Fall in the Art Room!

I am so excited fall has arrived :)  Even though our weather is in the 80s, we have dipped into our autumn color palettes and even tried our hand at some ink painting for the first time! Here's what we've been up to in grades k-8....

K-3rd grades are exploring patterns in animals this month, starting with my favorite, owls :) We are studying symmetry, pattern, and shape as we add our own flair to our work...

 

Junior High art club began with some india ink exploration using different effects. Using fancy watercolor paper we tried applying water to the paper first, then dropping on the ink with an eye dropper, we also drew with feathers and brushed for different lines...

We will create an ink wash painting in next week's class applying these techniques. 

8th grade has been creating linear toothpick sculptures the past 4 weeks, working in modular units to create a free standing piece showing repetition and negative space. Here are some results...

1st grade created patterned cat drawings today in honor of artist Laurel Birch. We used little chalk pastel on heavy dark paper. They turned out beautifully & so colorful!

 

Back to School Fun

Welcome back to School!!!!!

It was a fun filled summer of art for Mrs. Bennett.  From directing city art camps to teaching a chalk mural course at the Coral Springs Museum of art, it was both colorful & inspiring.

About 25 young artists designed bench panels for the city parks of Lighthouse Point using mosaic tiles. We created 7 in total, including 2 additions from yours truly.

The first week of July I taught a 4 day street painting class to a small group at the Coral Springs MOA. We learned the basic technique of laying out grid work with pastel directly onto the pavement. It turned out beautifully!

But onto the new school year! We will be examining structures, environments, and architecture throughout history using a variety of materials. As per usual...

Here we go!

Our 1st full week of school for k-8th grade is complete! I think my favorite project of the week has been a color wheel lesson using primary tempera paints drizzled over glue. 3rd graders each received either a plastic transparency or a plastic lid filled with a shallow base of glue. They took liberty using eye droppers or brushes dripping red, yellow, and blue paints over their bed of glue. I encouraged them to mis slowly and gently, dragging a toothpick over 2 colors at a time, creating a marbled swirl effect. They loved this process and can't wait for them to dry!

1st-4th grade reviewed the color wheel-the properties of primary and secondary colors with a little "angry bird" color wheel. At the risk of catching the angry bird hype 4 years too late, the kids seemed to enjoy the theme and some even created their own cartoon shapes. The main focus was creating 6 shapes to practice blending using oil crayon or tempera. Til next week...

Spring in the Art Room!

My young talented artists have had a busy and full spring semester! In March, our school hosted the art show "Art in Flight", an open art show for grades k-8. We created art connecting to the theme of flight, including hot air balloons, koi kites, Native American eagle shields, and some bird sculptures!

On May 2nd, 2014, my 3rd-8th grade art club members showcased their artwork to the local community at Greight Spaces, in Pompano Beach, called "Spring Flight". Here are some photos from this fantastic event!

Japanese Kites & Native American Art

This has been a very culturally rich month looking at Japan and Native American art in the elementary grades. For the new year we created Japanese koi kites in 6th grade and K, and 1st grades. We looked at the national childrens day custom of flying the carp kite in honor of the family members in each home. The carp fish represents tenacity and strength in Japanese culture as it has the ability to swim against the current. Here are some finished examples...

 

The little ones made a windsock kite using tissue paper and tag board, making their koi fish more 3dimensional 

Speaking of flying objects, 7th grade is doing a beautiful job studying aerial perspective. For their first assignment we created skyscrapers from a birds eye view on the iPad. Then we used oil crayon to create a patchwork landscape with hot air balloons popping up. Here are the results 

 

Lastly, 3-5th graders have been studying Native American artwork from orca whales to dream catchers, and just recently, medicine shields. I loved learning about the animal symbolism and different superstitions of Native American culture! We could discuss the difference between worshipping the Creator vs. Creation, while still honoring the beauty of different people groups.

 

 

Junior High Art Club Update!

Grades 5-8 began the month of February creating a beautiful hot air balloon painting using acrylic on canvas. We looked at an aerial view photo of a landscape & discussed how "tints" are created by blending white into a color.

We covered our 16x20" canvases with lots of white acrylic using a wide brush and began to blend one color into our white paint with even horizontal brushstrokes. We gradually blended another color into our sky working our way toward the bottom of the canvas to create a smooth & 'airy' sky.

Most of us began penciling in our hot air balloons in different sizes to show distance. We painted each balloon in monochromatic values to show a highlight and shadow. Here is our progress! We will continue on February 18th to complete all the details...

There are many more still in progress! I am so proud of these talented artists! Amazing work 👍🎨😃✨🎈