This Week in Art! February 16-20, 2015

6th Grade Art:

Scott drew some emojis as part of his drawing challenge assignment.

"It was the last week of art, which meant *gasp* GRADING TIME! It was a fun week though. We did photographing most of class Tuesday. Wednesday we colored our photo background. We worked on this for the rest of the week. We made our pictures like a Kehinde Wiley painting."

- Scott P, Period 8

Identities have been altered to protect student privacy :)

7th Grade Art:

Emily's "Evolution of a Pop Can" drawing. I love the shading on this!

Today was the last day of art for seventh grade, so we spent the time finishing up our projects as much as possible! Students turned in their completed "Evolution of a Pop Can" observational drawings, and some students even had time to do an oil pastel study of their pop can!

Our pop can drawings can be viewed here on our Artsonia gallery. Enjoy!

8th Grade Art:

Luke's text box sculpture has been glazed and is awaiting a kiln firing to make it bright and shiny!

"This week in art class we worked on glazing our clay projects. We got to choose from four projects, the monster pot,the mug, the word box, and the human figure sculpture. I chose the word box, and I had a lot of fun working on my project."

- Luke C, Period 1

In other art news...


Winter art classes at the Elmhurst Art Museum start this Monday! Check out this link for classes, more information, or to register.


Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art! February 9-13, 2015

6th Grade Art:

Abby's Chihuly-inspired abstract flower!

"This week was really exciting because we got to start a new Chihuly Flower project and we get to hang them from the ceiling of the cafeteria.So to make the Chihuly Flower you need to draw a design of a piece of plastic and paint it what ever color you want but make sure you can see through it. then you need a blow dryer craft thingy from the craft store and a cardboard tube and take the plastic and rubber band it around the tube and start blow drying it and then take it off and there you have it, a Chihuly flower. ;)"

- Abby H, Period 8

7th Grade Art:

Alexsija's "Evolution of a Pop Can" drawing

"This week in art class, we worked on still life drawings. We practiced still life by drawing soda cans. The first day we started by drawing the basic shape of the can, then slowly, we added more detail. We used different shades to show lighter and darker parts of the can, the highlights and the shadows. It taught me a lot about how to draw with dimension and depth."

- Alexsija I, Period 5

8th Grade Art:

Emma's work in progress...

"This week we worked on our pixel portraits, pixellated drawings of our faces. I started mine by working on the areas that were all one color, then began working in rows across the bottom. We worked on these every day this week, and so I've gotten pretty far on it."

- Emma R, Period 1

In other art news...


Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow! I hope you're doing something fun to celebrate! I'm working on this fun (and sort-of Valentine-y) painting of donuts using mostly watercolors, and some other mixed media. Notice the heart-shaped ones? Yum!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: February 2-6, 2015

Today I am roller-skating in PE classes. I stopped briefly during lunch to get the weekly blog post completed for this week! Gotta roll!

-Mrs. L.

6th Grade Art:

There are a lot of "E"s in the sixth grade this term!

Sixth grade art classes finished their letter sculptures this week! Be on the lookout for an Artsonia gallery upload real soon! Today, students will be learning about Dale Chihuly via Scholastic Art magazine, in preparation for our Chihuly "melted" abstract flower project, which we'll work on next week!

7th Grade Art:

via our Artsonia gallery (from earlier in the year)

Students should have finished their portrait paintings by now, and today some students began creating Campbell's soup labels after the work of Andy Warhol. Our "pop" art unit continues into next week, when we start drawing... pop cans! Students should bring in a canned beverage for art class on Monday. We're going to create observational drawings of our can, to help improve our drawing skills!

8th Grade Art:


Eighth grade students just started on their pixelated portrait "selfies" this week! This is a time-intensive project, but they look so cool when they're finished! While students were working on their drawing, Mrs. Leban got all of the clay work fired for the bisque firing... which means that in a week or two, we'll be working on our glaze! Yay!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

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.

This week in art: Feb 17-21

6th Grade Art:


Today we celebrated the last day of 6th grade art with the debut of our comic book! Our theme was "When I Grow Up..." and each student drew a page in the book. Each student will bring home a copy of the book today! This project gave us the opportunity to demonstrate our skills in using hatching, crosshatching, stippling, and doodle drawing techniques when using ink to draw pictures.

Also, be on the lookout soon for a .pdf version of the comic (it'll be on the 6th grade art webpage) which you can download to iBooks and read digitally!

7th Grade Art:


We spent an intense week in 7th grade, working hard on our observational drawings of pop cans. We wanted to accurately represent the shadows and highlights of a crushed can in 3-dimensions. It was hard, but I think that we were pretty darn successful! Finished drawings were turned in today, on the last day of 7th grade art. Be on the lookout for grades to be posted soon, and photographs of the final drawings to be published on Artsonia.

Students who finished with enough time remaining wrote artist statements about their pop can drawings, which will be posted alongside their artwork on Artsonia. I think it's really cool to get a glimpse into the artistic process and to get to read a little on how students reflect back upon their work!

8th Grade Art:


Eighth grade has been hard at work on their pixelated portrait project! It is very labor- and time-intensive! We probably have about a week's worth of work time left before we can call these drawings finished, but we'll be taking a break next week to glaze our ceramic pieces. Then we'll come back to finish these beautiful drawings - I'm so excited by the progress that I've seen so far!

This drawing is challenging for students at different levels for a variety of reasons. Detail-oriented students have a hard time "ignoring" the details and abstracting the face into squares and half-squares (aka the "pixels"). Even students who struggle with drawing can find it hard to look past the parts of the face - "does this LOOK like an eye? will this LOOK like a mouth?" - and just concentrate on the colors in each individual square.

"Trust the process," I keep telling the students. "It works!" And those who do, find some pretty amazing results!

In other art news...
Elmhurst Art Museum has a Family Workshop this Saturday (tomorrow) at 10:30 am with artist Monica Wulfers that is free with your admission! This workshop, inspired by the artist's own work, will keep your brain limber and your neurons firing as you explore the intersection of math and art. Learn about grids, lines, points and number values through drawing and games. Ages 5 and up with adult.

Here is a cool article about artist Judith Braun and how her artwork ended up on the snowboard of an Olympic medal winner in Sochi!



Lastly, Doodle 4 Google 2014 is now open! We'll be drawing designs in class on Monday with the new 6th and 7th grade classes, but the contest is open to ALL students! If you are interested in entering, please print off a form here. I'll gladly submit an entry for any student with a completed entry - the deadline is March 20th!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: February 10-14

6th Grade Art:


This week, we finished our letter sculptures! Students then used the art room iPads to photograph and upload images of their sculptures to our Artsonia gallery on their own - how cool! On Thursday, students brought their sculptures home.

On Wednesday, we began our next (and final) art project: a class comic book! Each student will get to draw one page in our book, and on the last day of art, each student will receive a copy of our comic to take with them. In preparation for this project, we spent time learning about different drawing techniques: hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and doodle, which will be used in our comic drawings. The theme of our class comic book this term is "When I Grow Up..."

7th Grade Art:


This week, we closed out our monochromatic portrait painting project by mounting our paintings to black paper and writing artist statements about our work. This writing will appear alongside our work on Artsonia when it gets published online (probably sometime next week - be on the lookout!).

On Tuesday, we started our "Evolution of a Pop Can" observational still-life drawing unit. Students brought in a canned beverage to draw from observation - naturally, we had to drink the contents as we worked... !!! We will draw the cans in three stages: a full can, a partial "crush," and a full "crush." This drawing will take us all the way to the end of next week, which will be the last day of art for Term D art classes.

Today (Friday, 2/14) was also the due date for Sketchbook #2 - our Op-Art inspired black and white drawings.

8th Grade Art:


Our clay mugs are in the process of being bisque-fired! Round one went through the kiln this week, and next week a second batch will go through! The mini mugs have all been successfully fired, and are awaiting completion of all bisque firings. We'll have a massive glaze-a-palooza and get them all done in one big swoop!



During other times, we've been starting a new project! Our pixel portraits have just begun. Students are using a grid system over a digital "selfie" to create a pixelated colored pencil portrait. This is a pretty intense drawing that takes a lot of concentration and time, but the results are amazing! Check out the results from last quarter on Artsonia for past results.

In other (sort of) art news...

Happy Valentine's Day!

This weekend, I am very excited because I finally get to go see the Lego movie after hearing students talk about it all week. Also, I have tickets to go see Justin Timberlake on Sunday. And we have Monday off of school. This is big deal-level stuff for me.

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art! January 27-31

It's kind of misleading to call this a "week." We were off of school on Monday and Tuesday due to dangerous cold temperatures... and then Friday was a teacher institute day!  So we've had a whopping two days of school this week!  Here's what we accomplished in two day's time:

6th Grade Art:


This week, we started our second sketchbook assignment, which is a drawing of a room that students get to design themselves.  This drawing will be due next Friday, February 7th.

More excitingly, we started applying paper mache to our cardboard letter sculptures!  Check out the photos above of our messy experience!  We'll finish our layers of paper mache next week, and begin the painting process right after that.

7th Grade Art:


This week, we continued our painting unit by finishing our value scale worksheets for practice mixing paint colors in tints and shades.  Then, we began painting our final self-portraits.  We will continue these paintings into next week.

8th Grade Art:


This week was all about clay!  We began practice for our mug project by making miniature mugs, which will be glazed and added to our year-long mini mug sale/project to benefit UCCA food pantry.

Once students finished their mini mugs, they began basic construction on their large final mugs.  We will continue building with clay into next week!

In other art news...
I was asked to be a part of an interview series by Tim Bogatz, an art teacher from Bellevue East High School in Nebraska, called "14 for 2014." I was really honored to be asked to be a part of this! You can read my interview in the series here.

At today's teacher institute day, I got to lead two different sessions for teachers!  In the morning, I taught art teachers all about Artsonia and helped them to start their own school accounts.  Hopefully we'll have more Elmhurst schools participating real soon!  In the afternoon, I worked with Mr. Philipp to teach other Sandburg teachers about using Google Apps in the classroom.  It was really fun to get to help other teachers (who are also my friends!) to use computer tools, which is something that I enjoy doing anyways!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: January 20-24

6th Grade Art:


This week, 6th grade art students turned in their first sketchbook drawing!  Grades have already been posted in PowerSchool, so be sure to go and view your grade online!  Drawings will be handed back after they have been photographed and uploaded to Artsonia, which will hopefully be by the end of next week.

Also this week, we began our first major project: a block letter sculpture!  We are using cereal box cardboard to construct big letter shapes, which will be covered in paper mache and then painted.  This week we focused on the cardboard construction stage.  Students could choose to make any letter of the alphabet!

7th Grade Art:


On Tuesday, seventh graders also turned in their first sketchbook project - their surreal landscapes - which have been graded and entered into PowerSchool.  Images will be uploaded to Artsonia soon.

On Wednesday, we began painting practice for our first major project, which is a self-portrait painting in a monochromatic color scheme.  We practiced mixing paint and creating value scales.  On Thursday and Friday, we took digital portraits and altered them using Adobe Photoshop.  These photos were printed out and transferred onto paper for painting, which will be started next week.

8th Grade Art:


Eighth grade students have begun planning their first major project, a glazed clay mug.  This project is really awesome, because not only is it beautiful - it is functional!  On the last day of art, we will get to drink hot chocolate from our mugs.  What a fun way to celebrate the end of a successful art project!

We also turned in our first sketchbook assignment on Tuesday - our zentangle drawings with a tracing of our profile - you know, the "what's in my head?" assignment.  Drawings have been graded already and are posted on PowerSchool, so be sure to check your grade.  Artwork will be photographed and uploaded to Artsonia soon - hopefully by the end of next week.

In other art news...
I'm roller skating with the PE classes today!  I used one of my personal days to have a sub (Mrs. Miller, a former elementary art teacher from right here in Elmhurst, now retired) come in and cover art classes today while I roller skated in the gym with students as part of their PE unit on rollerskating.  It was so much fun!  And boy I am tired!



...also, here's a photo of Mrs. Sands (of the Elmhurst UCCA) and I from last week when I gave her the money that we raised from the sale of our mini mugs!  Hooray!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: January 13-17

I have to be honest.  This was not my favorite week of art, because we lost half of our week due to MAP computerized standardized testing for reading and math.  Taking students out of art and PE (and other "specials"/UA classes) is, as an art teacher, a decision that I wholeheartedly disagree with.  But you could've guessed that.  I've posted the actual schedule above so that you can see how often we did (or did not) meet this week - if you can decipher the schedule, that is! Ha!

6th Grade Art:


This week, we began our first sketchbook assignment.  We are drawing our names in block letters, and then using one-point perspective lines (diagonal lines that converge at one vanishing point) to make our names look three-dimensional.  Students are encouraged to add lots of pictures, symbols, and patterns to make the designs super creative, colorful, and expressive.

On Thursday or Friday, students had a double period of art class.  We worked on our name designs for both class periods!  Any work not finished by the end of class should have been taken home for homework, as this drawing is due when we return from our three-day weekend on Tuesday, January 21st!

7th Grade Art:

These are sample surreal landscape drawings from last term.  Ours will go up on Artsonia, too!

This week, students worked on their first sketchbook assignment, which is a surreal landscape that incorporates boxes drawn using two-point perspective technique.  It's a natural extension from the one-point perspective lesson we drew in sixth grade.  We spent time in class looking at some really crazy weird surreal artworks, and dreaming up some strange scenes for our drawings!

On Thursday or Friday, students had a double period of art class.  We spent the whole time working our our drawings!  If students did not finish this drawing in class, it should have been taken home for homework.  This drawing is due when we return from our three-day weekend, on Tuesday, January 21st.

8th Grade Art:


On Monday, eighth grade students met in the auditorium to hear presentations from the elective teachers at York high school.  These departments included art, music, family & consumer sciences, industrial technology, and business.  Counselors from York will be coming to Sandburg in early February to help eighth grade students choose classes for next year, so it's really great for students to know about what is available to them at the high school level.  I wish I could take art classes at the high school!

On Thursday or Friday, students had a double period of art class.  We spent the entire chunk of time working on our sketchbook #1 assignment, which will be due on Tuesday when we return from our 3-day break!  This drawing is the profile tracing "zentangle" that we started last week.  This drawing will be our first work of art as eighth graders to go up on our Artsonia gallery!

In other art news...
I have THREE awesome things to share:

1. We raised $205 for UCCA through our mini-mugs sale this holiday season!  I'm in the process of getting the money to them right now.  Way to go, 8th grade!  And an extra-special thank you to Elijah's Coffee in downtown Elmhurst for hosting our mini mug sale during the holiday season!  Today I met with Mrs. Sands to give her the money that we raised!

2. According to this article from io9, people who doodle learn faster! Yayy art!




3. Have you heard of Art Snacks?  It's a subscription box ($20/month) where you receive 4-5 full sized art supplies.  Basically, in their words, "We send you cool stuff to draw with."  It's so popular right now that there's a waiting list!  I just got my invite on Wednesday night, and I signed up right away.  I'm so excited for my first box of art supplies!  What a great idea!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.