Pop Art Prints, Part 2

For the past several weeks, 4th grade artists have been printing their Pop Art inspired plates. On the first day of printing, we learned about the printmaking process and the steps involved. 

Students practiced printing to get a feel for how much ink is appropriate and how long to roll it out with the brayer. On their second printmaking class, students were able to choose their own color of ink and paper, and also learned how to print with more than one color.

We set up our tables with a bench hook and brayer to roll out ink. Everyone folded a piece of manila paper so that there was a clean side and a messy side. We rolled out the ink using the brayer, listening for a sticky sound that told us that the ink was evenly spread out and ready. 

We placed the plate on top of the messy side of our manila paper and rolled the ink on top of our plate carefully. We moved it to the clean side and pressed a piece of colored paper on top. Using our hands to gently rub, we then flipped the paper and over and pulled it apart from the plate. Ta da!

Students made multiple copies of their plate, which the printmaking process allows us to do. We experimented with different colors and everyone pulled several prints. On the last day, we selected our three best prints and mounted them on a black background. Students kept the other remaining prints and also traded them with friends! We did a gallery walk, so we could see everyone's finished work. 

Students also did a self assessment, writing about something they were proud of about their work as well as something that was challenging. Many students were proud of their color choices, the pop culture object they selected, and the way their prints came out, especially the ones using multiple colors. The most challenging part for many students was using the stylus to press into the foam to make their plate and rolling out the right amount of ink when printing.  

Below are some examples of our finished Pop Art prints, inspired by Andy Warhol. As you can see, students did an amazing job mounting their own work! More prints will be on display at the 4th and 5th grade winter concert.

Cicily, "Donuts World" 
4th Grade, (Doherty Barbieri)

Mackenzie, "Master of Skating" 
4th Grade, (Mattson Graves)

Molly, "Yummy Colors" 
4th Grade (Dubuque)

Chloe, "A Splat of Color" 
4th Grade (Dubuque)

Maya W., "360" 
4th Grade (Dubuque)

Mauricio, "Big Bad Bruins" 
4th Grade (Cikacz)

Natalie, "Exquisite iPhone" 
4th Grade (Mattson Graves)

Pattern Weaving

Artists in 1st grade learned how to weave with paper this month! We practiced by weaving together as a class, with a big loom, and realized that the technique of weaving is a pattern.

We started our weaving by making a loom. Students made their loom by folding a piece of paper and cutting several lines, making sure not to cut all the way across the folded side. Once opened, we had our loom! Then students cut two different colors of paper into strips, which they wove through their loom. We made sure to keep in mind to have the lines alternate, over and under, to create our pattern.

The following class, we added shapes to emphasize the pattern in our weaving even more. Students got to use fun scissors with different edges that let us cut different kinds of edges for the shapes. Students thought carefully about the colors that would work well with their weaving and help their shapes to stand out. Some students added another layer of shapes inside those shapes. Below are some examples of our colorful pattern weaving.

Anastasia, 1st Grade (Mandile)

Ellian, 1st Grade (Torchio)

Morgen, 1st Grade (Landay)

Ava, 1st Grade (Mandile)

Kemi, 1st Grade (Mandile)

Kente Cloth from Ghana

Our next visit on our Arts Around the World tour brought us to Ghana, which is located on the western coast of Africa. We learned that it is hot and humid in Ghana and the capital city is Accra.

We also learned about Kente cloth, a woven traditional fabric. Kente cloth began in the Ashanti Kingdom and was originally worn by royalty. It is woven by men and is known for its bold designs. Over time, it became more popular and now it is worn by many. When looking at examples of Kente cloth, students noticed the bright colors, geometric designs with rectangles and zig zags, and the patterns in the fabric. Students also connected it to learning about weaving in 1st grade.

To begin making our own Kente cloth, students painted two sheets of colored paper with a simple pattern of lines.

The following class, students painted a piece of paper with colorful stripes and added patterns with lines and dots to create their loom. We practiced the process of weaving with construction paper before cutting the painted paper we made to weave with.

Students recalled the over and under motion of each woven piece, with the warp going vertically and the weft going across. Once they practiced with construction paper, students used their painted paper to make their loom and the pieces to weave across.

Once they were finished, they glued down the edges of each strip. We finished up with a gallery walk to see everyone's Kente cloth weaving. We noticed that they are all very colorful and that everyone's is different. In their Passports, students wrote what they learned about Kente cloth, recalling that they have colorful patterns, that they are woven on a loom, and that they were once worn by royalty in Ghana. Below are some examples of our colorful Kente cloth inspired weaving!

Julia H., 2nd Grade (O'Connor)

Edmond, 2nd Grade (McCarthy)

Arianne, 2nd Grade (McCarthy)

Aliah, 2nd Grade (McCarthy)

James, 2nd Grade (O'Leary)

Angelina, 2nd Grade (Pearse)

Chris, 2nd Grade (McCarthy)

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)