Art feelings continued~

The Rinoceros by Albrecht Durer

This week was a continuation of last where we discussed the other half of texture.  Texture that you can only feel with your eyes!  Students looked at Albrecht Durer a Renaissance painter and engraver that focused on intense detail.  We talked about why printing, engraving and extreme visual texture might have been important during the Renaissance.  We also discussed the making of the dollar bill!  Each one is actually printed by engraving the textured detailed image onto a bed that is rolled with ink.  Each set of bills is pressed onto the bed so hard that it leaves having both a visual and physical texture.  A great way for students to see an art related process at work in their every day world!

Similar to last post, here is a list of what each grade and school completed!
East Mesa K-2:  Stamp making and printing
East Mesa 3-6:  Engravings and printing
Maricopa K-2:  Stamp making and printing
Maricopa 3-5:  Engraving and Stamp making, printing to come
Maricopa 6:  Op Art using color
Maricopa Adv:  Drawing realistic fur to help complete Mascot projects

I can't forget to mention that my younger students also looked at The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to see textures that start out physical but become visual once they are printed!  They love this book!!!

Here is what we were up to this week!

Links:

Albrecht Durer

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/durr/hd_durr.htm

"Making" Money

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-08-10/lifestyle/35491397_1_peach-and-blue-bills-machine

               

The scoop on NSO...

So what is NSO, you ask?!  

N= needs improvement

S= Satisfactory

O (or M)=Outstanding/Mastery

Being that grades just came out and we are starting a new marking period I thought I would take a second to fill parents and review with students on how I come to grade students in my art class.  

First, I am the NEW art teacher at LEA! Students, you got a completely fresh start!  And there is a full quarter left that we will continue getting to know each other!

Secondly, across the boards, elementary and middle school...and even high school levels of  art, grading is based on classroom behaviors, effort, and participation rather than artistic talent.  While I would love to encourage a very talented student with a nice big Outstanding on their report card, I have to encourage all students who enter my room the same way.  Artists of all abilities have the same shot in my classroom!

So...that said, I have told each of my classes (excluding my k-2 kiddo's) that their grades are based on the following:

Am I listening?

Am I participating?

Am I trying my best?

Am I completing my projects?

Many students have also asked if I grade individual projects.  I do not.  I feel that it is important to look for the above items as students work on each project, and I don't want any student to feel I am grading how correct their project is.  I assure them that if they can answer YES to each of the questions above each time they enter the art room they will excel!

Finally, I will be honest...I hate NSO.  I especially hate S!  Parents and students please know I only have 3 options so many students fall into the S category.  This doesn't mean that you aren't an amazing artist!  This just means that I see that you are doing just exactly what you should be doing in my room.  S's are good!  I wish it was a G...  On the other hand if you are receiving N's, look at the questions above and see if there is an area that we need to work harder in.  O's...oh the coveted O's!  O's are for the students that are going above and beyond in class.  They are my students that are eager to help, answer questions and even those who encourage their classmates and who go the extra mile in my room and on their projects.  These aren't always the best artists..(but they have the best chance to become them!)  

That said, please feel free to email me with any questions at jkrug@leadingedgeacademy.com.  I would love to discuss your students potential and I am even open to hearing how I might better inspire them to get creative and love art class!

How does your art feel?

Glue and Pastel - Van Gogh's Olive Trees

This week was a case of plan B...C, and D.  As I worked each lesson plan I made adjustments over and over to the point at which we had tons of different projects going on!  It was interesting to try to adapt each lesson that went...well, not exactly according to plan as a brand new teacher.  But I think after checking out the students texture studies you will agree that all in all it was a great week!  

Let's see, the theme of the week was physical texture - actual texture that you can feel in art.  We talked about Vincent VanGogh and how although he was a painter his paintings were wonderful examples of extreme texture!  We had fun learning our VanGogh facts while exploring physical texture in all different ways!  

LEA East Mesa - K-2nd Grade:  Spring Birds Nests
LEA East Mesa - 3rd-6th Grade:  Animal Letters
LEA Maricopa - Kinder:  Mosaic Eggs & Feathered Friends (Owls)
LEA Maricopa - 1st &2nd:  Clay Texture Spring Eggs
LEA Maricopa - 3rd-5th:  Van Gogh's Olive Trees
LEA Maricopa - 6th Grade:  Op Art (coming soon!)
LEA Maricopa - Adv. Art:  Mascott Redesign (coming soon!)

  

 

 

...and to my student followers, the painting that VanGogh sold in his lifetime was "The Red Vineyard".  It was sold for approximately $1000.00 dollars to a fellow artist friend.

LINES! Crazy Lines!

Harold and the Purple Crayon

This week at LEA we were loopy over lines!  At East Mesa and Maricopa my K-2nd Grades read Harold and the Purple crayon and talked about contour lines (continuous).  Harold went on an entire adventure with just one crayon and a line.  Students followed suit and set off on their own adventures!  They were shocked at just how fun a piece of brown paper and a purple crayon became with just a little imagination!  

My older students at East Mesa got in on the "line action" too!  What a perfect week for Dr. Seuss to have his 109th birthday!  I could not wait to teach the students about my favorite illustrator!  If it weren't for Dr. Seuss I would have never learned to draw as well as I did as a child!  I spent my weekends immersed in a Dr. Seuss book with a pad of paper and a pencil for years!  The students tied their Dr. Seuss and Line Lesson together with awesome birthday cakes perfect for the amazing illustrator!  I didn't get the greatest picture, but the 2nd grade was so excited to have their cakes on display in our room I had to get a shot!  So neat to see students giving up their art for a week just to have it hung up! 

Later in the week the younger students got to try their hand at a little 3-D line work!  They too learned about Dr. Seuss and celebrated by making their own "Who-ville"!  This by far was a favorite project!  The students worked so hard but caught on very quickly as they figured out how to make shapes from their "lines" and how to make them 3 dimensional on the page.  This project was so much fun I shared it with the students in K-2nd at Maricopa as well!  Here are some of the "Who-villes" we created!

 At LEA Maricopa we also explored lines!  The students learned all about different lines and how they differ from shape and form.  They also learned that a line repeated creates visual rhythm   We practiced making visual music with our Crazy Hair projects!  They students were really challenged to find 10 different line types and create a rhythm with them.  Check out what they came up with!

AND SOME K-2nd...

My Advanced Art class at LEA Maricopa also explored line.  They created "Imagine" Portraits.  This project was really neat for me as a teacher.  The project started out going in one direction and with each class really evolved with the students opinion in mind.  I am really enjoying getting to know this group better each class.  There is so much talent and such a broad range of interests I am hoping that as we finish out the year they will all not only learn some valuable drawing techniques that they will use through out the years, but get to create some really neat things that they love!  We were really lucky to get sketch books for each student in the class and I am hoping they have gotten a few minutes over spring break to do a little art!  Here is a peek at the portrait/line work that these students did!

Next week the students are going to learn texture by taking a look at Van Gogh!  They will get to experience the difference between implied texture and actual texture all while getting ready for spring!  6th Grade in Maricopa is going to try their hand at Op Art and my Advanced students will work on some mascott revamping!  I can't wait!

Artist links for this week:
Keith Haring
http://www.haring.com/!/about-haring#.UT_aCNZOOtM

Paul Klee
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/klee/hd_klee.htm

Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
http://www.catinthehat.org/history.htm

Oh wait!  How could I forget!!!  The students also learned about Ralph Stedman (a little of a carry over from last week)! http://www.ralphsteadman.com/
 They used ink blots that they had little control over to create a pen and ink piece that conveyed a feeling, direction, or style.  The kids were a bit hesitant at first and I will admit many looked at me like I was a "crazy artist", but they gave it a shot and I caught them asking if we could do the same project again the next day!  One we will revisit for sure!  Check it out!