Tape Resist Trees

Making a forest of tape resist trees is fun, quick, and easy.  Sixth graders will take these home for the upcoming art fund raiser.  Students were shown a monochromatic example of birch trees.  They were given the choice of a monochromatic or polychromatic color scheme, and could choose the type of tree they wanted in their art.  Sixth graders started by taping a border around their work.  Next, they added a moon or sun.  To make the orb of the moon, they cut out a paper circle slightly smaller than their moon.  They taped over the circle letting the tape overhang the edges.  The overhanging tape was trimmed about 1/4" larger than the paper.  We chose this method because we wanted the tape to stick to the paper without ripping it when removed.
Next, the trees and branches were taped in.  We used easy-release blue painters tape.
In the next class we painted in the negative space with liquid watercolors.  Students chose either realistic or abstract colors.  Some chose to sprinkle with Kosher salt to get the speckled effect.

We found that the salt took effect quite quickly.  We brushed it away after 10 minutes, and were ready to peel the tape off before the class ended.

Field Trip Schedule

Art students will be hitting the road in April.  We have two field trips planned at Currier Memorial School.  On Thursday, April 1st we'll be visiting the Southern Vermont Art Center to see the exhibit "Art from Schools".  It's really great to see our artwork in such a great venue, and to see what other art students are doing, too.  Our trip is funded by the Southern Vermont Art Center Grant that also funded the Eric Carle Festival at school in December. 
On Thursday, April 8th, grades 1,2,3, and 4 will be traveling to Amherst, Mass to visit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  Our trip is funded by the Target Field Trip Grant that we received in January.
Special thanks goes out to our sponsors for making these great art experiences possible for our students.

Kinder-Cities

 

Colorful cities created by kindergarten and first grade.  The buildings were scraped on with a cardboard scraper in primary colors.  When the buildings were finished, black paint was put out and the road was scraped along the bottom.  We let the paintings dry and in the next class added the outline and windows.  To make the outline students used the edge of a smaller piece of cardboard to print (not scrape) straight lines  around the buildings.  When the outlining was finished, white paint and a brush was used to add the windows.  I really like the look of these.  They were easy enough for the little ones, and the kids really liked making them. 

Hello Spring!

The peepers aren't in the ponds quite yet.  Not even down here in the valley.  But they will be soon!  When we hear the little frogs peeping; we'll know that it's spring.
We made these little frogs for an art fund raiser.  Kids drew their frogs with pencil and outlined them with black flair pen.  We colored them with yellow and green crayons and gave them a green water color wash. When they were dry, artists carefully cut out their frogs, lily pads, stems, and flowers.  They arranged everything on the page to get it just the way they wanted it, and then began their careful gluing.

Good Bye Winter....

The snow is melting, even up on the mountain.  It's time to say good bye to winter's ways.  Good bye, winter.  We're moving on.

First and Second Grade Cardboard and Wire Figures Inspired by Calder's Circus

Students watched "Cirque de Calder" and were inspired to use cardboard and wire to create some circus characters of their own.  These sad and happy clowns were created by our first and second graders.  The grouchy clown is wearing boxing gloves, red shoes, and a grouch hat.  See the rest of the gang on display in the lobby.  Stop back often and watch the circus grow! Our students really enjoyed watching "Cirque de Calder" in it's entirety.  You can check out a clip here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWS96nzFUks

Sandy's Circus

 

 

 

I'm a great fan of Alexander Calder's work, and so I learned, is our librarian.  When our librarian mentioned that she was reading the Red Clover Book nominee "Sandy's Circus", by Tanya Lee Stone, to our students this week; I was thrilled.  "Sandy's Circus" is a children's picture book about Calder's fantastic cork and wire creation. 
Now, can you guess what we're doing in the art room this week?  Our kids have watched "Cirque de Calder"  and a power point presentation on mobiles, stabiles, and wire sculpture, and we've moved on to building cardboard and wire figures, and desktop mobiles. 
Grades 3 and 4 built the mobiles shown above.  Wonderful and whimsical!  I'll post the figures after the break.

 
If you'd like to learn more about Red Clover Book Awards and this year's nominees, check this link:  http://www.underhillid.k12.vt.us/Max/RedClover.html

Calder's wire circus is on display at the Whitney Museum in NYC.  Maybe we'll get down there to see it during the break.