Continuing with the elements of art students have been using SHAPE and Color in their art works.
We’ve been looking at warm and cool colors in grade 5 and 6, secondary colors in grade 2 (of course) and primary and rainbow colors in K2. In grade 4 we learned to draw real trees, stylized trees in grade 6, birch trees in 5th, and we even used a straw and ink to “blow paint” trees in grade 3. Grade 1 used black paint to create the shapes that would become scaredy cats and designed new textiles while printing with sponges on paper.
Once we put the paints away we used cut paper to create Picasso witch collages in grade 4, amazing colorful skies with silhouettes in grade 3, Japanese Notan designs in 5th and in 6th grade learned about the work of installation artist  Suzan Shutan and created their own paper clusters. Don’t let us forget that Halloween was looming over us so we created symmetrical portraits, haunted houses as well as a rogue’s gallery of interesting creatures.
We are starting our exploration of weaving over the next few weeks so check put our projects as I upload them to Artsonia.
 
Art club will be finishing up this week and it’s been a blast. We have been creating animal-like architecture like James Rizzi, using clay to make hand bowls and we even have designed moving robots who will do our drawing for us!

​The art room is back in full gear and we have been very busy.  I am in the process of uploading the latest art to Artsonia so keep checking.

We began the year working with line as both an introduction and a review of the elements of art. 
K2 is still working on drawing monsters and has learned that just by changing a simple line they can make their creature mad, surprised, scared, etc.

First grade has already completed 2 projects, a line landscape and a watercolor painting of fall leaves using red, yellow and blue paint while mixing their own oranges, greens and purples!

In grade 2 we are  painting an abstract design created by using different types of lines. They seem to be enjoing using tempera cakes for the first time.

Students loved looking at a video of one of Sol LeWitt’s conceptual artworks being created by a group of people. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/Gc-c-pYGCrw  They in turn each created an individual directed line picture that was connected to everyone else’s in the class for display on the wall. This week they looked at Aboriginal art and created their own dot painting while listening to traditional music. (please ask them how we made the stencil of their hand)  

In grade 4 students carefully created colorful line landscapes with markers using foreground, middle ground and background. They also had some fun with a “robot” artist when we taped some markers to a wind-up toy and let it draw for us. 

Grade 5 will be using sketchbooks this year and has been designing the covers as well as doing contour line drawings of their shoes and completing the picture with warm color back grounds and cool color shoes.

Looking at surrealist art and learning about Salvador Dali is helping grade 6 complete their observational drawings of their hands by transforming the image into something unexpected.

I am looking for a few used items for the art room for some upcoming projects. 

• If you can spare some old Lego blocks I am hoping to do some printmaking with some of the classes. we only need a shoe box full for a class to print.
• Also, our 16mm movie projector died in the middle of an animation project last year. If you come across a working one in the cellar or attic that you do not need we would love to have it in the art room.
• Bright colored, thick yarns are always on our wish list. October and November are big weaving months in the art room.
• Lastly, I will be loaning out small digital cameras to grade 6 all year long for their yearbook. I’m down to 2 working ones so if you have an old one (especially the ones that take AA batteries) we would be thrilled with the donation. Nothing fancy, so we don’t have to feel bad if it gets dropped accidently.

Thanks in advance for your help.
More art coming soon, stay tuned!

Just a few quick notes about our art classes. All students in grades K2 through grade 6 visit the art room each week. Kindergarten has a 30 minute session, grades 1 through 4 have a 40 minute class and grades 5 and 6 have 80 minutes. Sometimes we complete a project in one class however most art works require more than one day so your child may not always bring an artwork home weekly. It may also be delayed coming home because it is drying, being displayed in school or I haven’t finished photographing it for Artsonia*.
 
I truly believe that everyone is an artist and just needs to learn the elements and principles of art to create, just as we learn the alphabet and sounds phonics to read. In art we will look at ancient art as well as contemporary art and everything in between while weaving, painting, constructing, drawing, animating, etc. I’m hoping by presenting a wide variety of experiences every child will find something that excites them.
 
I hate to ask but if you could be on the outlook while you are cleaning out your attics or closets this year we are in need of the following:

• Old legos or duplos for printmaking (yes we dip them in paint and use them for printmaking))
• An old working 16MM film projector (for our scribble film animations)
• Bright colored yarn remnants for weaving
• Tissues (over 200 children visit the artroom each week, that’s a lot of runny noses)

 
Feel free to contact me [email protected] if you have any questions or comment.
 
Thank you,
Mrs. Putnam
 
 
 
* www.Artsonia.com  is our on-line Art Gallery. Every piece of art your child has created in art since K2 can be viewed on there. Only artwork by children who’s activated by their parents/guardians will be viewable on the site so please make sure you are registered.(please contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns about Artsonia) Our art room receives 20% of all sales on Artsonia which is used to purchase extra supplies for the classroom!

As the school year comes to a close I hope you get a change to check out our student's latest experiments in iPad animations.
www.youtube.com/user/sbcaartroom

Thanks to everyone who attended this year's Art Show. Your continued support reinforces the importance of arts in everyone's life.

• This year’s work included clay food inspired by artist Claes Oldenburg which was created by grade 5.  
• Inspired by the big Matisse show at the Museum of Fine Arts students in grade 2 did their own version of one of two Matisse masterpieces using oil crayons making sure to incorporate objects and patterns.
• In grade 3, students used their knowledge of contrast, scale and perspective to create beautiful compositions of colorful flying watercolor butterflies on black and white backgrounds.
• Artist Jasper John’s paintings of letters were the inspiration for the painted negative space initials paintings by K1.
• After sculpting life-like mice, 4th grade used recycled materials to construct little rooms for the mice to inhabit.
• Before students painted self-portraits in K2 they used mirrors to carefully observe themselves.
• Fluorescent paint circles stamped on black paper provided an outer space background for their collaged paper spaceships.
• Pre-school students were assisted by grade 6 students in creating digital puppets on iPads. 
• After designing illuminations of their initials 6th graders tried metalworking to create a low relief Repoussé.

All art work displayed in the art show will be available for on-line viewing later this week at Artsonia.com.

Grade 6 Terracotta Warriors
Workers digging a well outside the city of Xi'an, China, in 1974 struck upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world: a life-size clay soldier poised for battle. The diggers notified Chinese authorities, who dispatched government archaeologists to the site.
They found not one, but thousands of clay soldiers, each with unique facial expressions and positioned according to rank. And though largely gray today, patches of paint hint at once brightly colored clothes. The soldiers are in trench like, underground corridors. In some of the corridors, clay horses are aligned four abreast; behind them are wooden chariots.
The terra-cotta army, as it is known, is part of an elaborate mausoleum created to accompany the first emperor of China into the afterlife. The young Emperor Ying Zheng took the throne in 246 B.C. at the age of 13.
This is our grade 6 army. As they travel on their path past SBCA their battle is to continue sharing all the great traditions of their catholic faith, family spirit, and academic excellence, skills and values needed to become successful, morally conscious members of society. They have created an army by multiplying themselves as a visual reminder or the power of their faith and instruction from South Boston Catholic Academy.
The original warriors were created in terracotta whereas our students created a self-portrait printing plate and printed it again and again with grey ink on black paper to suggest the clay.

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We’re constantly trying new things in the art room. Looking at new art, using new materials or trying new media is how we stretch our artist’s brain power.  Kindergarten created outstanding owls out of recycled materials and watched a wonderful story about Owl Babies.  Chinese artist Wang Yani inspired grade 1 to create painted monkeys and grade 2 to create awakened lions with sumi brushes and water based ink. In grade 3 students were amazed at the beautiful designs on the shells of box turtles, created their own out of clay and even designed a box room for the turtles. Grade 4 learned about printmaking and transformed their prints into a beautiful kimono complete with and obi.  Grade 5 has been working in self-hardening clay on a project inspired by the work of sculptor Claes Oldenburg. (No photos because we want to surprise you at this year’s art show.) Grade 6 has also been working on a special project for the art show using combining illumination and repousse on special metal sheets. (Again, not photos, we want to surprise you.)
Over the next few weeks students will all be working on projects for the Art Show which will be on May 3, in the school cafeteria. Remember, all work from the art show will also be displayed on Artsonia a day or two after the show. This year we are trying something new and will have preschool work with grade 6 on a special project using our art room iPad minis. (Yes, we have 10 and are looking to get 4 more!)
Please remember to check out our student art work at Artonia.com

​It’s amazing how quickly the days have passed since we returned from Christmas vacation. On return we jumped right into our Architectural unit. Architecture has always been an exciting subject for our students and gives them an opportunity gain new skills and see another application of art in their lives.
Kindergarten began by making their own blue print (we printed with cardboard and white paint on blue paper) and completed the buildings with construction crayons to add color and detail. In grade 1 students created 3d “My Corner of the World” constructions. They were asked to design a personal space that they have or would like to have at home. They also added detail on the back of their constructions which became the “outside” of their homes.
Castles are always a favorite subject so in grade 2 students drew castles incorporating architectural details and learned how to use diagonal lines to create 3D drawbridges. Also creating castles but with an entirely different technique grade 4 used a piece of cardboard to drag paint up their paper. When the paint dried they used sharpies to transform the paint into extraordinary castles, some made of ice and some floating on clouds!
In grade 3 students created 3D pyramids. They used sponges to create brick like patterns on the outside, attached hidden books inside and topped it off with a gold painted clay ring!
Using t squares to insure parallel and perpendicular lines helped both 5th and 6th graders to learn how to create space in 1 point perspective. Students in grade 5 created cities while grade 6 designed bedrooms making sure to send all diagonal lines to the vanishing point.
Coming up next: Celebrating Chinese New Year and Printmaking!

​Congratulations to our artists who had their art printed in the Boston Herald’s holiday edition on Christmas Eve “Through the Eyes of a Child”. The selected artists were: Megan, Molly and Alex C from grade 6, Fiona grade 2, Emma H in K2 and Reilly in grade 3. Great work!

Over the next few weeks the Artroom will be filled with angels, cardinals, snowmen and much more as we gear up for Christmas!

Over the past weeks students took up sewing needles, creating handmade sketchbooks in grade 5 and designing, sewing and tagging "Ugly" dolls in grade 6. Grade 6 also was introduced to the graffiti art of Keith Haring and created their own Haring-like figures.

We watched a couple of wonderful videos about Native American art before grade 3 created their own Winter Counts in response to the art of the Lakota People. Grade 2 wove a star in the middle of their own Dream Catchers and added beads and feathers to complete their creations.

Kindergarten used everyday objects and recyclables to create exciting Found Object Sculptures. In grade 1 we used clay to create pinch pots. After the pots dried they used primary an mixed secondary colors to paint them.

Grade 4 created a scribble film (drawn with sharpies on film leader), part of which can be seen on our sbaaartroom YouTube channel. (If you know of a 16mm projector we can borrow for a day we will be able to watch our entire animation. Our's is broken.) They are now creating flip books on our classroom iPad minis.

These are just a few of art projects students have been working on. Please remember to check out all the amazing art at Artsonia!

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​There has been a whirl of activity in the art room where students have been learning about color and color mixing. K2 students used yellow and red to mix orange for their goofy pumpkins and also played with color combinations with their Kandinsky style collages. In grade 1 black paint was used to create “scaredy” cats with hunched backs and stand-up fur. Primary colors were used to mix secondary colors in grade 2 where students painted beautiful orange pumpkins on a green field under a purple night sky. In order for third grade students to create a “farm with crops” collage, students first had to mix shades of green with yellow and blue paint. They even used the back of their paint brush to scratch designs into the paint and then cut up the different greens for the crops. Very cool pictures and one of my favorite new projects!
We have also been painting in grade 4 After looking at the Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt everyone used gold paint to carefully paint the stylized trees. Next they cut and glued pieces of gold, silver, black and white beaded accents from amazing wallpaper samples that were donated by a parent. (Thank you!) They completed the art work with black marker designs and finally another coat of gold paint for the background.  In grade 5 students used watercolor to paint their “Shoe Trips”. I am looking forward to next helping the fifth graders make their own hand-made sketch books which they will be filling with rough drafts, sketches and drawings.
In grade six students learned about complementary color and used two complements to create symmetrical paper mask collages. For their next project they watched a video about the graffiti art of Keith Haring before they painted their own two-color creations.
We will be starting some weaving projects soon and always appreciate any yarn leftovers you can pass along to us.
If you haven’t had a chance please check out all the art work the children have created at Artonia.com. Remember, if you don’t go to the site and give permission no one can view your child’s art work. If you have any questions or problems with Artsonia,  please email me [email protected]
Again, thank you to our Art Room Angels for their continued support. We gladly accept recyclables, paper, cardboard, samples and anything you think we can turn into art.