Hello!
We are working hard in art! We continue to create stellar artworks and increase our knowledge base in the visual arts.
You know, one of the turning points for me as an artist was acheived when I was informed about the art elements and principles of design within art. I try to deliver that to my student within my instruction. For our purposes here, I will discuss the art elements. They are identified as Line, Shape, Color, Value, Texture, Space, and Form. I tell my students that these are "tools of the mind" when one puts on their "artist" hat and begins to create within the visual arts. I use the analogy that there will always be the right tool for the right job. Just as Dad would go to the tool box to meet the needs of a particular job within the house, so should the artist as the create their work across the page. Once these labels are given, I believe a person can analytically think through the creation process much easier as they identify how to use the art elements within the context of what they are trying to acheive. It also helps to harness some of that right brain creative thinking with some left brain structure to assist in formulating a method to the madness.
This has been a focus across all grade levels as we place a current emphasis on drawing within the framework of our understanding toward the visual arts. This focus provides to the children a strong foundation in art criticism, art production, and art understanding. When one draws something they truly "see" it.
In kindergarten, you have no doubt heard about our incredible journey into the past as we timetraveled to the world of the ancient dinosaurs. We realized the importance of the artist and the role they play in the science world because there were no cameras during the age of the dinosaurs and we must rely on the visual ability of the artist to clarify our understanding of the fossils that remained behind. We are also building off of our prior lesson on the 5 lines of art that we now utilize to construct our intricate schematic drawings that offer great complexity. We explore the notion of overlapping to create depth in an artwork and the variety of ways to position color onto our compositions.
In first grade we are creating imaginary monsters made of oil pastels in a comical style. In this lesson there is a focus on incorporating the oil pastels into our designs as we struggle to master the messy medium. Here are some teacher demos. I also open the avenues of thinking by revealing how one can use different strategies to create thumbnail sketches for our final draft.
In second grade we are finishing our elaborate crayon resists and they are quite exceptional.
In third grade, we are finishing our Wayne Thiebaud cake drawings and now we are creating tone scales and drawings of our shoes as we begin to understand how to draw what we see. Drawing form life is like building vocabulary for an artist. The more items a child draws or attempts to render, the more they understand the puzzle pieces that are needed to for a whole.
In fourth grade we are drawing toys from life. The children are given their choice of medium to complete their project. Its awesome as we see the children choosing different ways to color their art. Some are painting, some are dry media, and some are a mix of both.
In fifth grade, we are completing are intricate 2 point perspective drawing. Some classes chose to draw exterior scenes while others chose to draw interior scenes.
Well, thanks for visiting our blog. As we finish this second rotation, we will soon begin to work Clay into our different grade levels. The kids always love that!
Alright, have a great day!
Bradley Hale