Art
Mrs. Cardinal
WELCOME TO ART!
Welcome back to the art room. School #81 students have been very busy this past month and will not be slowing down any time soon. The eighth grade students spent their first few weeks discussing “treasures.” The students talked about what people treasure and how something that may have no value to one person may have tremendous value to another. They thought about what it is that they treasure and how they could represent it in a clay sculpture. These works will soon be in the glass case in the pre-k – K hallway.
Sixth graders began the year looking at Japanese prints. They talked about how this style of art is not very realistic and looks more like a watercolor wash than a photograph might. The students’ water colored a narrow rectangle of tagboard with one solid color. They then painted a thin stem or trunk and branches. The last step of the project was rolling ink on leaves and printing them on their trees.
Fifth grade students learned about Henri Matisse. Matisse was a famous painter, but late in his life he became ill and could no longer paint. He did however continue to make art. With a few assistants he created paper cut-out collages. Like Matisse, the students created paper cut-out collages of their names and things they liked. The hard part in this assignment was that they could not draw on the paper before cut out anything. The fifth graders had to draw with their scissors. These vividly colored masterpieces are on the bulletin board outside of the art room.
The fourth graders discussed the most famous painting in the world, Leonardo DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa.” After a long discussion the students decided that Mona’s expression depicts sheer boredom. Since women could not work in Italy 500 years ago the fourth grade students rescued her and brought her into the 21st century. Today she could have a job and be anything she wanted and the students drew her in the job they think she would have in 2009. These works will soon be up for viewing.
