4th graders work on One Point Perspective...
Folk Art Animals in Paper Mache -
4th graders were studying animals in their classroom so we created these awesome animal "masks" in the art room. We discussed how folk art may be whimsical, a craft handed down through generations, sometimes (as in Mexican Folk art) very colorful with much repeated patterns and dots but almost always it is a bit abstract in that folk art rarely tries to look realistic. Mrs. White's kids worked many weeks on the paper mache-ing and then painting of these fun animals.
Cezanne-Inspired Pear Mixed Media Collage -
Mrs. White's class put a few class times into these beautiful pear mixed media collage - but it was well worth it. They are awesome! The first step was painting a background in a cool color with some added texture. They sketched their pears and colored them with layers of tissue paper. Their paper collage table was outlined in a glue/paint mixture - as well as some of the artist's pears. The pears by CAMILA will be HANGING IN THE SEATTLE ART MUSEUM THIS FALL! Congrats, Camila!!
Still Life sketching of Fruit in Oil Pastel --
4th graders worked from a lot of fruit set out on the tables. They practiced their understanding of highlights and cast shadows to show form. They colored in oil pastel and used baby oil to blend the colors together.
Watercolor Trees in 3 different shades of Green...
Dia de los Muertos
We discussed the Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead when families celebrated those who have passed. Mrs. White's kids made these amazing skulls with silver sharpies on black. We noticed that most Mexican skull art has flowers, crosses, patterns and lots of organic shapes and dots. Also, we noticed their art was often symmetrical. 4th graders kept all these details in mind with their beautiful drawings.
Value studies and branches -
4th graders learned about the Element of Design that is VALUE. They created a value scale - from white to orange - in a circular shape. We also looked at how branches grow in a Y shape and they then painted a branch and creature silhouette.
COMPOSITION Cats...
4th graders discussed the Element of Design: BALANCE and how objects within the composition can be heavy or light. They created these simple, graphic cats in cut paper and were to have each one coming from a different direction. Then they had to arrange the 4 rectangles until they found a composition that felt balanced with the heaviest (biggest/blackest) cat on the bottom and being aware to keep "light" cats apart from each other as well.
4th Grade Self Portraits —
The first week back to school the kids had so many fun stories and memories of summer to share so they created these self portraits that held up notebook paper listing their summer highlights!