I can’t say thank you enough for all the wonderful generosity toward the art room! First a big thank you to the South Boston Community Development Foundation. Their grant is funding animation in the art room and has allowed us to purchase 10 IPad minis and related supplies. Sixth grade is working diligently on producing an animation about South Boston and we can’t wait to share the finished film with you. We also have been blessed with 3 additional angels who have generously donated supplies and a gift card. These donations will allow a wider variety of art experiences and activities!
October has been filled with painting, drawing, collage, monoprinting and sculpture. Kindergarten was very busy drawing skeletons one week, mixing orange paint for their goofy pumpkins and creating collages like Henri Matisse.  Grade 1 did a great impersonation of a scared cats before painting them and their monster close-ups are amazing. In grade 2 students drew giant leaves and used watercolor paints to bring them to life. They also learned how to create mono-prints using cardboard and crayons. Third grade learned about symbolism while looking at “Ladder for Booker T. Washington “by Martin Puryear and then created family portraits using flowers to symbolize the members of their family. Grade 4 continued their landscape art with tree drawings. They have been carefully using horizon lines, texture and diminishing size perspective in their creation. Grade 5 are finishing up their haunted house tunnel pictures before beginning a unit on weaving.
Art Club just learned how to enlarge drawings using grids and have made wonderful animal portrait close-ups. They have also created sculptures from crayons and painted plaster masks. I don’t know who is having more fun, them or me! 
Please remember to visit Artsonia.com and leave a comment for your favorite artist. We are exhibiting more than 600 new artworks since the start of school.

Here is a link to our classroom YouTube page where you can see our animations in progress. We, (yes, me too) have been learning how to use Imotion and Green Screen apps. First, we used our classroom manikins and created a short animation in front of a green screen. Next we combined the animation with a background that we created and photographed.
Now that we are becoming very proficient in the apps we are continuing with cut paper animation and will be updating the site with new videos as they are completed.

We have been exploring line in our art classes these past few weeks. In grade 6 students created op art designs and learned how to shade with color. K2 students discovered monsters on their paper by just adding curvy and zigzag lines. Landscapes in grade 4 used foreground, middle ground and background with a collection of different lines in beautiful watercolors. Stacks of pumpkins were the magical result of touching lines in grade 2 and inspired beautiful fall creations. In grade 3 marker lines created more wonderful landscapes. View finders aided first graders in emphasizing their wiggly line pictures with color. In g rade 5 students use their observational skills to draw their own shoe and transform it with backgrounds.
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Art club has begun and the artists used canvases and easels with acrylic paint this week making awesome name signs.