Weekly Update: January 28 - February 1st

This week, we have an institute day on Friday, February 1st.  I'm going to be attending a meeting all about using iPads in the classroom, so I'm super excited and hopeful that I'll learn a ton of new ideas for using our art iPads!

6th Grade:
This week, we finished our paper mache sculptures!  I'm not going to post any photos until they're up on our Artsonia gallery - wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, but they're AWESOME!

Our 1-point perspective room drawings (aka sketchbook #2) were turned in on Thursday, so those have been graded and are currently awaiting photography and uploading to Artsonia.

Also on Thursday, we began learning about drawing techniques: hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and doodle.  We'll be using these techniques in our next major assignment, which is a pen and ink drawing!  Exciting stuff coming up!

7th Grade:


On Monday, we started a short still-life drawing unit.  Students brought in canned beverages (soda, lemonade, iced tea, etc) and drew the cans (the best part was getting to drink the soda in class on Monday at school!).  Then, we crushed them 1/2 way and drew them again.  Then, we crushed them ALL the way and drew them a third time!  These drawings will be finished up at the beginning of next week.

On Thursday, we turned in our Op Art-inspired drawings.  These have been graded (check your grade in PowerSchool!) and are awaiting photography and uploading to Artsonia.

8th Grade:


This week was spent on two things: finishing up the clay construction on our clay mugs (they are now awaiting a kiln firing), and starting the planning process for our faux taxidermy animal heads!  Students had to research, find, and print out two photos of their animals: one front view, and one side view.  They then sketched out their vision for their sculptures.

On Monday, we'll begin construction on the armatures for our final pieces.  Also, sketchbook assignment #3 (the "master" copy) is due on Monday, so don't forget!

In other news...

This week brought a super awesome surprise!  The iPEVO company sent us three iPad folio cases with bluetooth keyboards for our iPads!  It was all part of the iPEVO "Wishpool" project.  You can view my wish here.  This company makes the coolest little gadgets, so check them out!

I can't wait to start using these keyboards to write up our artist statements for Artsonia!

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.

Weekly Update: Jan 21-25

This week, we had Monday off in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I think you'll find that we still made an awful lot of art in only four days!

6th Grade:


This week we worked on two different projects.  The first project was our letter sculptures.  We finished applying paper mache, and then added our puffy paint texture layer.  Today, we started the acrylic paint base layer.  Next week, we'll finish up our sculptures with a "wash" layer of tempera paint in a contrasting color.  Awesome!

This week, we also started our second sketchbook assignment, which will be due next Thursday (1/31).  This drawing is a fun "interior design" project where we draw a dream room using 1-point perspective techniques. Did you get a chance to check out our first sketchbook assignment?  They're on Artsonia here.

7th Grade:


This week, we finished up our self-portrait paintings.  Our finished pieces were glued to red paper, which creates a colorful frame.  These paintings will go on display in the library!

Besides painting, we also began our second sketchbook assignment (due next Thursday, 1/31).  It's a black and white design inspired by Op Art and Zentangles.  If you haven't seen our sketchbook #1 Surrealism-inspired landscapes, be sure to check them out on Artsonia!

Lastly, we are starting a new still-life drawing unit next week.  Our project involves drawing an aluminum can in various states of being crushed.  Students are asked to bring in a canned beverage (think soda can, fruit punch, lemonade, iced tea, or seltzer...) to draw on Monday.  The bonus?  Whatever you bring to class, you get to drink on Monday!  So don't forget!

8th Grade:
This week, we almost finished our clay mugs... the clay construction part, that is... we'll probably take a day or so next week to make sure everyone's all caught up so we can let our mugs air-dry for firing.

We spent a class period on Thursday finding images for our second sketchbook assignment (due Monday, February 4th).  This drawing is a master copy of a famous artwork.  Students have the choice to use a grid method to reproduce their image, or they can try to just look at the original and re-draw it.  The grid method takes more work up-front, but is ultimately a little bit easier to master!

Today was an exciting day in 8th grade Unified Arts classes.  We all met together to watch presentations from the elective teachers at York High School and we learned all about the awesome ART classes that students can choose to take at York!  I wish I could go over there and take classes, too!  That would be so much fun!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

Week in Review: Jan 14-18

6th Grade:


This week, students began their 3-dimensional letter sculptures.  This project is a natural extension from our 1-point perspective block letter drawing (aka sketchbook assignment #1, which was due today!) because we took our block letters from 2-dimensional paper with the illusion of depth to an actual 3-dimensional form.

...eh, who am I kidding?  The best part of this project is the HUGE MESS we get to make from the paper mache paste!  It's a slimy, lumpy gel, and we dip our paper strips into it and it gets all over our hands.  Gross.  But also awesome.

7th Grade:


This week, we began our grayscale self-portrait project, which involves taking a photo and altering it using Adobe Photoshop to turn it into a 4-level image.  We then have the challenge of mixing paint to match those 4-levels of black, dark gray, light gray, or white to create a painted version of the image.

These small square paintings look especially good on display all together in a group, so they're sure to show up somewhere around the school real soon!  For a preview, see last term's version of these paintings on Artsonia.

8th Grade:
Our first assignment was to draw a scene from a favorite book (aka sketchbook assignment #1, which is due this Tuesday, by the way!).  Now, we've begun our first major project - a ceramic mug - which will be glazed and used to drink hot chocolate while reading a good book!  Naturally, the theme of our mug designs are of books!  Students could choose a favorite book or genre of books (mystery, romance, fantasy, historical fiction) to decorate their creation.



We've only just begun construction on our mugs, so there's not too much to see just yet.  By next week we should have finished construction and have our mugs out to air-dry for firing in the kiln!

In other news... 
The Elmhurst College District 205 Faculty Art Exhibition is underway!  More details are available here at the EC website.  Feel free to stop by next Tuesday, January 22nd for the reception.  Meet your art teachers and enjoy some free refreshments!  Yayy!

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.

Weekly Update! January 7-11

I'd like to welcome all of the new students to art class!  All six art classes from all three grade levels are brand-new this week!  I hope that everyone had an amazing winter break!

6th Grade:


We started out art class with an introductory project where we drew ourselves as a LEGO minifig!  Then we answered a fun survey about ourselves on the back.  The last half of the week was spent on our first sketchbook assignment: a 1-point perspective design using our name written in "block" letters.  These drawings will be due next Friday, but you can check out some past examples done by term A, term B, or term C on our Artsonia gallery!  By the way, don't forget to turn in your permission slip!  They were due today, but you can still earn credit when you turn yours in.  Need another copy?  Find it here.

7th Grade:
Seventh grade also started art class with a LEGO minifig drawing, but we spent the last half of our week working on 2-point perspective landscape drawings.  This is our sketchbook #1 assignment, and it will be due next Friday (1/18/13).  The theme of this drawing is Surrealism, and we spent time in class looking at famous Surreal works of art for inspiration.  I can't wait to see what crazy images the seventh graders come up with!



Something neat we learned on Thursday while studying Surrealism is a FREE app that you can download for your iPad/iPhone/iPod called "Magritte Your World."  You take a photo using the app, and a Magritte-style animation of raining businessmen in bowler hats is layered over your photo!  It's pretty hilarious.

8th Grade:

On the first two days of class, eighth grade students (like 6th & 7th grade students) drew themselves as LEGO minifigures.  Currently, eighth grade students are at the very beginning stages of an art unit based on the theme of literacy and reading!  We started this theme with our sketchbook #1 assignment, which is to draw a scene from a favorite chapter book.  The idea is to show (via a drawing) what a reader sees in their head when reading a book!  This drawing will be due on Tuesday, January 22nd.

This theme will be carried on to our clay project, which we will begin next week and is also about books!

In other news...
The art faculty of Elmhurst School District 205 are having an exhibition of their own personal artworks! The District 205 Art Faculty Exhibition will be held Tuesday, January 15, through Saturday, February 9, at the Barbara A. Kieft Accelerator ArtSpace at Elmhurst College. The opening reception will be Tuesday, January 22, from 4:30-6:30 PM. Gallery Hours are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 12-4 PM. Call 630-617-3390 for further information, or see the flyer posted on District 205’s Virtual Backpack page. Featured will be the work of: Kathy Bernahl (Lincoln), Rich Edgley (York), Jen Leban (Sandburg), Kelsey Manning (York), Maria Marotta (Emerson), Teresa Neigel (Field and Conrad Fischer), Ashley Skinner (Churchville), Jeune Winchester (Bryan) and Tom Wolfe (York Art Department chair).



I'm going to be exhibiting selected prints from my Sketchbook Project that I participated in in 2011.  I've also made an e-book from all of my drawings!  Want to check it out early?  You can download a copy here to view on your mobile device, like an iPad/iPod/iPhone via the iBooks app.  The file is an .epub format, which I'm pretty sure will work across platforms.  Let me know if you encounter any issues!

Hope to see you there!

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.