Orange Pumpkins

3rd grade artists painted pumpkins this fall! We began by exploring the color orange. We recalled that to make orange, a secondary color, you mix red and yellow, which are primary colors. Looking around at each others' clothing, we noticed that there are actually many different kinds of orange. 

We experimented with what might happen if we added more yellow or more red. We also used white to make tints of orange, and black to make shades of orange. We tried to see how many different kinds of orange we could mix, and painted them on paper.

The following class, we got our orange explorations back and cut out shapes from the colors we created. We discussed the difference between geometric and organic shapes and students cut out both kinds of shapes. 

We glued them to a larger mural, trying to show the wide variety of orange. We organized the pieces so it went from light to dark.

Armed with our knowledge of how to mix many different kinds of orange, we began a still-life painting. A still-life painting is when you paint something that is set up in front of you and it does not move. For our still life, we looked at pumpkins! Students drew a pumpkin that was placed in the middle of their table -- big thanks to Ms. Patashnick, our music teacher, for the pumpkins! Looking carefully at its shape and lines, students drew their pumpkin from observation and went over their pencil sketch with oil pastel.

The following class, students looked at the pumpkins in natural light, from the window, and noticed that there are lighter areas where the light hits the pumpkin and darker areas that are in shadow. Thinking back to the lighter and darker oranges they had mixed, students painted their pumpkins from observation, noting where it was lighter and darker on their pumpkin. We also mixed greens for the stem. 

During the last class, students discussed the shadow that the pumpkin cast on the table. We noticed that it was darkest closest to the pumpkin, and a curved shape similar to the pumpkin. Students mixed a darker color to use for the shadow, and also painted the table and background so that the pumpkin looked like it was sitting on a surface. Below are some examples of our painted pumpkins!  

Tristan, 3rd Grade (Lutz)

Kate R., 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Nate, 3rd Grade (Lutz)

Sona, 3rd Grade (Monfette)

Caroline, 3rd Grade (Cole)

Radial Symmetry Name Designs

To start off the year, 5th grade artists created designs using their name! To begin, we learned about radial symmetry, which is symmetry around a central point. Next, students folded a square piece of paper into triangles before creating a name design, stretching their letters to fit the triangular shaped space.

An example of radial symmetry in nature

Students then traced over their design with a marker and by flipping parts of the paper over each other, were able to trace their original design to repeat it in all the remaining triangles. The large windows in the connector hallway were actually essential to this step!

After they completed this step, students unfolded their paper to see their radially symmetrical name design repeated all the way around.

Students then added color to their design using colored pencil. They learned techniques to blend the colors together and create gradient effects, and also worked hard to cover all of the paper and apply even pressure to their colored pencils to get bright, bold colors.

Some examples of our finished radial symmetry name designs are below -- can you see the name of each artist in their design?

Anita, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Esmeralda, 5th grade (Twomey)

Payton, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Levon, 5th grade (Twomey)

Gabby, 5th grade (Twomey)

Cristian, 5th grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Collin, 5th grade (Bellis)

Drawing Autumn Leaves

1st grade students continued their exploration of line and shape last week by going outside and collecting leaves to draw! We gathered different leaves that had fallen on the ground outside and brought them in to draw.

Students learned about drawing from observation, which means drawing from something you can see. This is different than making something from your imagination. Students looked carefully at their leaf as they drew, pretending that their hand and their eye were connected together. Starting at one point, they worked their way around the outside edge, or contour, of the leaf and tried not to pick up their marker as they drew what they saw.

Although it was challenging, students learned a lot about the lines and shapes they saw! They noticed straight lines, zig zag edges, and curves. Once students drew the outside shape of the leaf, they added the lines they saw on the inside, as well as other details like holes. 

Students did a great job focusing on what they saw in front of them, and challenging themselves to draw each leaf exactly as they saw it. 

Here are some examples of our leaf observation drawings below!

Lineysha, 1st grade (Massa)

Shane D., 1st grade (Mandile)

Ana, 1st grade (Massa)

Lily, 1st grade (Massa)

Kemi, 1st grade (Mandile)

Nico, 1st grade (Mandile)

Printed Robots

1st grade students recently created printed robots, using cardboard and recycled materials to print or stamp paint on paper. Many students connected this to the cityscape prints they made as Kindergarten students!

To print, we dipped the cardboard into the paint, then pressed it down on the paper and lifted it up to make a mark. We connected out lines together to make shapes to form our robot's body. 

We thought carefully about what different parts we wanted to add to our robot. Students also focused on using the whole paper and make their robot nice and big!

After our robots dried, the following week students used oil pastel to add color to their robot. We focused on the robot's body and experimented with layering and blending oil pastel colors together. 

We also talked about what our robots could do. Some of the robots help with homework, make food when you are hungry, protect people, dance, and help find things that are lost! We shared our colorful robots at the end of class. Here are some of our robots and their special jobs, below. 

Dylon, "My robot helps people who are lost" 
(Torchio)

Callan, "My robot helps the police" 
(Landay)

Jasmine,"My robot helps people"
(Landay)

Evelyn, "My robot does ballet"
(Landay)

Mandalas from India

This year, 2nd grade students are learning about Arts Around the World in their art and music classes. The first country 2nd grade artists traveled to this year is India! We learned that India is located in South Asia, and has the second largest population in the world. We learned that there are many different languages spoken in India and because of it's location, India has periods of heavy rain called monsoon.

We looked at an art form called the mandala, which began in India as a symbol from Buddhism. The word mandala is from the Indian language of Sanskrit and means "circle." We looked at an example of a mandala and students noticed that it had a repeating pattern in its design. 

We looked at different mandalas and pictures of people creating mandalas on the ground, using what looked like chalk. We noticed that they start in the middle and work their way outwards. We thought about what happens to drawings that we make on the sidewalk or asphalt when we use chalk and talked about how they wash away eventually, which might also happen to these mandalas.

We then watched a time elapse video that showed Buddhist monks creating a sand mandala over a period of a week. It took them many hours and their design was very complex and detailed. Afterwards, they destroyed the mandala, brushing the grains of sand into the middle. This surprised many students! We talked about why they might do this, and connected it to when we have drawn on the sidewalk with chalk. Even though the result is not permanent, it is still a fun and worthwhile experience to create something together. 

To explore this idea, students worked in groups at their table (we discussed how the monks working together as a team made their mandala making quicker) to create a mandala using colorful foam shapes.  

Students shared ideas and also compromised to be able to form a group mandala, keeping symmetry and the circular form in mind. At the end of class, student had a chance to see each other's mandalas before (calmly) destroying them and putting all the shapes back into the plastic bag.

The following class, students began designing their own mandala drawings using a theme that expressed their interests and personalities. Some examples of themes that students chose were favorite shapes, sports, games, gardens, and video game characters. 

Using rulers to help find the center point, students drew their mandala starting from the middle and going outwards. They outlined them in Sharpie marker and colored them in, thinking about how to create patterns using color. Students worked hard to make their colors bright and cover the white paper.

Once they were finished, students cut out the circle and glued it onto a background, considering what kinds of colors would complement their mandala design. We also wrote about what we learned in our Passport and received our first stamp! Here are some examples:   

Raffi, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Prarthna, 2nd Grade (O'Connor)

Evan, 2nd grade (O'Leary)

Sam, 2nd grade (Pearse)

Yensi, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Connor, 2nd grade (O'Connor)

Onomatopoeia!

To start off the year, 3rd grade artists looked at and discussed the work of Roy Lichtenstein and learned about his use of onomatopoeia, which is when a word imitates the sound of the object or action it refers to. Some examples are words like: "wham," "drip," and "ka-pow!"  

We noticed that Lichtenstein was inspired by comics since the use of onomatopoeia is more common in comics and cartoons. We also noticed that he used primary colors in these paintings.  

Roy Lichtenstein, Whaam! (1963)

We began our own artwork by brainstorming a list of onomatopoeia words as a class. Each student selected 4 different words and drew sketches that demonstrated the word's action and meaning as a visual picture, combining letters and pictures:

Next class, we looked at more of Lichtenstein's paintings and noticed that he used dots of color, called benday dots, which were inspired by the way comic books were printed at the time.  

We selected one brainstorm sketch to make into a larger drawing and used markers in primary colors, incorporating the benday dots in at least one area of our artwork. These are some examples of our finished onomatopoeia drawings:

Jaylyn, 3rd grade (Monfette)

Peter, 3rd Grade (Cole)

Cammy, 3rd grade (Cole)

Tristan, 3rd grade (Lutz)

Nola, 3rd grade (Lutz)

Pirada, 3rd grade (Cole)