Curious Flowers

First graders created “exquisite” flowers based on the Surrealist art technique. Each artist draws a part of the flower without seeing the previously drawn sections. Afterwards, the original artist outlines and adds colors to their new and unique flower!

Illuminated Letters

Students worked for three class sessions creating their “Illuminated Letters.” The project follows their classroom lessons on fairy tales and story writing. We discuss the importance of bringing attention to the first word on the page. Authors and illustrators often use “Illuminated Letters” to bring the reader to the beginning of the page. Using scale, color, and details, the students built their letters from Model Magic and created a “pizzazzy” background. The students know that to “illuminate” something means to make it bigger, brighter, and shiny! The project focused on hand building 3-dimensional forms, fine motor skills, shape recognition, and handling glue appropriately.

Who Let the (BLUE) Dogs Out?

Second graders learned about the art of George Rodrigue and his popular Blue Dog portraits. George Rodrigue, a native of New Orleans, has painted hundreds images of his dog Tiffany in a variety of environments. The class discussed the emotional qualities of colors and decided on a color for their own dog portraits. The students then created an environment for their colorful canines!

Introducing Daper Dan!

We had a special guest in the art room... Daper Dan! Daper Dan is a 60 year old parrot that was brought into school to visit the students. During some of his down time, he came to visit the art room. We took the opportunity to do some observational painting. We had a blast looking at Daper Dan and painting his portrait. At the last minute we added a few feathers. Daper Dan was a polite guest and we would love to have him visit again!

Color Wheels

First grade students used the primary colors to create the secondary colors: green, purple, and orange. Students painted squares with each of the six colors. After the paint dried, the students created an interesting shape to use as a tracer and cut 6 copies from the painted squares. The shapes were configured into a design to make their own color "wheel".