Art

With a focus on European architecture, April has been a great month in art. The Grade Twos and Threes have created amazing castles using permanent markers and a variety of watercolor media. We also had a great time making ink prints of seaside European towns with scratch foam and painted backgrounds.

The Grade 1 students have been busy working on St. Patrick’s Day and Easter pieces! For St. Patrick’s Day, we used oil pastels, and water-based paint to create a ‘resist’ piece. Then for Easter, we decorated eggs (Styrofoam, so it’s keep-able!) with a basket, fake grass and all!

Typically in Art, the students are given an  ‘assignment’ and then create the piece. This month in Middle Years and Upper Elementary however, we shook things up a bit, and the students were allowed to truly express themselves by creating pieces using watercolour, watercolour diffusing paper, and my personal favourite- wax melting creations! Please check out the gallery of Upper Elementary and Middle Years pieces below.

Ms Ali

“Inspiration comes from doing” – Robert Genn

 

This month we have been honing our skills with chalk pastels, and the results are stunning! Using black construction paper, the kids sketched out a design and covered it with white, liquid glue. After it dried, they used pastels to bring their vibrant works of art to life. In preparation for upcoming Easter festivities, we created beautiful, woven baskets with colored paper. Up next is a super cool drawing lesson on castles, so stay tuned for the finished products. Happy Easter, everyone!

We have had a great time in Art class over the past couple of months. January was full of beautiful animal art projects including painted elephants as well as symmetrical, oil pastel portraits. Students also created magical Paper Mache masks to tie in with their studies on Drama. Recent projects include the gorgeous Impressionist-inspired paintings after a lesson on Claude Monet.

With the Grade 1s, we have been incorporating their ‘Reptile and Amphibian’ unit into our art.  We learned some new techniques using glue and pastels, and did a project using white oil crayons on white water colour paper for an interesting effect!  It was quite a challenge , but then we painted them all blue (for an underwater scene) and the ‘clear’ drawings of fish and sea life appeared (as oil and water colour paint don’t mix). We also used salt to soak up some paint, and saw the amazing reaction it has with water colour.

Upper Elementary has begun their Art studies on ‘abstract’, ‘realism’, and ‘impressionism’. We are working on real canvas to create ‘triptych’ portraits.

The Middle Years students have been studying Asia, and while we ring in the New Year, we are making Chinese Lanterns (with authentic rice paper!) Please see the photos below.

Ms Ali

“So you see, imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.” – Brenda Ueland

 

The Art classes have been busy making Holiday ornaments, creating ‘stained glass’, and crystal ornaments. We made dough ornaments and painted them with acrylic paint (a new medium for most students).

The Upper Elementary students also worked with ‘diffusing paper’ where they used white glue and glued the outline of a picture, and after it dried they used watercolour paint to create a ‘stained glass’ effect when held up to a window. The Upper Elementary students also created ‘borax’ ornaments, which turned out beautifully! If you would like to make your own at home, please see my ‘how-to’ on Borax ornaments.

In January the Grade 1 students look forward to new mediums, and the Upper Elementary students will be learning about art from the Renaissance period, and creating triptych paintings.

Ms Ali

“Art is the proper task of life” – Friedrich Nietzche

After a busy month of Christmas crafts and art projects, we hope you have some much deserved rest and relaxation with family and friends over the break. See you back for some exciting new art projects in January!

Best wishes to everyone for a safe and happy holiday.

The Lower Elementary classes have been learning about plants, and in Art, we used a new technique to create a beautiful, mixed media work. We painted one side of a leaf and pressed it on the paper. Then we used sponges to dab and create the ‘fall colour pallet’ of yellow, red, orange, and green.

Upper Elementary students learned about Ancient China this month. We used real rice paper, and practiced the 7 main strokes in Chinese Calligraphy. We all wrote a short story, and painted it with the symbols we learned.

In December we look forward to exciting winter holiday projects (which uses a fun and easy chemical change)!

 

Ms Ali

 

“There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge.” – Friedrich Nietzsche