reassemble them. Fourth grade is beginning an abstract work to go with West Side Story "Meeting Scene" and "Cool', ' Fugue". We are going to demonstrate the contrasts between the slow and fast tempos of the two pieces.

Time Traveling Through Art

The fourth grade students are finishing murals from seven different art periods, prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek and Roman, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Modern Art, and Contemporary Art. Third grade drew artwork from each time period and presented them to their class. Do you recognize the murals?

Drawing through Time

Students are presenting their drawings from their "table label" to the class. Do you recognize them?

Gold Medal Art

The Olympics are almost over, but art from the ages is still in the running at the Plymouth Elementaries. Children in grades K-4 are learning the major Western art time periods from their "table labels". We are starting with the exciting discovery of the caves of Lascaux, France unveiled by four boys. Mesopotamia & Egypt art, Islamic art in Persia, Greek and Roman art, art from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Modern, and Contemporary art are other time periods to be "discovered" by our inquiring minds. We will truly be history and art detectives as we look at art from each period to see what they held important.
A great website to see on cave art is http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Happy sleuthing to you!

A Claymation Page

A Claymation page for the PRIDE claymations is http://www.plymouth.k12.in.us/claymation/index2.html It includes animations from last year, too. Good job.