5th/K Collaboration!

Ms. Beverage and I were so truly pleased to have Mr. Kenny's 5th grade and Mrs. Tintle-Cook's Kindergarten working together in class yesterday. Kindergarten just learned about the Element line and are going to start a lesson on shape later this week. Yesterday, 5th grade students were paired with a kindergartner and showed them the difference between organic and geometric shapes in a fun tracing/coloring activity. I am so proud of my 5th grade artists for being such wonderful teachers, displaying acts of love and patience!

Mona Lisa Collaboration

I am very excited about the 7th and 8th grade project: Mona Lisa Collaboration. As the title suggests, this entire project has been a group project between all of my 7th and 8th grade artists. Mona Lisa is one of the most iconic works of art from Italian Renaissance created by artist Leonardo da Vinci (not DiCaprio or the ninja turtle). Before creating any artwork, students used Chromebooks to research a different art -ism: Realism, Fauvism, Pointillism, Impressionism. These -isms are all styles of art in the modern period, and after learning how to create each technique associated with the style, students were able to choose which technique they enjoyed the most in order to recreate one small section of Mona Lisa. The modern art techniques creates such an interesting contrast against the Renaissance subject! The classic artwork was divided into 60 squares, each student receiving one or two squares to draw. I will be assembling the artwork at the end of next week. I am so excited to share this abstract work of art! Below is a sneak peak of some of the tiles.

Fauvism, colored pencil

Realism, pencil

Impressionism, oil pastel

Pointillism, marker 

Realism, pencil

Realism, layering, colored pencil

Term III Update

Fifth grade artists have been studying Ancient Greece and have just begun their second art project involving Greek gods and goddesses. If you are volunteering at FCCS in the near future, check out the awesome vases hanging in the Art hallway!

Sixth grade artists are finishing up weaving, a cross-culture art form. They completed readings on textiles used in Asian and African cultures. As the weaving project wraps up, students will then begin papier-mâché African masks. This is a multi-step project, and will most likely take the entire Term III to complete.

I am really excited about the current seventh and eighth grade project, since it is a large collaborative artwork! Previously, students research a modern art style (either Impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism, or Realism) using a Symbaloo set up on my website, and will now be using their medium of choice to recreate a small portion of The Mona Lisa. Once all the tiles are assembled, they will create an abstract recreation of the iconic Renaissance artwork using a variety of art techniques and media.

As always, students are assigned homework weekly, having a full seven days to complete it. If you have not already signed up for the Remind classes, please do so in order to receive updates and reminders on homework.

Thank you,

Ms. Strasser