First Grades used chalk pastels to create a winter sky and then oil pastel and watercolor to create a forest of trees and finished this project with some tempra paint and a little glitter for snow. Overall it was a fun way to use a wide variety of media test some fun techniques.
After spending some time studying symmetry we took a different approach with this project and created an asymmetrical sun and moon. It was a great chance to work on our face drawing skills and play with warm and cool colors. I love the pattern and expression in these projects.
In class on Tuesday 2nd Graders added string to our clay symmetry project and if they wanted to the painted their ornaments too. At out house the christmas tree always gets set up this weekend, so I wanted 2nd graders to have their new ornaments for their trees this weekend if their house traditions are like ours. Merry Christmas I hope your trees look beautiful. 
It is that time of year, our coloring contest this year is to color an orniment and hang it to the tree by the library. The week befor christmas winners will be chosen for each grade level and and art stupplies awarded. I can not wait to see what studnets create.
Student love drawing cartoons so after our tricky color theory cubes a fun relaxing art project seemed a good fit next. So we looked at the colorful patterns of artist Romero Britto. Britto was the 2010 World Cup Artist, in 2014 he was the Ambassador to the FIFA World Cup and he was an honorary Torch Bearer for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, he also has worked with many popular brands like Coke, Audi and Disney. Students loved studying an artist who was still alive and so popular. I love his use of bold pattern and the fact that he is an artist who donates time to causes like St. Jude Children hospital. 
Students were able to either choose a cartoon the love or create their own. Then using mixed media including colored pencil, marker, oil pastel and watercolor they were asked to turn their cartoon into a modern pop art image like Britto. I think kids enjoyed the freedom of so many media options and being able to work on cartoons. Only a handful of students are done most will finish up next week but I couldn't wait to share this project.
2nd Grades have spent the last two weeks working on Symmetry we talked about how standard symmetry and how radial symmetry works and how artist use both in designs. We then took our Symmetrical designs and transfred them to clay orniments. 
Our ornimets were done using a process called Sgraffito where the base of our clay is one color but we top it with a slip in another colors so that when we carve into the slip we can clearly see the two colors and the design. I have never tried this with students before but this year I ordered brown clay instead of white beacuse it was cheaper and I had enought leftover white clay from last year to make the slip so we went for it. Overall I think it turned out rather well. 
We will be adding some paint to these after they are fired but right now I am still waiting for them to finishish drying. I can not wait to post again and show you when they are done. 
For this project 5th graders drew the flowers they practiced on with their blind contour. Then they added some glue lines to help with chalk resist and they were able to use either soft chalk pastel or oil pastel or a mix of both to complete their project. I love the funky mix of papers and the way that each media responds different to each kind of paper the students worked on. Overall I think this project worked even with some students having some glue line trouble.
Kindergarten students have been working hard an creating pictures of themselves. Their works are huge. We started with creating just their faces and they were so cute we just couldn't quit there, so we added shirts and arms, hands, legs and feet. It was a great opportunity for students to really think about all the parts of their body and how to create them. This also was a great lesson to practice our patterns on our shirts and pants and our cutting skills as we cut each part and had to piece them together. I love the end results and I hope parent find a special pace for these portraits as home.
1st Grade Pinch pots should go home with kiddos today. These fun little clay bowls are kids first attempts as shaping clay 3-D. I love the variety of shape, color and design in these fun little bowls. 
Each year google holds a k-12 art competition, this is one of those art competitions I open up to students to work on as an extra when work is done or as a take home. I talked with students about the Doodle for google about a month ago but this competition is still open for another month so if you are interested see me in the art room for forms or check it out here. But I did want to share a few of the wonderful works students have made so far.
This month's artwork actually comes from a project that studnets did at home. I try to alway have information about local and national coloring and drawing competitions. When this student turned in her work I was stunned. Thankfully for this contest all I need to sumbit was a digital copy so her beautiful work stayed at West and won her artist of the month. You can check out this amazing pumpkin at Orange leaf Frozen yogurt in Grandville. Great work Elizabeth.
