This week in art: September 23-27

6th Grade Art:

 

On Tuesday this week, sixth grade students brought home their letter sculptures!  It always feels good to finally finish and take home a project that we've worked on for so long.

Most of this week was spent working on our COMIC BOOK project!  In this 6th grade art assignment, students demonstrated their understanding of four different drawing techniques that are used when drawing in markers or ink:

• HATCHING: lines
• CROSS-HATCHING: crossed lines
• STIPPLING: dots
• DOODLE: curvy, curly lines

These techniques can be used as a “fill” for shapes, or they can be used to show value and shading. Students also explored how to reproduce a variety of textures when drawing, such as wood, grass, or scales in a drawing.  Each student in 6th grade “A” Term art class was responsible for one “page” of our comic book. Our theme was “BEST DAY EVER,” and it was up to the students to interpret what that theme meant for them:
Is your “best day ever” something that has already happened to you?
Is your “best day ever” a wild fantasy, beyond the realm of possibility?
Is your “best day ever” a dream for your future?

Today, on our last day of art, students each received a copy of our class' comic book to take home.  What a fun way to end 6th grade art class!  See you next year!

7th Grade Art:

 

Today was also the last day of 7th grade art classes.  Seventh grade students worked on two different drawing assignments this week:

1. Students completed their "Pop Can Evolution" drawings (you can view them on Artsonia here)
2. Students began Sketchbook assignment #3: a comic square grid enlargement.

At the end of class today, students turned in their comic grid drawings.  Because our class time is so short, I will be grading the sketchbook assignment based off of the amount of work that students were able to complete in class.

I can't believe how fast our 6-week term always flies by!  I'll miss my 7th graders, but I hope to see them all again in 8th grade art!

8th Grade Art: 

Today was NOT the last day of art for 8th grade.  Because 8th grade art is a 9-week class, they will continue to have art until October 18th!

This week, students finished up their pixel portrait drawings.  You can even check out some of the completed images on Artsonia already!

On Thursday and Friday, we began glazing our ceramic projects from the beginning of the quarter.  Glaze works kind of like paint: we use brushes to paint the glaze onto our bisque-fired creations, and let it dry.  The ceramic pieces then need to go back into the kiln for another firing, which makes the glaze coat become glass-like, shiny, bright, and waterproof!  Currently, the kiln is not ventilated properly for glaze firing (the fumes are a little overwhelming, to say the least)... so there will be a little bit of a delay before the pieces actually get fired.

Once our pieces DO get fired, our mini mugs will be up for sale at Elijah's Coffeehouse in Elmhurst!  We will be asking $5 per mug, with all of the money going to the UCC Food Pantry.  More information is coming soon.

Thanks for another awesome week!
-Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: September 16-20

6th Grade Art:

 

Sixth grade students finished their letter sculptures this week, and even photographed and uploaded the images to Artsonia - all by themselves using the art room iPads! Artsonia has a new feature this year, called "Classroom Mode," that allows students to upload their own photos to selected galleries.  The teacher then gets to review/approve photos before they are posted publicly.  It's super fun for students to be able to use the iPads in class!

Today, our second sketchbook drawing (the interior design/room drawing) was due.  So be on the lookout for updated grades and more Artsonia masterpieces real soon!

On Thursday and Friday this week, we started learning about drawing techniques using markers.  These new skills will be incorporated into a special comics-themed assignment, which we'll complete next week - because next week is our LAST WEEK of "A" Term art class!  Eek!  The time went way too fast!

7th Grade Art:

 

Seventh grade students have been hard at work on their "Pop Can Evolution" drawings.  We've been really focusing on our observational drawing skills, and practicing the steps to break down an object into simple shapes in order to draw more realistically.

Next week is the LAST WEEK of "A" Term 7th grade art, so we'll be finishing up our can drawings, and completing a quick version of the sketchbook #3 assignment before next Friday.  I can't believe the term flew by so quickly!

8th Grade Art: 

On Tuesday, eighth grade students turned in sketchbook assignment #2 (scene from a book).  These drawings have already been graded (check your progress on Powerschool!), and are awaiting photography/uploading via Artsonia.

Most of the week was spent working on our "pixel portraits" project.  These colored pencil portraits will (hopefully) be completed sometime next week.  On Wednesday, sketchbook assignment #3 (a copy of a "master" work of art) was introduced, and we spent time finding & printing out artworks to try to copy in a drawing.  This sketchbook assignment will be due on Friday, October 4th.

Thanks for another awesome week!
-Mrs. L.

This week in art! September 9-13

We need your help!  We have a student from Sandburg in the running for Artist of the Week on Artsonia!  Voting ends TOMORROW, so please take a moment (no signup/login required) to go over to Artsonia and vote for Erik1261 from Elmhurst!

6th Grade Art:

 

Sixth grade students are working on two assignments right now.  Our first project is the letter sculpture: we're in the process of completing them - the base coats of acrylic paint are being applied, and next week we'll finish them off with a wash layer in a contrasting color to highlight the texture of the puffy paint decoration.

Our second assignment is sketchbook #2 - an interior design drawing!  Students learned how to construct an empty "room" from a square sheet of paper.  They now have to fill the room with furniture, objects, and art to create a "dream" room!  This drawing will be due next Friday, September 20th.

Our "masterpiece" colored pencil practice worksheets have been posted on Artsonia.  Students insisted that they wanted their work online, even though this was only a smaller practice assignment - so go check them out!

7th Grade Art:

 

Today we finished up our monochromatic portraits, AND turned in our sketchbook #2 drawings!  Don't the paintings look amazing?  They'll be up on Artsonia soon, along with our Op Art sketchbook drawings, so be on the lookout!

FOR MONDAY, seventh grade students should bring in a canned beverage for our still-life project!  Students will be allowed to drink their beverage in class on Monday only.  We will be creating observational drawings of the can in various stages of being crushed.  Choose your beverage carefully, because that's what you'll be drawing!

8th Grade Art: 

Eighth grade students have begun a new project!  Students either brought in a digital (self-portrait) photo, or had a digital photo taken in class.  We used Adobe Photoshop to overlay a grid on the photo and print it out.  Now, we're transferring the colors of each grid square from the photo onto large graph paper; this creates a "pixel" effect on our final drawings.  This project can be tricky for some students, because we're actually "simplifying" the photo - not just trying to reproduce it - and letting go of the details and ideas of what something is "supposed to look like" is pretty challenging!

A quick reminder - eighth grade students have a sketchbook drawing assignment (scene from a book) due next week on Tuesday, September 17th!

Thanks for another awesome week!
-Mrs. L.

This Week In Art! September 2-6

We did not have school on Monday due to Labor Day, so this was a very fast and short week!  The biggest news is that our very first exhibits went up on Artsonia for the 2013-14 school year!  Be sure to check out our school's gallery page to see some amazing student work!

6th Grade Art:

 

Sixth grade students finished their paper mache layers on their letter sculptures this week!  Today, we added textural details with puffy paint, and next week we'll start painting!

This week we also worked on our colored pencil technique by coloring in pictures of famous works of art!  We practiced getting even layers of color and applying medium pressure throughout the picture.  Students that mastered this technique then moved on to shading and blending/layering colors together with colored pencil.  This in-class assignment will be finished on Monday.

7th Grade Art:

 

This week, we've gotten pretty far on our painting project!  On Thursday, we discussed the topic of our next sketchbook assignment: Op Art!  Our paintings AND our sketchbook drawings will be worked on in-class next week, and will be due by Friday, September 13th.  Students will be allowed to choose which assignment they would like to work on each day.

8th Grade Art: 

We sure got a lot done for such a short week!  We finished construction on our clay mugs, so now they're sitting out and air-drying, waiting to be fired!  Then, we started our second sketchbook assignment: a scene form a favorite book!  We discussed requirements for the drawing, and had a couple of class periods to work on it.  This drawing will be due on Tuesday, September 17th.

FOR MONDAY, eighth grade students should bring in a self-portrait photo (in digital file form) via a USB drive or an SD card to be used for our next project.  Students may also email their photos to me over the weekend.  Students without a digital photo on Monday will have to use a photo taken by me in class!

In other art news...

The Elmhurst Art Museum has just opened up registration for their new FALL CLASSES!  In middle school, some of us will fall under the Teen Classes category, and others will fall into the Kids Classes (depending on age).  Some really cool classes I spotted in the "Kids" category include a "Focus on Painting" class (ages 10-14), and an "After School Art Studio" program for ages 8-12.  In the Teen classes, there's an amazing-sounding "Stop Motion Animation" course for ages 11-14!  I think I'd really like to sign up for that one!

Thanks for another awesome week!
-Mrs. L.