Projects Projects Projects....

Wednesday, April 8, 2014--

Well, it's obvious Mrs. Walton is not a great blogger!  Well, at least not on this.  I am EXCELLENT at keeping up to date on our Wilchester Art facebook page!  So, if you are looking for stuff and what is going on on a much more frequent basis, check www.facebook.com/wilchesterart

Let me start with some of the projects I have done since I have started at WCE!

First off, we have some Jim Dine Artwork.
In the first grade lesson, since I did not have ink or plates, or tools for printmaking, we did monoprints using tempera paint and sheet protectors.  I have to say they turned out really well!
We started by each student added tempera paint blobs on top of a sheet protector which had a heart drawn on a sheet of paper inside of it.  They had to work somewhat quickly so it wouldn't dry on them.  Then, they lined up their paper and lightly dropped it on top of the sheet protector and lightly rubbed the paper; lifting the paint from the sheet protector.  When they peeled it off, they had the mirror image of what they had originally put down with paint.  After it was dry, we went around the blobs with sharpie to keep and make the shape of the heart more recognizable.  We used either warm colors or cool colors for the heart.  Once everything was finished, they cut the heart out leaving a "picture frame edge" around the heart.  Then, they glued it to black paper and cut a picture frame out again.  Then, they mounted the final piece on a piece of construction paper in the opposite color scheme.  They turned out beautiful and the oohs and ahhhs of the kids as they pulled their print was awesome.  They wanted to do many of them!

1st Grade Jim Dine Hearts by Mrs. Walton's Art Room

3rd Grade Wiggle Feet Clay Birds

Probably my favorite project so far....
The wiggle feet birds are a HIT!

We started by forming the body of the bird with a pinch pot type of practice.  They used their thumb to get the height of the bird by pressing it into a ball of clay.  Then, using their fingers, they spread out the underside of the bird to give him his width or body shape.  Then, we used two small spheres of clay to make the eyes and another cone of clay for the beak.  We discussed slip, score, wetting, and affixing the clay to each other and what would happen if they didn't follow those directions.  Then, they formed the wings, poked the eyeballs, and split the beak to open it up.  Lastly, we poked holes in the top of the head and for the legs.
We let them dry and fired them.  Then, they glazed them the next two class periods.

3rd Grade Wiggle Feet Birds

3rd Grade Wiggle Feet Birds, a class set

After glazing, and the many oooohs and ahhhhhs of them coming out of the kiln a "new color", we added the legs with small colored wire and tons of beads (I still have beads on my floor!), wires out the top of their heads if they wanted, and then feathers!  They are by far, one of the cutest clay projects I have done with kiddos!  I am so proud of the way they turned out!

3rd Grade Wiggle Feet Birds, sitting in a tree

3rd Grade Wiggle Feet Birds, Sitting in a tree

3rd Grade Wiggle Feet Birds, Ready to go on display

More Jim Dine, 2nd grade style

Yep, another late project post!
These bold bright prints are made by my talented 2nd graders.  We looked at and discussed the art of Jim Dine and showed them the image called Mandala by Jim Dine.  We discussed how it incorporated the styles of Pop Art like Warhol by the broken up spaces of color.  We disussed how it had the feel of impressionism like Starry Starry Night by the movement lines around the heart.  We discussed how Jim Dine usually had very defined subject matter, however, it wasn't "PERFECTLY drawn".  Sometimes, it looked kinda messy.  Sometimes his lines were not perfectly straight.  First, the kids worked on painting their boxes.  We used small flat brushes and we talked about painting in straight lines to keep the painting smooth and even.  We discussed loading the brush with paint.  We looked at how the paint, when pulled straight down the page, would push it's way through to the other side of the brush and we could just flip the brush over and keep moving until it ran dry.  We talked about where to start and stop the brush strokes to keep them nice and even and neat.  Then, the kids did a monoprint (like 1st grade technique), and used the sheet protectors to draw their own heart.  I showed them styles of painting on the plastic and what would happen when you PAINTED the black paint rather than dabbing the black paint and what the differences looked like when printed.  I did a quick demonstration to show them how to print and off they went!  After they finished the printmaking, they used the "impressionist" lines to fill in the background with movement lines in various colors.  I love the differences in their projects and how bold the image became.

2nd Grade Jim Dine Monoprint Hearts