Evening with the Arts Information

This is a reminder that now is the time to submit artwork for next week’s Evening with the Arts celebration! Bring art to your teacher’s classroom sometime this week so that we can get it prepared for hanging or display. We really want to see as many people participate as possible, so dust off your creative side and celebrate the arts with us!

Remember, ideas for artwork for the show could include:
• Artwork completed in Mrs. Watson’s art class
• Artwork submitted for the PTA Reflections contest
• 3-D sculpture (non-edible) including Lego sculpting (not from a kit)
• Photography and Digital Photography
• Ceramics and hand built Jewelry (not from a kit)
• Splatter painting would be lots of fun in the back yard on a sunny day!
• And the list could go on and on!

Please do not submit coloring pages or items made from a kit. This should be creative and original work that the artist can be proud of owning and displaying!

The Evening with the Arts will be held on Friday, May 1st. Doors open for art gallery viewing at 5:30 p.m. I would recommend coming that early just to ensure a good parking spot!

By 7:00 p.m., everyone should have migrated down to the auditorium to enjoy the orchestra and choir concerts!

Our school is very fortunate to have such wonderful programs available to our students!!! When my daughter was younger, I wanted to put her into the 5th and 6th grade orchestra at home, but in American Fork the program is run by the Junior High and the time slots did not fit with our family schedule. Here, the program fits right into the school schedule, so it should not interfere with after school sports or dance. Also, in American Fork the cost is $65 each semester. That is not a lot of money, but here is it only $20 (or what is $25?) a semester! That is a STEAL OF A DEAL for adding some culture to your child's life!!!

I would highly encourage coming to check out these fantastic groups of students!

Spring Break pictures

When we came back to school on Monday, I had every intention of blazing forth on new project lessons.

However, my students seemed more interested in telling me all about their experiences over Spring Break.

You know, there is a reason that the essay "What did you do for Summer Vacation" has been a fixture in the American classroom for time out of mind. We all want to share our life experiences with one another. It is part of the human experience.

In response to the needs of the students, therefore, illustrating our Spring Break experiences was the first artistic expression of the week. After a quick 10 minutes of illustrating, any student who wanted to share was allowed to climb up on the stool in the front of the room and share with the class.

We had a great day!

1st grade - FRIDAY FUN DAY!

For our last art class before Spring Break, we had a Friday Fun Day. Of course, every day is fun in art! However, on a Friday Fun Day, the students get to try new materials in a free play setting. Today, the students used pastels for the first time.

Pastels are artist quality chalk. They are very bright and vibrant; but also very, very messy!

The 'tricks' for using pastels successfully are;
One hand stays clean, while the other hand manipulates the pastel.
The 'clean' hand holds down the paper, while the 'messy' hand floats in the air to prevent it from dragging though the colors already on the paper.
Using your finger to blend is totally okay!

3rd grade - FRIDAY FUN DAY!

For our last day in art before Spring Break, the 3rd grade students used the watercolor paints to create a painting of whatever they chose. Sometimes it is important to allow for the freedom of expression that can only happen when there is not a set assignment. Art is an expression of what is within. Giving students the time to free play with the materials can help develop this. The students had a great time!

After the break, we will be having watercolor painting lessons! In the meantime, have a wonderful and safe break!

CALLING ALL HARVEST ARTISTS!

This is a quick reminder of the school wide Evening with the Arts Celebration coming in the last week of April! All students are encouraged to submit an artwork for display and turn it in to their core teacher ASAP!

THIS IS NOT AN ART CONTEST!

All student artists are welcome to participate, as are parents! If you have an artwork you made once upon a time that you are particularly proud of, submit it! Our teachers are also going to show us their creative side and display art of their very own.

All artwork should be worthy of hanging. That means that it should be on artsy type of paper, not lined math homework paper. All artwork will need to meet community and school standards in order to be displayed.

On the evening of May 1st, there will be an open house for viewing the artwork, followed by concert performances from the school orchestra and choir. It should be an enriching evening for everyone who participates. We hope to see you there!

An art contest!

The Mexican Consulate in Salt Lake City has announced an art contest! Children ages 7-11 are invited to participate. By clicking on the image above, you will be able to print out the contest guidelines and official entry form.

This may be a great opportunity for your young artist to shine! My Spanish immersion students may be especially interested!

Good luck and have fun!

3rd grade - color wheels

The third grade students have been working on a difficult color wheel assignment. I assured them that the 3 primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) can make all the rest of the colors in the world if mixed in millions of different ways.

Their assignment was to create the standard 12 color wheel using only red, yellow, and blue colored pencils. the image seen above is the map, you might say, that the students followed on this assignment. Each color has a 'color recipe' next to it to follow. If it was only as simple as following the recipe, though! The students discovered that there is a lot of adjusting that needs to happen because they are human and not a machine! A machine can recreate a color time and time again by following a recipe. People, however, never color the same color twice. Sometimes we push harder, sometimes not.

In any case, the students had a great time trying and most were very successful!

1st grade - Baskets are coming home!

The first grade students finished their Basket projects today and took them home. They all had a wonderful time creating the various different items to put in their baskets and it was a joy to watch their enthusiasm!

3rd grade - Clay cups are done!

Students finished the ceramic cups this week, they look fabulous! The upper picture is bisque fired with glaze painted on. The lower picture is of finished projects after the final glaze firing. Kiln temperatures for this final firing reach 2200* F! The glazes are all food safe, you can drink out of it!

To care for the ceramic projects...

~Do not place the cup in the dishwasher... HAND WASH ONLY!
~DO NOT USE IT IN THE MICROWAVE! It could explode!
~It is not recommended for cooking on the stove or storing in the fridge.

Essentially, remember that it is a piece of artwork first and foremost and treat it that way. If you do, it should outlive you!

1st grade - wax resist watercolor egg paintings

Yesterday and today the first grade classes have been creating wax resist egg paintings using watercolor paint. This is the same method used on real Easter eggs when you draw on the egg with a white crayon before dying it.

Yesterday the students used a white crayon to draw patterns, shapes, and words onto their eggs.

Today was the watercolor painting. We talked about how to treat the paint set so that the colors remain true. We also talked about brushing with the paint brush instead of scrubbing. Students also learned that watercolor painting literally means to paint with colorful water (not the actual paint). The students did very well.

A common problem found amongst the youngest art students is that they think everything needs to be done quickly. They race through an assignment, trying to be the first one done, thinking that this makes them the best. I have explained to the students that being the fastest is not always the best. A rushed art work never looks as beautiful as a well thought out one. I want to encourage as much unplugged and unhurried time as possible to your little ones, so they can learn to enjoy the process, not just the end result.

3rd grade - clay pinch pots

Our first project in the third grade is a clay cup using the pinch pot construction method. Each student was given a chunk of clay and guided through the process of building a cup. The cups have dried and have been bisque fired. Today and tomorrow students will be painting 3 layers of glaze onto their projects. I expect to do the first glaze fire in the kiln Wednesday night and finish up on Thursday night. Expect the students to bring their projects home on Friday!

We had a few absences due to illness or travel. Only one student did not get back in time for the bisque fire. He will be able to complete his project next week.

The students have been having a FABULOUS time on this project!

1st grade - weaving a 'basket'

The first grade students have started their first project! They will be creating an Easter basket multi media picture.

The first step is to weave the 'basket'. This is really an exercise in fine motor skills. The picture above is an example of what they have been doing in class. I would encourage allowing your son/daughter to do more of this at home whenever he/she wants. Manipulating the strips in and out of the weave is a great way to develop the fine motor skills needed to tie shoes and perfect handwriting.

To create the warp (the up and down 'strings'), just take a piece of paper, fold it in half, then cut lines that don't quite go all the way to the edges. Then open the paper back up. The weft (side to side 'strings') are simply strips of paper. The students are doing a checker board weave, because that is the easiest to master.

Welcome 3rd and 1st grades!

Welcome to the final term of the 2008-2009 school year! It is amazing how fast this year has flown by!

Please feel free to explore this web site and the links found on it. If your son/daughter is ever absent from art, make sure you check back to this web site to see what happened in class during his/her absence. On the side column, you will find links to grade level specific posts, as well as links to various extra credit opportunities.

Goodbye 4th and 6th!

Thanks for all the fun times, boys and girls!

Sixth graders, I will miss you and wish you the best in your new life adventures at Junior High! Work hard in computers, that class is essential for success over the next 6 years!

Fourth graders, have a wonderful time in computers and over the summer until I see you again in 5th grade!

4th grade - CLAY PROJECT!!

FINALLY!!! The clay arrived and students have been happily making coil construction vases. The goal of this project was to be able to roll out the parts and successfully attach them to each other. All classes have finished building and the projects have been bisque fired in the kiln. They look fabulous! Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent glazing, then Wednesday night and Thursday night the glazed projects will be fired again. Look to bring them home either Thursday or Friday, depending on the class.

6th grade - Final homework assignment!

Homework

2 POINT PERSPECTIVE

In class today, we covered the basics of two point perspective. HORIZON LINE, VANISHING POINT, BIRD'S EYE VIEW, NORMAL EYE VIEW, AND WORM'S EYE VIEW have all been added to the vocabulary list.

Please use the reference papers I gave you to help you create a 2 point perspective drawing of your own initials. For 10 points, the assignment should look something like this...

For BONUS POINTS you can do any combination of the additional items listed below.

For +5, create one of your names instead of the initials. This could be first, middle, last, or nickname.

For +10 instead of +5, create your full name. This can be first and last, nickname and last, or first, middle and last.

For another +10 points, fully illustrate it in color to present an artwork quality assignment!

As you can see, this 10 point assignment has the full potential of 30/10, or 300%! That would be a fantastic way to boost your grade in art!

This assignment is due next Wednesday, March 18th.

Good luck and have fun!

6th grade - Plates are nearly all finished!

The final batch of plates should be going into the kiln tomorrow! Remember that there will be not school on Monday for the students, so Mr. Christofferson's class (the last class in the kiln) will get their plates back on Tuesday.

The number on the digital readout is the temperature inside the kiln at the time the photo was taken. At that time, the temperature was still climbing to a maximum of approximately 2200* F!

Just a quick reminder,

~ treat your plate like the artwork it is!
~ yes, you can eat off of it, but make sure you hand wash it... NO DISHWASHER!
~ keep it out of the oven and freezer. We want to prolong the life of the plate for as long as possible!
~ ABSOLUTELY NOT FOR USE ON THE STOVE OR IN THE MICROWAVE!!!!!!
~ avoid sudden extreme temperature changes

and of course,

~ enjoy it for years and years!

6th grade - Tessellation

Sixth grade is working on the concept of Tessellation. A tessellation is a pattern that interlocks in some way. The patterns we are doing are not true tessellations, but are extremely fun, just the same!

Each student received a planning paper to design four different patters. Using a ruler, marks are placed on all four sides of each 3"X3" square on the planning paper. A design is created in the square that only touches the sides at the designated spots. After tracing one of the patterns onto a separate 3"X3" paper, the student then tests the pattern to see if all sides match up. If all went well, the student can then trace the pattern again on 8 more squares.

As you can see by the images at the top, rotating the squares in various formations will result in many different overall patterns.

Escher and Tessellation

The most famous artist who did tessellation was M. C. Escher. Here are some examples of tessellation done by Escher.

Islamic Mosaics

Islamic Mosaics is another connection to this assignment. In the Islamic culture, images of people are forbidden. Instead, beautifully scripted sayings are interspersed with mosaic tessellations as decorations in homes, shops, and mosques. Below are some examples.

4th grade - shading assignment

For the next couple of days, the fourth grade students will be working on shading cylinders on a worksheet, trying to make them look like the No. 10 can seen in the picture above. This is very difficult, so try not to be discouraged! Try to identify the Highlight, the Half Tones, the Core Shadow, and the Reflected Light (or reflected shadow, as the case may be) on the can. Notice that the Cast Shadow is not the same shape as the can.

As I said, the can is very difficult to do, but it should prepare you for the project of Shading a Sphere. After the canister, the sphere will feel incredibly easy and will look fantastic!

6th grade - Clay projects are ready for final fire!

CONGRATULATIONS! You have finished painting the glaze on your plates! Now for the torture of waiting! I can only finish fire up to 16 plates at a time in the kiln, so the agony of waiting begins! I will be running the kiln pretty much non-stop until all projects are complete! Each class will wait only for it's own members' plates before taking them home. I will post ceramic care instructions on this blog and send home a note when the project goes home sometime this next week!