The editors at F + W media were kind enough to send me a review copy of Alternative Art Journals: Explore Innovative Approaches to Collecting Your Creativity, by Margaret Peot. I anxiously awaited the arrival of the book and it came today. I love art journals (as you may know) and this book could be a great addition to your resource library. If you click on the link above you can “search inside the book” at amazon. There are several … Read more…
This week, I received two books that had a few of my activities published in them! I responded to a call for lesson plans by Gryphon House and was happy when mine were chosen. These look like fun books for a pre-school or kindergarten teacher. The activities are geared for early childhood. I have been seeking out various outlets for publishing, since I have always wanted to be a writer. It’s also fun to get free copies of the publications … Read more…
Playing with wire Learning about Lines Straight, curved, loopy, wavy, zigzag… Over, under and through A first foray into sculpture
These 3rd grade self-portraits were charming and delightful. We spent two class periods mixing colors for the background. Each student experimented with combining colors to see what would happen. Then, we used construction paper to make the faces and markers to add details. I guided them step-by-step with tips for drawing and placing the features. The students used mirrors when drawing their features.
Hello! Halloween is quickly approaching. It is one of my favorite times of year. Too bad my daughter (3 years old) is scared of costumes and does not like them. She has said a firefighter costume *might* be okay and she might possibly put one on. I’m not doing any Halloween themed after school art classes this year (I have a shrinky-dink one that I am doing this week), but I thought I would re-post some of my fun Halloween … Read more…
Complementary Color Collages by the 1st Grade This project introduces the first graders to complementary colors. I show them the color wheel and I explain how the complementary colors are across from each other on the color wheel. They are the “opposites”. If you mix the two of them together you would get a brownish or grayish color. We talk about the primary/secondary colors and focus on the pairs of red + green, blue + orange, and violet + yellow. … Read more…
This is a lesson I love to teach at the beginning of the year. The first graders create a picture using letters. I show them how draw the letters and stack them, twisting and turning the page, making sure to connect the letters. Below is an example of the shapes formed from the letters. I really loved this one, because even though the boy used letters (a lot of “O’s) to make the design, it is very abstract and not … Read more…
This is one of my favorite kindergarten projects and it is perfect to teach at the beginning of the year. Lines are introduced and we talk about the many types of lines… straight, zigzag, loopy, wavy, etc. Then I show them how they can make dotted and dashed lines, lines that start out wavy and then become spiky and even lines that are made by placing shapes in a row. The kindergartners start with a black marker and draw the … Read more…
Beverley Baird you are the winner of the Gelli Plate! Send me your postal address and I will mail it to you. (I used a random number generator to pick the number 5, for the 5th comment on the blog post.)Links to Check Out:I am LOVING this awesome flip book video all hand drawn. Breathtaking! What do you think about Performance Based Pay? Weigh in at the Art of Education. I need to order this kolaj magazine! I love this … Read more…
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” Andy Warhol The 2nd graders learned about Andy Warhol. We read Getting to Know Andy Warhol, by Mike Venezia and we viewed a short video about the artist. The students drew themselves while looking in a mirror. Then, I photocopied each drawing so the students had multiple … Read more…
A representative from the Gelli Arts company emailed me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to try one of their gel printing plates and of course, I said yes, because I love free stuff. I had seen these on a few different mixed media blogs and my curiosity was piqued, but I shied away from them because of the price. Yesterday, I received two printing plates. One to try out and one to give away to the … Read more…
Are you looking for more ART IDEAS? Did you know there is an Art Teacher Blog Directory on Art is Basic? There are currently 263 art teacher blogs listed. You can spend hours just looking through these links and seeing all the wonderful things happening in art classrooms around the world. Have you added YOUR blog to the directory? I know there are some new bloggers out there who have just started writing about their classrooms this year. And because … Read more…
The 2nd issue of Featuring Magazine is going to the printers. It is ready for pre-order! I am part of the editorial team at Featuring magazine and I’m so excited for the release of this issue. In this issue, I wrote the article titled Mapping It Out, which features the art of Mary C. Nasser, Tofu and Karey Kessler. Each of these artists explores using maps in their own way to tell a story or to make a statement. I … Read more…
The 3rd/4th grade class used a grid format to design their sketchbook cover. I am loving using grids in my personal artwork. I am doing a series of grid mixed media paintings which you can see here, here and here, and oh yeah here too. To prepare for this lesson, I drew a 1 inch square grid on a piece of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. Then, I photocopied it for the class. Here’s a trick.. if you cut … Read more…
A great project to begin the year is a DOT project. The kindergartners read the book The Dot, by Peter Reynolds. I love this book! We also view a slide show of some artworks that use dots (Australian Aboriginal, Seurat). The first day we trace circles on colored construction paper. We use lids, cups and rolls of masking tape. The children cut these circles out and glue them to a white piece of paper. On the second day, they … Read more…
