October 2010 Art and Music Update
March Updates
Bubb
Ceramics, Self Portraits, Artist Studies, and Multicultural Lessons
This month students used the skills they learned during the first half of the year to explore a range of special topics in art class. They will each create something three dimensional out of clay, draw, paint or collage a self portrait, study a famous artist for inspiration to create their own work, and study the art of a different culture. The lessons are done in an order that makes sense to the specific classroom and school’s curriculum.
Kindergarten: Circus Theme
Kindergarten students explored the work of two artists that used circus themes -- Henri Matisse and Alexander Calder. Like the modern art sculptor, Alexander Calder, students first constructed wire circus performers. They used colorful, flexible chenille wires, bending and twisting those "straight lines" into playful acrobats. Poster-like circus backgrounds were painted with a high-gloss tempera medium to represent a trapeze and net. Then the wire figures were attached to this background and the work became a mixed media creation -- part 2D and part 3D.
First, Second and Third Grade: Works in Clay
First graders demonstrated beginning skill in the manipulation and use of sculptural clay and tools to create a clay penguin. Using their thumbs, fingers, palms and desk surface, they gently molded a cube of clay into a pear shape, carefully pinched out beak and feet, and used a tool to create surface details.
Students in second grade completed their value lessons and are beginning their two-dimensional clay slab lesson -- a fishbowl environment. After rolling a cube of clay into a slab using wood slats and rollers, students used a variety of clay tools to create lines, shapes and texture and then learned how to attach clay elements by scoring two surfaces. The fishbowl plaques will be kiln-fired and students will paint them with water color.
The third graders completed their clay lesson with an imaginative animal pinch pot, practicing their skill in the manipulation of sculptural clay and tools to model a 3 dimensional organic form. Students created hole in a ball of clay with their thumb by rotating the clay to increase the interior diameter until the walls of their bowl were evenly thick. They added animal features to their pot by shaping clay for heads, tails, wings, and feet and then they scored both surfaces to attach these to their pinch pot.
Following their clay lesson, third graders created masks inspired by the Fang masks of Gabon, Africa
Huff
Ceramics, Self Portraits, Artist Studies, and Multicultural Lessons
This month students used the skills they learned during the first half of the year to explore a range of special topics in art class. They will each create something three dimensional out of clay, draw, paint or collage a self portrait, study a famous artist for inspiration to create their own work, and study the art of a different culture. The lessons are done in an order that makes sense to the specific classroom and school’s curriculum.
Kindergarteners at Huff celebrated the Chinese New Year by creating their own colorful Chinese dragons. They first created contour line drawings of dragons and then covered them with tissue paper squares in warm colors (red, orange, and yellow) to give their dragon some fiery appeal.
First Graders learned the basics of painting with bamboo brushes. They looked at various examples of Asian brush painting and then tried their hand at making simple shapes and forms out of ink and water. They learned how to make animal and bamboo shapes using this traditional technique
Second Grade created paper Koi Fish Kites in celebration of Children's Day. We heard first hand about the fun holiday from our classmates that celebrate Children's Day!
Third Grade students created Ohlone Indian reed dolls as the Ohlone Indian children did, using reeds and raffia.
Fourth Graders created Mexican Milagros out of aluminum sheets. They embossed small symbols of things that they are thankful for and then cut them out. Finally they glued them onto a colorful background for safekeeping and beautiful display.
Fifth Graders are probably still seeing spots after working on their Australian Aboriginal art paintings. It was interesting to learn about Dreamtime folklore and art from Down Under!
Castro
Ceramics, Self Portraits, Artist Studies, and Multicultural Lessons
This month students used the skills they learned during the first half of the year to explore a range of special topics in art class. They will each create something three dimensional out of clay, draw, paint or collage a self portrait, study a famous artist for inspiration to create their own work, and study the art of a different culture. The lessons are done in an order that makes sense to the specific classroom and school’s curriculum.
Kindergarteners created African Masks. They studied the simple geometric shapes and symmetrical designs that make these masks so distinctive. They then created their own using oil pastels.
First grade looked at Indonesian Shadow Puppets for inspiration. They then created their own puppet-inspired art works, using moving lines and bright colors to decorate their intricate creations.
Second grade at Castro created Aboriginal drawings. They focused on what it would be like to live in the Outback with limited tools. They then created dot paintings of geckos using a similar tradition to the Australian Aboriginals.
Third grade students in rooms 6 and 7 explored radial design through weaving. Hand-made baskets from the Embera people of Panama were examined before students warped and wefted their very own yarn design on a paper plate. Third graders from rooms 5 and 9 created Cuna Indian Molas using cut paper. They studied actual examples of Mola designs and then created their own. Students learned about design symmetry and design as they created their colorful artworks.
Castro Fourth Graders in Room 15 created Mexican Milagros out of aluminum sheets. They embossed small symbols of things that they are thankful for and then cut them out. Finally they glued them onto a colorful background for safekeeping and beautiful display.
Fourth and fifth grade students in room 13, 14 and 16 studied multi-color block printing from Japan. Students created their own three-color print using a foam printing plate inscribed with increasingly complex designs inspired by nature and printing ink.
Fifth graders in Room 10 studied Australian Aboriginal drawings for their multicultural project. They then imitated the colorful dot-making process present in the aboriginal works in their own drawings, creating beautiful art works of either abstract of animal-based themes.
Landels
Ceramics, Self Portraits, Artist Studies, and Multicultural Lessons
This month students used the skills they learned during the first half of the year to explore a range of special topics in art class. They will each create something three dimensional out of clay, draw, paint or collage a self portrait, study a famous artist for inspiration to create their own work, and study the art of a different culture. The lessons are done in an order that makes sense to the specific classroom and school’s curriculum.
Kindergarteners at Landels celebrated the Chinese New Year by creating their own colorful Chinese dragons. They first created contour line drawings of dragons and then covered them with tissue paper squares in warm colors (red, orange, and yellow) to give their dragon some fiery appeal.
First graders also created contour line drawings. They used this skill to draw animals in a parade. They looked at plastic 3-D animals and drew what they saw by carefully transferring the lines they noticed onto paper.
Second graders at Landels learned about Haitian tap-tap buses. They then created their own tap-taps by embossing and cutting metal sheets. They then attached their buses onto a colorful background of their own creation.
Third and Fourth grade SDC students created Cuna Indian Molas using cut paper. They studied actual examples of Mola designs and then created their own. Students learned about design symmetry as they created their colorful artworks.
3rd grade students looked at the unique Mehendi designs drawn onto hands in India for special celebrations. They used contour line drawing skills to draw their own hand from observation and then borrowed from Indian design practices to create their own Mehendi designs.
4th grade students looked at the sketch-journals of Katsushika Hokusai, a ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period in Japan. They discovered that this self-proclaimed "drawing maniac" loved to draw and make prints of the world around him, including sea-life. Students observed pictures of animals from the sea, then drew and created prints from a Styrofoam "block."
5th grade students are currently looking at a visual language from the Asante people of Ghana, Africa. Their artform adinkra means "goodbye" and was originally worn on clothing to celebrate the life of a person who had died. However, the fabric designs are so beautiful that they became popular outside of funerals. Students chose an adinkra design that has a meaning that represents themselves in some way and will be using printmaking processes to create a fabric sample.
Monte Loma
Kindergarteners at Monta Loma learned the basics of painting with bamboo brushes. They looked at various examples of Asian brush painting and then tried their hand at making simple shapes and forms out of ink and water. They learned how to make animal and bamboo shapes using this traditional technique
First Graders looked at Mexican Bark paintings for inspiration. They used crumpled up craft paper to imitate actual bark and then used fluorescent paint to depict their story on the textured paper.
Second graders learned about the art of the everyday as they studied Arpilleras, or Chilean fabric appliqué designs. They created these using cut paper and glue as well as fabric scraps for added texture. Their designs were colorful and full of life as students described their everyday life in their work.
Third grade students created Cuna Indian Molas using cut paper. They studied actual examples of Mola designs and then created their own. Students learned about design symmetry and design as they created their colorful artworks.
Fourth Graders created Mehndi Hand drawings. They drew contour line drawings of their own hands and then decorated them with intricate line details reminiscent of the Indian tradition of Mehndi hand painting.
5th grade students created Mexican Masks out of aluminum sheets. They used a metal embossing technique to create traditional Mexican designs in their masks. They then cut and colored their creations in festive colors.
Stevenson
Ceramics, Self Portraits, Artist Studies, and Multicultural Lessons
This month and for the rest of the year students will be using the skills they learned during the first half of the year to explore a range of special topics in art class. They will each create something three dimensional out of clay, draw, paint or collage a self portrait, study a famous artist for inspiration to create their own work, and study the art of a different culture. The lessons are done in an order that makes sense to the specific classroom and school’s curriculum.
Stevenson Kindergartners and First grade students explored the imagery of the Chinese dragon through single color printmaking. Students inscribed a foam printing plate with a line drawing before inking and printing with red to signify luck for the New Year.
Second graders created colorful fish kites using the Koi fish in exploration of the Children’s Day celebrations of Japan.
Third and fourth grade students explored radial design through weaving. Hand-made baskets from the Embera people of Panama were examined before students warped and wefted their very own yarn design on a paper plate.
Fourth and fifth graders examined the intricate cut paper designs of the Polish Wycinanki before cutting their own symmetrical designs inspired by spring.
Thuerkauf
Ceramics, Self Portraits, Artist Studies, and Multicultural Lessons
This month students used the skills they learned during the first half of the year to explore a range of special topics in art class. They will each create something three dimensional out of clay, draw, paint or collage a self portrait, study a famous artist for inspiration to create their own work, and study the art of a different culture. The lessons are done in an order that makes sense to the specific classroom and school’s curriculum.
Kindergarteners at Theuerkauf learned the basics of painting with bamboo brushes. They looked at various examples of Asian brush painting and then tried their hand at making simple shapes and forms out of ink and water. They learned how to make animal and bamboo shapes using this traditional technique
First Graders celebrated the Chinese New Year by creating their own colorful Chinese dragons. They first created contour line drawings of dragons and then covered them with tissue paper squares in warm colors (red, orange, and yellow) to give their dragon some fiery appeal.
Second graders used a metal embossing technique to create traditional Mexican sun faces out of aluminum sheets. They then cut and colored their creations in festive colors.
Third graders at Theuerkauf also studied Asian brush painting. They looked at various examples of Asian brush painting and then attempted their own works of art using this method.
By rolling their clay into slabs, fourth graders created ceramic tiles in the shape of California Missions. They looked at images of Mission buildings and carved in windows, added texture to the roof, and added other details to create a miniature mission plaque.
5th grade students created African Masks. They studied the simple geometric shapes and symmetrical designs that make these masks so distinctive. They then created their own using similar rules for their own work.