Van Gogh Flowers...

 

Spring is in the air here at school. Even I have spring fever... (like seriously) I introduced Van Gogh to the Kindergarten and read them the biography Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers and Swirly Stars by Brad Buck and Joan Holub. I specifically focused on his flower paintings. The sunflowers and the iris paintings are just lovely. We talked about what impressionism means... I always tell my young students that impressionists put their IMPRESSION in the painting. Not what something really looks like but, the artists impression of the what something looks like.

This was the kindergartners first time using oil pastels in my class. I showed them how they could blend the colors and smear the pastels.

The students were instructed to create a vase full of flowers...using their impression... 

Artwork at the top of post:
Vincent Van Gogh, Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, 1888

scratch board glyphs...

In Spanish class, the students studied Mayan glyphs. After which, they created their names using  glyphs.

They brought their name glyphs to art class and we brought them to life!!

First, the students colored a piece of matte board with crayon. Next, they painted over the crayon with black tempera paint (with a tiny bit of soap mixed in). Thus... we created scratch boards. I like to let the kids make them rather then buying the already made scratch board paper. I think the kids creating the scratch board gives them more ownership of their artwork AND they get to see how the board is actually made.

(sorry no pictures of the process... it was a hectic class)

After the boards are all dry the kids have to use the basic pencil/color pencil name glyph and create interesting patterns and designs. I have the kids lightly sketch their glyph first. They have to be very careful not to scratch the board.

A bunch of the kids drew their glyph tiny in the middle of this big board. CRAZY. Of course I made them redraw:)

Anyway... here they are!

aztec circles....

The next stop for 5th grade Mesoamerica ancient tour is the Aztec culture. We looked at Aztec calendar and talked about the meaning and design of the giant carving.

The students created their own Aztec circles. They had to design the center to be something personal to them. They then created designs around the center that were in the style of the Aztec people.

After they finished designing, they had to transfer their design onto a piece of Styrofoam. We then inked and printed the circles using different color ink and paper.

The kids made 8 prints off of their master plate. They chose 3-5 prints to mount and display.

 

Aztec circles...

re-butt... what!?

So I have this friend name Amy... she is a total rock star!!! Anyway, Amy over heard a conversation in which two college students were talking mad smack about art degrees.... Well that is just unacceptable. This in turn got Amy to create a book project called Artistic Rebuttal. Here is a quote from Amy on the project...

"Now I’m not naïve, I realize that this really is what some people think about art who don’t live artistic lives, but people this young? I thought the youth of this country were more appreciative of art as a lifestyle and a valid career choice. Their sentiments enraged me (and what I have realized about myself is that it usually takes a bout of anger to get me moving), so, in artistic fashion, I want to make a book full of rebuttals to the “art is worthless” debate. That is to say, a book full of “Oh yeah! Art is worthless? Take this!” But with a bit more research and validity, of course :)"

I think this is super important for everyone especially our young generations and just a flat out awesome idea. I asked Amy if some of my students could participate. And of course she said yes... maybe there will even be a children addition!!!


ANYONE CAN SUBMIT A REBUTTAL... if you are interested please check out the website!!!


If you have tons of money and want to help get the book published donate some monnnney!!

Here are a few rebuttals from some of the 229 artists who have contributed...

my rebuttal :)

I had all of my students K-5 and some of my upper school students decided to also participate... Here are a few!! (Please note that I did not assist them at all with this...)

http://artisticrebuttal.tumblr.com/