Art Enrichment: Visit to the Princeton Art Museum

Last week on Tuesday, we visited the Princeton University Art Museum. It was a fantastic and fun trip for the forty of us! We had nice, small group tours with the knowledgeable docents when we arrived. We viewed the American art collection and saw European art by Monet and VanGogh. In my group, our docent Martine Elefson, was so warm and kind. She asked really great questions about art production and inspiration. Here we are looking at Monet's "Japanese Bridge/Water Lily Pond". I was thrilled to see this painting and many students could identify it from our 1st grade Monet projects!

Andy Warhol was the first American painter who we viewed work from. My group was interested to hear about how Warhol had so many people creating his artwork for him. Everyone had seen Marilyn's famous face before.

The brushstroke on Monet's poplars required further inspection. I enjoyed inspecting the gorgeous frames that were around all of the paintings.

Here's our lovely docent Martine showing the 5th graders the Japanese Bridge painted during different seasons. Monet painted over 20!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was stopping by the Fountain of Freedom before heading off to House of Cupcakes for a treat. Look at these kids-aren't they great? I'm trying not to think about how much I'll miss them next year since it's only October... But I will!! It's a cycle I am learning to deal with teaching on the elementary level. Teach them, love them, cry when they go. This is my 6th year on the elementary level so hopefully I'm getting better? Hardly.

And one last picture from the morning tour looking at American sculpture.

The Princeton University Art Museum is a gem. If you're local to Princeton and have time to stop by, it's really a great place to visit. 

Thank you to all of the chaperones who made this trip possible- you're incredible!!

Yearbook Cover Contest!

Fifth graders, It's your time to design a cover for our yearbook cover contest!!

I know you're so excited.

Check your email for information. Below are a few photos from past yearbook covers to use as a reference. 

Grade 5: Red Clay Spoons

Discussing functional art and texture, my 5th graders made these cool looking spoons today using red clay.

I love hand-building in clay because it serves as a reminder of just how powerful our hands are as a tool. 

I began the demo by showing the students how to create the bowl of the spoon and techniques for shaping/smoothing the inside. This was the most challenging part and I was interested to see how each student made this part their own. Next was creating and properly securing the handle which had to have a texture on it. It was neat seeing how my students created such unique spoon handles and added some really awesome characteristics to the handle and positioning of it. We poked a hole at the top of the spoon handle so that we can add a pretty ribbon to them when complete. 

Next week we will explore some beautiful glazes that I've been waiting to pull of the shelf.

Fun Day!

Grade 5: Op Art

After working so hard on their candy paintings, my 5th graders needed a project that was far less labor intensive. They worked SO hard on the candy paintings that this simple (in comparison) Op (tical) Art project was relaxingly perfect and they loved making these illusions. 

After viewing, dissecting and discussing the work of Bridget Riley... and then giggling at my reaction as my eyes had a hard time adjusting to some of the Op Art images we viewed on the Smart Board, we jumped right in. The task: to use the Element of Art: LINE to create dimension.
Here is the display heading towards the 5th grade hallway. 

Once complete, my students began to create their own Op Art design or tried to recreate one that they found on the iPads.

            

I hope you enjoyed viewing these as much as we had fun making them!

Grade 5: Finished Candy Paintings

It has been a truly Sweet Year and these candy paintings make the hallway at Bear Tavern all the more colorful and sweet. 

Earlier this month, I blogged about the candy paintings that my 5th graders were starting and the similar lesson that I taught during Art in the Park over the summer. Read more in the original post Click Here

Here are the delicious results that I hung in the hallway yesterday, Can you recognize the assorted wrappers?

Nice job Fifth Graders!

2014-15 Yearbook Cover Design Contest

Ooh la la... take a look at the yearbook cover entries for this year by our fabulous fifth graders!

Mrs. Prosser spent the morning hanging the entries in the display cases. 

Our school community has the next two weeks to vote for their favorite cover. Hard choice, so many great ones!!

 Here is a small, random sample of the entries

Great job 5th graders and look luck!

Update: 10/31/2014
The winning entry was cover #2 by Liam

Our Art Enrichment Journey Begins with Maps and Trees

 I am really excited that a new year of fifth grade art enrichment began this week. It is through this after-school class that I get to know each student differently and explore ideas and art in general together as a class.

Our journey began this week with a drawing of a tree that we are watercolor washing. My students really seem to be enjoying the free nature of drawing a tree and adding character to the tree with texture using lines created with permanent marker. Watching the kids pull from techniques for drawing branches last year with the van Gogh 'Almond Blossoms" lesson was awesome to see. The delicate nature in which many students added branches that stretched and twisted and grew in all directions was personally fulfilling. 

I have been slowly collecting maps and atlases for a couple of years.. Tucked away in a tupperware container I have maps that were in some glove compartments well over a decade ago. As a child, I enjoyed reading maps as we took family trips. I wonder if maps are even for sale on the racks at pit stops anymore now that technology has diminished the paper versions.

Using watercolor, I painted a map of the Greater New York area. Next week, my students will alter the maps by not only adding color to their own but by cutting them in a way that can create a beautiful, mixed-media background. 

 

My main interest in maps has been the collage potential while using them and the pride that I took as a child in having a good sense of direction and being able to read maps well. A longtime colleague of mine from Grounds for Sculpture, Aylin Green, has used dress pattens in her gorgeous mixed media contemporary art that I have always admired the quality of.

Aylin Green

When I saw the work of Australian artist, Loretta Grayson, I felt the same interest in the quality of her work and the use of beautiful, collaged papers to communicate to the viewer. The colors of the maps coupled with the arrangement of the assembled portions is simply beautiful.

Loretta Grayson 

Loretta Grayson

Stay tuned....