P. C. K. C .S. Art Room in Middle School

Impressionism with Fingerpainting

2012-01-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

Seventh Grade studied Monet and his waterlily gardens.

We used our fingers and pallettes to create a waterscape with different layers.

Linoleum Carving of Animals

2012-01-26T00:00:00.004-07:00

Sixth Grade is learning about Albrecht Durer and his textured woodcuts and engravings.Each student chose a photograph of an animal to draw on the 4 x 6 wondercut (linoleum)

First step was to outline the animal in a thin tool.

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Then they decided which areas would be white or solid using a sharpie .

They enjoyed using the carving tools to make thin and thick lines of texture.

A background was decided to add interest and more texture.

Lastly, they each designed their own signature with their initials.

Sketchbook Collage Covers

2012-01-11T17:40:00.004-07:00

Every year I try to have different ways to cover our sketchbooks. This was a multi step process.
After gessoeing our covers we glued down paper of music, books or newspaper. Then we used water soluble oil pastels for the background and added water to make it flow. Our image was glued down next and charcoal outlined it.

Some techniques we did were outlining with charcoal, blending with our fingers the water sol oil pastel (dry), brushing water on the pastels and covering the whole thing with a glue wash to seal the color.

Clay Masks

2012-01-11T17:35:00.003-07:00

In our sculpture class for 8th grade we modeled creative mask designs. They were painted with underglaze and refired. Some are still in the kiln and I will post when they come out.

Cubism in Seventh Grade with Mixed Media

2012-01-11T17:29:00.002-07:00

We were learning about Picasso and how he invented collage. We used chalk, charcoal, paper, acrylic paint and sharpie for this project. They each came out so different from the same still life of a guitar, pear, bottle and grapes.

Different colored mat board was selected for the background. This made the chalk and paper stand out.

Clay Plates in Seventh Grade

2011-12-10T22:48:00.002-07:00

We are studying Picasso in class and how he created pottery during his last years.

Some techniques we used in our plates were:
wax-resist
applique (3D objects)
sgraiffito
slip trailing
Using clay englobes was a new way of decorating the plates before we fired them in the kiln.

Carving animals in Sculpture class

2011-12-04T22:29:00.002-07:00

Eighth graders finished their animal carvings of Egyptian theme. Each student chose an animal that would be included in the tombs of the Pharoahs.

We talked about subtractive carving and drew three views of the animal on our foam brick.
Knives, rasps, and files were used to carve away the unwanted areas.
It was hard for the students until the shape began to take form of their animal.

Lastly, each person chose a rock to simulate the colors on their animal carving. The finished piece was to be like a rock carving such as the Egyptians would have done.

Abstract Leaves and color theory

2011-11-20T23:25:00.002-07:00

Sixth grade used real leaves to trace for this color project. They needed to overlap them to get the effect. We used art stix for the leaves in addition to colored pencils. They had to choose two complementary colors to use in the finished artwork.

We altered our Photos

2011-11-17T00:21:00.003-07:00

In Eighth grade as a final project in Photography we mounted our photos on brightly painted backgrounds. Next we altered them by scratching and sanding with sandpaper. Students also tore the photos for different effects.

Clay Gargoyle sculptures

2011-11-01T23:13:00.005-06:00

Sixth Grade is learning about Gothic Cathedrals and we are making some gargoyles to go on top of the slab boxes we made last week.

Students are using newspaper crumpled inside to make the hollow body of the creature. There were snakes, panda, dragons, narwhale, elephant, Horses to name a few.

Greek Vase Scratchboard

2011-10-25T09:49:00.004-06:00

Sixth grade is learning about classical art. We made our own scratchboard with orange oil pastel and black washable tempera paint. We had to put a thin layer of the black paint over our orange color. When it was dry we used wooden pointed tools to carve designs from greek myths or figures.

Charcoal Landscapes ala Ansel Adams

2011-10-25T09:34:00.007-06:00

Eighth Grade is learning about famous photographers and used charcoal to create different values like an Ansel Adams Photograph.
They used blending sticks, vine charcoal and white charcoal to get the effects.

Self Portraits in correct Proportion

2011-10-05T22:39:00.002-06:00

We are learning about Van Gogh and his portraits in 7th grade. We practiced drawing a face correctly and now trying to draw our own.

Large Flowers O keefe Style

2011-10-01T19:44:00.003-06:00

Here are the beautiful finished flowers the 6th grade completed. They also wrote a Cinquain poem to go with their individual painting. We received many comments from the teachers as they were hanging in the hall. Time to mail them into square one art.

The students used viewfinders to limit their scope of view of the flower they chose. Gardening magazines and catalogs were a good source. We learned about blending and pushing the oil pastels to blend them.

Large Flowers with Oil Pastel

2011-09-19T23:22:00.000-06:00

Sixth grade learned to blend the oil pastels for their Georgia OKeefe like paintings.

Watercolor painting with Black glue outlines

2011-09-19T23:16:00.002-06:00

Seventh Grade chose a bright , colorful bird to paint. First we outlined with glue colored with ink.

After it was dry, we used different watercolor techniques to finish the painting. We are sending these in to square one art next week.

Watercolor Ink Resist with Tempera Paint

2011-09-08T22:33:00.005-06:00

This year the theme was musical instruments with a patterned background.

We used white tempera paint on all the areas we wanted to be colored. Then we painted the whole paper with black ink. When dry we washed the whole painting in the sink and only the ink remained. We could then paint the white areas with watercolor.

Marbling with Chalk

2011-08-31T21:26:00.011-06:00

Seventh Grade was learning about Marbling by trying it out with some drawing Chalk. We used a scraping tool to drop different colored chalk on the layer of water.

We used white cardstock to do this project.

We are going to use these to cover our sketchbooks when they are dry.

We Begin A New Year

2011-08-25T21:35:00.012-06:00

A New Year brings a few changes in the Art Room. Some of my art classes will be held in the multi Purpose room outside the gym. We have some overlap of classes and will alternate locations. If we are doing something messy we will be using the Art room.

I had the fortune to travel this summer to Scandinavia and wanted to share some art. Most of the art was not found in museums but outdoors in the way of beautiful buildings, cathedrals, and sculpture.

My sixth graders would recognize this church as the gothic style. Can you find the rose window and the ribbed vaults?

Picasso's life in a Collage

2011-04-29T22:49:00.008-06:00

Seventh Grade Learned about Picasso's life. We incorporated different types of art into our collage. Each Student had to make a linoleum carving, metal tooling design, watercolor and acrylic painting , sketch an instrument, and make an instrument with paper. They came out fabulous. You can click on them to see the detail.

Acting in Art Class??

2011-04-29T22:45:00.003-06:00

Sixth Grade is learning about El Greco's dramatic paintings.
We divided into groups and posed some of his paintings. The rest of the class sketched the people in their positions.

Printing with Paper Towels

2011-04-24T15:18:00.004-06:00

The seventh grade elective class explored printing with an unusual medium. We dipped paper towels in colors of liquid watercolor after folding and scrunching in different shapes. Next we laid down the paper towel on our paper to be printed. After placing flat objects on top , we Used a brayer to make a print on the paper beneath. The paper towel acted as our ink pad.

Here is the paper towel after we used them to print. They will become collage papers for our book covers.

Mural brightens up the Middle School Commons Area

2011-04-24T15:08:00.008-06:00

All the Middle school teachers were complaining how boring this wall was in the commons area. Our school is having an addition built on and they blocked off the door with this temporary wall while they are adding on. The Eighth grade elective class planned an Earth Day themed mural and spent the week adding lots of color to our school.

The beautiful eagles were painted by Elese.

Chalk Landscapes ala El Greco

2011-04-22T17:07:00.007-06:00

The sixth grade learned about El Greco and his View of Toledo Landscape. We used drawing chalk and dipped in water to get this same electrified effect . I put all the student paintings on a powerpoint and we critiqued each work of art.

Monochromatic Portraits

2011-04-13T23:15:00.007-06:00

The sixth grade has been learning about Rembrandt and how he used dark and light. I took a digital pic of each student and enlarged it . The students had to outline the different values on the copy and transfer to their oaktag paper. We had a lesson on mixing colors before they began to identify the different areas that the color should be tinted.
Here is a copy of the blown up digital pic the students had to sharpie where the values changed. Then they copied onto oaktag with graphite rubbing on the back. Instructions were to paint the highlights first , then the darkest color. Lastly the inbetween colors. We had color value strips made first to help match up the color.

EIghth Grade Field Trip to the Denver Art Museum

2011-04-02T23:22:00.006-06:00

Last Friday we took the whole Eighth Grade to the Denver art museum. We had small groups that were led around by tour guides. We were able to see the new exhibit Bleep. Below is an exhibit where you get to enter the work by sitting on the chair.

This was an unusual exhibit that we were able to walk through. There were many grey foxes that changed color as we walked through the path. The red color changed the color of the foxes.

We visited the furniture gallery and saw some beautiful pieces of furniture. This was called the fainting couch.

Park Meadows Art Show

2011-04-02T23:17:00.003-06:00

Here is our front case display at the school. These are the framed paintings that were displayed at the annual Park Meadows Mall Douglas County Show. There were an asssortment of prints, pastels, watercolor, oil pastel and collage. We will display them at the end of the year art show and then send them home with the student.

Anti-Violence Calendar Contest Entries

2011-04-02T22:45:00.006-06:00

Every year the Douglas County Sheriff Department Sponsors a contest for the middle school students. There are 13 winners from our county so the students have a good chance. The top prize is a laptop or I Pod Touch. Here are some of the entries. We submitted about 20 this year. The students are given some class time to work on the pictures and then they usually finish up at home. The contest is optional but I do give extra credit if they hand one in.

Layered Collage in Seventh Grade

2011-03-25T21:58:00.020-06:00

This was a project we worked on during our pottery wheel rotation. Each student chose a subject for their collage.
First we covered the canvas with patterned papers, magazine pics and tissue paper. Then we painted overtop and wiped off some of the paint to show through.

Then we painted our subject matter over the layered background. Last we added more collage materials as a final layer.

Each collage came out so different.

Illustrated Proverbs as Cartoons

2011-03-25T21:32:00.004-06:00

Sixth Grade Learned Cartooning with body proportion. Then we each chose a proverb or Saying from the Core Knowledge curriculum. They each had to illustrate creatively their Proverb with cartoon figures and composition of backgrounds.

Another day we practiced some calligraphy with letters to write our quote below our painting.

We also learned some new colored pencil techniques for the medium. Art Stixs were used for large areas as well.