Monet's Waterlily Collage

First grade created these collages inspired by Monet's waterlily paintings. First we observed several of Monet's artworks and discussed how he painted outside. We discussed the importance of light and how Monet would paint the same subject several times at different times to see how the sunlight affected the colors of his subjects. The girls looked closely at his painting style and the colors he used to make the water. They used watercolor to make their own water and blended several cool colors to create a dimensional background. After the water was dry, they made lily pads out of construction paper and used tissue to make the lilies. 

Warm/Cool Color Weaving

Third grade used painted paper to create these weavings. They were asked to paint one paper with warm colors, and one with cool colors; one was a circular format and one was a striped. The striped painting was woven into the circular painting. 

Watercolor Landscapes with Patterns

Fourth grade had great success with this landscape project. First the class looked at a few examples of landscapes, and we discussed how the parts closest to the viewer seemed to overlap parts farther away. The girls were asked to interpret each component of their landscape however they liked, but they were required to follow the order I gave them. The order given to them was: flowers, water, hills, mountains, sun. Patterns and details were added throughout the drawing, just to make the viewer's eye move around the artwork. Sharpies were used to draw over the pencil drawing, and watercolor was laid over the final drawing.

Air-Dry Clay Birds

Forth grade girls were given a lump or air dry clay and made birds. They learned how to score and slip to join pieces together and painted the birds after they dried with tempera cakes. If they had left-over clay, they could make details like nests or babies.

Paul Klee Buildings

Second grade created these colorful abstracts of buildings using construction paper crayons. After looking at several works by Paul Klee and learning a bit about his life, students used rulers and pencils to draw vertical lines that would become the buildings. They used the width of the ruler, which is about one inch. Negative space was also discussed and the girls were encouraged to make the tops of the buildings end at different points, as well as adding triangles in a few areas. Each "tower" was then divided up into squares and then some squares were filled with "x's" or straight division lines. The whole drawing was outlined in black crayon and then each space was filled with construction paper crayons. 

Fourth Grade Still Life

This is a great drawing project for older elementary students. It covers space, form, color, and composition. Each individual object was drawn independently and later cut out and added to the still life. 

Before the girls chose objects from around the room and drew them, we had an activity on how to draw cubes and cylinders. This gave them a good basis for pretty much every object they drew.  

After drawing the objects in pencil, and coloring them, they traced them in black Sharpie. We discussed space with depth and focused on overlapping and placement to create a deep space. The kids were very proud of their final pieces. 

William Wegman Dogs

This project kept us laughing the whole class. After watching several videos and looking at still photos by William Wegman featuring his Weimararners, we discussed his use of animals and how he used humor to make art. I printed out a color dog head for each girl, and they added a body, coloring it with colored pencil. We had references to pop culture as well as careers. It was a fun project that the faculty and staff at our school loved seeing. 

Owl intaglio Prints

Kids love printmaking. It can however be a long, sometimes messy process, and figuring out how to manage the process can be difficult. I love teaching it and have gotten the process down to make it a pretty painless activity. 

We used owls as our subject and I placed several different pictures of owls on the tables for reference. I used printer paper first because it is easier to transfer a drawing from a thin paper. I gave each girl a foam piece that was 6" X 9" and they traced the perimeter on the printer paper (this helps them make a drawing that is the appropriate size for printing). The girls then drew their owl--vertically or horizontally--and they could crop it if they wanted. We discussed adding detail and they also had to figure out how to fill the background space. 

When their drawings were complete, we taped the image on top of the foam plate. They retraced their drawings, removed the drawing, then used their pencils to retrace the image directly on the foam. Retracing on the foam ensures that the image is deep enough to make a clean print. Make sure your pencils are not too sharp, because they will tear up the foam. 

I have learned after many printmaking projects, that having each child print their own print is not as successful as me just printing them all. I always print one in front of them, and show them all the printmaking tools so that they understand the process, but having 20+ students printing at once has proven to be quite a crazy class. Plus, it takes up too much time, and I only meet with them once a week. If I print them, they are guaranteed a nice dark, clean print. 

First Grade Jasper Johns

After viewing a slide show on artist Jasper Johns, and discussing his style and subject matter, first grade made these expressionistic oil pastel drawings. They first folded the paper in half vertically and horizontally to make the division lines. I had a large stack of stencils for them to trace and make the letters. They were allowed to use any color combination they wanted. 

First grade line activity

First grade made these colorful marks using marker on paper. We discussed a variety of types on lines, looked at artworks that had heavy use of lines and abstraction and briefly discussed color usage/mood. The girls drew their own grid to create the spaces and were told to use a different line design in every space.