This Week in Art: January 26-30

Today is a teacher institute day; therefore, no student bloggers this week. 

6th Grade Art:


This week, 6th grade students worked on the base, or background coat of their letter sculptures using acrylic paint. Each student picks two colors, and tries to have the two colors blend across from one to the other, creating an "ombre" effect. Next week, we'll begin adding all-over patterns on our sculptures, like the examples pictured above.

7th Grade Art:


We are making good progress on our monochromatic self portraits! We hope to finish these up next week, and even get started on a new project.

8th Grade Art:


This week, 8th grade students completed construction on their ceramic art. After air-drying, they'll be put in the kiln for their first (bisque) firing, where they'll turn white. After that they'll be glazed and fired again. Next week, we'll begin a new project while we wait for the ceramics to dry and be fired.

In other art news...


Crochet club has made a bunch of tiny red hats to be donated to the Elmhurst Hospital for newborn babies. Aren't they the cutest?!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: January 19-23

Guess how many days of art we had this week because of MAP testing...
Did you say "one?"
Then you, my friend, are correct!
Each student had one day (albeit a double period) of art this week. Sheesh.
The good news is that we had the return of student bloggers! Enjoy.

- Mrs. L

6th Grade Art:

Left: Liz's letter "L," covered in half-wet paper mache. Right: a rack of dried letter sculptures.

"Since this week was MAP testing, we only have one day of double period art. But we finished up our papier-mâché letters today. Well, most of us. We're also working on our art challenges from day 15 or less."

- Liz Y, Period 8

7th Grade Art:


"Today we worked with value scales using tints and shades. We had to use a color and make 2 tints and 2 shades, all on a value scale. The hardest part of this, for me, was making the change between values more gradual. I enjoyed working with tints and shades."

- Joey G, Period 4 

8th Grade Art:

Camille's mug awaits firing!

"This week, we worked mainly on adding details to our clay projects. We learned how to balance the moisture level in our clay and how to use different tools to add texture. We are almost ready to fire them all."

- Camille S, Period 1

In other art news...

In case you're wondering, these ARE my actual skates...!

P.E. classes are in the middle of their roller-skating unit right now,and I could not be more excited about it! On Monday afternoon I'll be skating with 6th grade classes, and on Friday, February 6th, I'll be spending the WHOLE DAY in P.E. roller-skating!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: Jan 12-16, 2015

I admittedly am having a hard time having student bloggers on the blog lately due to our out-of-the-ordinary scheduling. Next week won't be much better due to MAP testing... students will only have art class ONE day next week!

So, my apologies for not having more student writing lately. As soon as I can get enough time to grab some student bloggers and get back on track, I will!

- Mrs. L

6th Grade Art:

Abby's super neat letter "A"!

Sixth graders built cardboard block letter forms this week using cereal box cardboard. Everyone got to choose their own letter to create. 9th period has a LOT of letter "E's"! Today (Friday), we started layering paper mache over our forms. Hopefully we'll be able to finish this up next week!

7th Grade Art:

The transfer looks like a big coloring book sheet!

This week, 7th grade students altered their digital portraits using Adobe Photoshop. They then printed them out poster-size, which meant six sheets of paper! The printouts were taped together, like a puzzle, and then transferred onto large white paper using graphite paper. Next week, we will practice painting with tints and shades in preparation for our final painting work!

8th Grade Art:

Jaden rolls out his clay...

This week, 8th graders started working with clay! We finished planning our clay creation (first talked about last week), and on Wednesday, students who had completed a plan were given clay to begin rolling out and constructing their artwork! Students had to watch a how-to video that was unique to their project choice before they started working with clay. Want to watch some of these how-to videos? Check them out on Mrs. Leban's YouTube channel playlist here.

In other art news...


The Art Institute of Chicago has free admission for Illinois residents on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and every Free Winter Weekday (January 5–February 10). Plus, kids under 14 are always free—every day of the year. It’s the best museum deal in town!



Special thanks to Elijah's Coffee in downtown Elmhurst for hosting our crocheted coffee cup sleeves holiday fundraiser! We raised close to $200, which will be donated to UCCA Elmhurst to benefit the food pantry!

Stop by and enjoy the January special at Elijah's Coffee in Elmhurst: from 3:00 pm until closing get a small Hot Chocolate for only $1.79. Make it a Mocha for 70¢ more! Valid at both locations until Jan 31, 2015.

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This (short) Week in Art: January 5-9

Well, this has been a bit of a weird week back! We had school on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday and Thursday, school was cancelled due to extreme cold temps! We're back at it today, but there's a shortened ("extended seminar") schedule for classes, which will also put us a little bit behind. Keep fighting the good fight, and don't forget to bundle up! Here's what went down this week:

(Please note: no student bloggers due to the shortened schedule.)

6th Grade Art:


Welcome back to school 6th graders, and to a brand-new term of art class! Students who have art Term "D" on their schedules started class this week. On Monday, we had our "first day of art" presentation, followed by an introduction to the drawing challenge assignment. On Tuesday, we worked on the drawing challenge, followed by a show-and-tell in front of the class of our artwork.

On Friday, we started sketching and planning for our first sculpture project: block letters! You can view past 6th grade work to get a preview of this project here on our Artsonia gallery. New 6th graders, make sure that you have your Artsonia permission form turned in so that I can feature your awesome work on our online gallery!

7th Grade Art:


Welcome back to school 7th graders, and to a brand-new term of art class! Students who have art Term "D" on their schedules started class this week. On Monday, we had our "first day of art" presentation, followed by an introduction to the drawing challenge assignment. On Tuesday, we worked on the drawing challenge, followed by a show-and-tell in front of the class of our artwork. We also had our photographs taken in preparation for our monochromatic portrait painting project.

On Friday, we watched a demonstration on using Adobe Photoshop to alter our digital portraits in order to prepare for painting. We'll continue this process next week!

8th Grade Art:


Quarter 3 8th grade art students began class this week! (Can you even believe that it's third quarter already? I can't!)

As with 6th and 7th grade classes, Monday was our "first day of art" presentation, followed by an introduction to the drawing challenge assignment. On Tuesday, we worked on the drawing challenge, followed by a show-and-tell in front of the class of our artwork.

Today I introduced our ceramics project to the class, which is a choice project! Students get to pick from four different projects. Homework over the weekend is to decide which project and theme the students want to create! We'll finish planning on Monday, and start working with clay next week.

In other art news...


Over winter break, I was able to do a couple of pretty art-teacher-y things. First, I went to the MCA and caught the David Bowie exhibit in the last few days! It was really great. (They didn't allow photography inside, so you'll have to settle for these outside pics!) I especially enjoyed seeing all of the costumes on display alongside video clips of David Bowie wearing them! How cool!



I also went to the movies and saw "Big Eyes," a Tim Burton film all about Margaret and Walter Keane and the controversy surrounding the true artist behind the big-eyed paintings. Highly recommended!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.