This Week in Art: November 3-7

Please note: There are no student bloggers this week due to my absence on Friday for the IAEA convention.

6th Grade Art:

Andrew adds pattern to his classical posed photo.

Today was the last day of art class for sixth grade "B" term classes! We spent our last week of class studying a new artist, Kehinde Wiley. We watched a short clip from the Today show to learn about the artist, and then read some articles in Scholastic Art magazine.

We learned that Kehinde Wiley poses his models in classical poses after Baroque-style portraiture. We chose poses from classic paintings to be photographed in, and then used colored pencil to add detailed patterns to the background of the printed photos, a la Kehinde Wiley. The results were so cool!




7th Grade Art:

This is my work-in-progress... sorry, I forgot to take a pic of 7th graders in action before they left!

Seventh grade students continued to work on their pop can evolution drawings this week, and today (the last day of art for "B" term classes), they were turned in at the end of class. It was fun to get to drink soda in art class on the first day of the project, but even more exciting for me to get to see these observational drawings come to life! I think the seventh graders always surprise themselves with how good these images turn out!

8th Grade Art:

Dylan makes a clay pizza slice, and demonstrates how to securely attach pieces of clay together.

This week, 8th grade students continued to work on their ceramics choice unit. Students had the option to make:

• A monster "pot," with real grass hair planted inside
• A functional glazed mug - dishwasher safe!
• A sculptural or functional box in the style of Robert Indiana
• A figurative sculpture

We've been hard at work on these projects all week. If students finish early, they have the option of creating a second clay project of their choosing - I've been collecting clay inspiration via Pinterest and such, and put all the photos into a clay binder of ideas for students to flip through. Above, you can see Dylan's pizza slice sculpture. This will look really cool when it's fired and glazed!

Next week, we'll finish up our clay construction and get thinking about our next major project, which will involve colored pencils.

In other art news...
Did you know that the Mona Lisa has an Instagram account? It's pretty cool.

I'm out of the building today at the IAEA state conference, where I'm presenting to other art teachers with my husband. Fingers crossed that all goes well!

On Saturday morning, there will be a reception for the IAEA Student Art Show, where 8th grader Jack R. has an artwork in the exhibit! Congrats Jack!

You can follow my IAEA adventures this weekend via Twitter! #iaea14

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in ART: October 27-31, 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Sixth grade students earned the right to wear Halloween costumes today, and that made me really excited since it was the first time in my 13 years of teaching that costumes were actually ENCOURAGED (even if it was only 1/3 of the student population). Hooray for fun times!

6th Grade Art:

(identities have been protected via cute photo stickers...)

"On Monday we watched videos of Dale Chihuly's artwork. On Tuesday we started our very own Chihuly flower design. On Wednesday we finished painting our flowers, and on Thursday and Friday we melted, and took pictures of our finished flowers."

-Maddie J, Period 9

6th Grade Letter Sculptures are on Artsonia for viewing, as well as our final Chihuly Flower Sculptures!

7th Grade Art:

Lorena's pop can drawing

"Hi, in this week of art we have been finishing our epic soup cans! Then on the start of Wednesday we started making soda pop can drawing. (Which I think are incredible.) Hope you enjoy the next post! Bye!!"

-Lorena, Period 5

7th Grade Monochromatic Self-Portraits are now on Artsonia for viewing, as well as our Campbell's Soup Cans in the style of Andy Warhol.

8th Grade Art:


"This week has been the second week of art. Everyday in art we have accomplished the very best we could with the resources we had. The first thing we did everyday was the drawing challenge. This is a challenge to draw a drawing everyday for 40 days. We then started to mold are clay together. This was for the ceramics project. I am making a mug."

- Tyler and Dylan, Period 1

In other art news...

You may be wondering who I am for Halloween this year.



Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: October 13-17

6th Grade Art:

Audrey's block letter sculpture and plan for the rest of her painting design

"Our class had fun this week because on Monday we had no school and on Tuesday and Wednesday we finished up our cereal boxes painting them, and on Thursday and Friday we worked on 3-D letters and how to draw then also we made a little version of our cereal boxes on a piece of paper and drew our design on it."

-Audrey S, Period 8

7th Grade Art:


"Tuesday, we continued to paint our self portraits. Every ones project looks great! So many different colors like: blue, pink, purple, orange, and many more. It took a lot of effort from us to create these portraits. Yesterday (Thursday), I finished my portrait, it looks really cool. For my portrait I used the color magenta."

-Gabi K, Period 5

8th Grade Art:

V.J.'s drawing challenge sketch and ceramics project

"Today is the last of art for eighth grade, and for the eighth graders, our last day in art at Sandburg. This week we worked on finishing up all of our projects. My favorite project was the paper circuit project. I used construction paper and cut out yellow stars, a moon, a dark sky, and a firefly. The firefly lit up just like you would see it on a warm, summer night. Jamie's favorite project was the ceramics project where she made a monster pot. The monster pot looks like a tiki mask and then she put gravel and dirt in the pot to grow grass. It looks very cool! Overall, we had a great time in art this year and hopefully some of us can take art in high school!"

- Jamie and V.J, Period 1

Jamie's tiki ceramics project, before and after firing!

Monster pots, planted with grass seed!

In other art news...


Our Chihuly abstract flower sculptures from Term A art classes are now hanging in the cafeteria! Special thank you to Mrs. Stezowski, PTA president, for coming in and hanging these up for us. As the school year progresses, new 6th grade classes will be adding abstract flowers of their own to this art installation. How cool!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art! October 6-10

6th Grade Art:

a sneak preview of Mia's projects!

"On Monday, we finished building our letters, by using some leftover cereal boxes. Tuesday, we started to paper mache on our letters with, paper towels and this cool/ weird gooey thing! It was fun! On Wednesday, we finished putting paper mache on our letters. On Thursday, we created our own LEGO mini figure! We had an empty LEGO person and personalized them ourselves. On Friday, we finished up our LEGO mini figure. Some people didn't finish paper mache, so they finished them up! This week was full of exciting, and fun projects."

-Mia G, Period 8

7th Grade Art:


"This week in art we did the daily art challenge for one whole day [Thursday]. They were fun, but not as fun as when we transferred our pictures [to get] ready to be painted. The colors are endless for our paintings!"

-Nikki S, Period 4

8th Grade Art:

Will's light up paper circuit artwork

"Hello fellow art people! This week in art was mainly spent building our collages for our light art! I'm making a cat that will have its nose lit up. Other students are making awesome ideas such as a light bulb light up, a motorcycle with its headlight light up, and a fairy with its magical wand light up. This our second to last week in art for this year, so we will be finishing up our art projects next week :( Hopefully the next art group will do as well as we did!"

-Willem C, Period 1

In other art news...

A caricature artist inserted images of Mr. Bean into historic art paintings, and the results are hilarious.

On Thursday, Sandburg art classes had a substitute art teacher when I volunteered as a chaperone at Mr. Leban's school for a field trip in Chicago. We went on an architectural walking tour, and then traveled to Millennium Park to check out the sculpture! It was the best weather ever for walking around in the city. Above are some photos I managed to take during the excursion. It was fun to meet a new group of students and to talk about art with them!

Thanks for another great week!

- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: September 29 - October 3

Welcome to art! This was the first week of art for 6th and 7th grade students in term B art classes!

6th Grade Art:

Zoe assembles her letter sculpture...

"On Monday we all went to our new UA classes. On the first day of art we went over the rules and started binder covers. On Tuesday we had an all day art challenges period. On Wednesday we started cutting out our cardboard letters. On Thursday we started putting together our cardboard sculptures. On Friday we continued putting our sculptures together. I think that art is so much fun. Bye!"

- Zoe D, period 9

7th Grade Art:


"This week was our first class week in art. We learned about about our daily challenges and started our binder cover on Monday. We also started our paintings by taking our photos, putting on all of the filters, printing it out, and started transferring it over using graphite paper."

- Emma M, period 4

8th Grade Art:


We've started a brand-new art unit in class! We're making paper circuits! The tiny LED will be placed behind a construction paper collage piece of art, to strategically illuminate a part of the art (think: a candle, a laser pointer, a light bulb, a reflection... anything that could glow or light up!).

Zaara's drawings and paper circuit.

This week, I talked with Zaara, an 8th grade student in 2nd period art, to find out what she thought of class.

Zaara: "We made drawings. I made a light. I want to make hearts and flowers light up."

In other art news...
I love how social media has made talking to successful working artists today so much more accessible! Check out this interview by Ms. Beckett with artist William Wegman!

Want more? Here's Mr. E. Talks to Dale Chihuly, and Wayne Thiebaud!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: November 4-8

6th Grade Art:


Today was the last day of art for 6th grade Term B classes.  It sure went by fast!  This week was spent creating our class comic book.  Each student was responsible for drawing one page in the final book, and our theme was "Best Day Ever." On the last day of class, we read our final comic book and collected autographs from our classmates!

Good luck on Monday in your next UA class!

7th Grade Art:


This was our last week of Term B art class.  Because our term was cut so short by Outdoor Ed, our usual still life unit (the pop can drawing) was cut short, and we chose to draw one large image of the pop can using oil pastels.

On Thursday, our final sketchbook drawing (comic grid enlargement) was due.  Look for those drawings to show up soon on Artsonia, as well as two other art projects: monochromatic paintings and pop can drawings!

8th Grade Art:


This week was mostly spent on clay, and finishing up our construction on our large clay mugs, which will be fired, then glazed, and then fired again.  On the last day of art (not 'til December!), we will have a hot chocolate celebration using our special new mugs!

We also started our second sketchbook drawing assignment, which is a drawing of a scene from a book.  This assignment is due next Friday, November 15th.

Next week, we will be starting our self-portrait project: students will have to bring in or e-mail me a photo of themselves for this project!  Full details to come on Monday.

In other art news...
The Rijksmuseum Holland had an idea: Let's bring the art to the people and then, hopefully, they will come to see more - at the museum. They took one Rembrandt painting from 1642, The Night Watch, brought to life the characters in it, placed them in a busy mall - and the rest you can see for yourself!



Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

This Week In Art! Oct. 28th - Nov. 1st

6th Grade Art:


We started off this week by turning in our second sketchbook drawing assignment: a 1-point perspective room design. We then finished up our paper mache letter sculptures, and then photographed them for Artsonia! Thanks to the new classroom mode on Artsonia, students were able to use the iPads to take their photos and upload/title their work, all from one device! Be sure to check out our Artsonia exhibits for both assignments to see how the final products turned out!

Tuesday through Friday was spent learning and practicing drawing techniques, such as hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and doodle to show value on a form. Next week, we’ll be utilizing these new skills to create our own class comic book!

Today, paper mache letter sculptures were sent home with students – so be on the lookout for the real deal to arrive!

7th Grade Art:


Seventh grade art classes also started out their week by turning in a sketchbook assignment: an Op-Art-inspired black and white drawing. The rest of the week was used to work on two additional projects: our monochromatic painting, and our third sketchbook assignment. The third sketchbook assignment is a comic panel enlargement using the “grid method” to reproduce an image. This drawing will be due next Thursday, November 7th.

Next week, we will finish up our paintings, and make one more drawing before the last day of art class (next Friday! Eek!).

8th Grade Art:


This week was clay-crazy! On Monday and Tuesday, we made mini mugs as a practice for our larger mug project. Wednesday was spent perfecting our sketchbook drawings (a black and white profile zentangle), which was due in class today. The remaining two days was spent on starting our final large-sized mugs, which will be decorated, fired, glazed, and fired again to make them functional! So cool!

Next week, we’ll be starting our next sketchbook assignment: a drawing of a favorite book scene. Can you tell we’ve got a whole literature-theme going?

In Other Art-Related News…

Tonight is the big “Arte at Nite” event in downtown Elmhurst! You can stop by Elijah’s Coffee and pick up a mini mug made by 8th grade art students for $5 – and all of the money will go to the UCCA Food Pantry! It’s a “win” all-around!

Can't make it to Elijah's tonight?  No worries - our mini mugs will be on sale throughout the holiday season, and you can purchase them at the downtown Elijah's location through January.  All proceeds will continue to benefit the UCCA Food Pantry.



Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp representatives will be visiting Sandburg and holding auditions/tryouts for summer camp scholarships. Any student who auditions will be considered for scholarship aid toward tuition to attend the camp. This visit will take place at Sandburg on November 18th and 19th. You are encouraged to visit Blue Lake’s website at: http://www.bluelake.org to learn more about the camp.

Art students will have the opportunity to audition during mornings and/or during the day by appointment. These appointments will be coordinated at Sandburg by Rico Vazquez, one of our band directors. For further info/appointments, he can be reached via email at rvazquez@elmhurst205.org



A new Art Institute of Chicago exhibit opens November 12! Art + Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine is the theme of this exhibit. Feast your eyes on the rich tradition of food and drink in American art with over 100 paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from the 18th through the 20th century and discover how American artists have used depictions of food to both celebrate and critique everything from the national diet to society and politics.

Thanks for another great week!

-Mrs. L.

This Week in Art! 9.30-10.4

6th Grade Art:

 

Welcome to art!  This was our very first week of art in 6th grade - and for middle school!  It can be hard adjusting to a new school, a whole bunch of new teachers, and expectations for all of the different classrooms.  On the first day of art, I send home an informational letter that includes a permission form for Artsonia - our online student art gallery.  These forms were due today, but students may still turn them in if they haven't done so yet.  Need another copy?  Click on the link above, or visit our 6th grade webpage for additional copies of any/all handouts from class, including grade sheets for assignments!

In class, we are currently working on our first sketchbook drawing assignment, which is a one-point perspective name design.  This finished drawing will be due next week on Friday, October 11th.  You can view examples of past student artwork for this assignment here.

7th Grade Art:

 

This was also the first week of art for 7th grade (UA Term B) students!  Besides the usual "welcome to art" presentation, we started our first sketchbook drawing assignment, which is a surreal landscape drawing that incorporates three boxes drawn in two-point perspective.

We looked at a lot of examples of Surrealism by famous artists, and even watched a cool video about it. We also checked out a free iPod/iPhone app that gives your photos a surreal effect: raining business men in bowler hats, a la Rene Magritte!

These drawings will be due at the end of next week: Friday, October 11th.

8th Grade Art: 

Eighth graders are nearing the end of the quarter... it's coming so fast!  We're working on some 8-Bit art designs on graph paper, which will then be re-created on the computer using Microsoft Excel and printed out.  These printed out designs will be used for one final project, which I'm going to try to keep a secret surprise until the last week!  This 8-Bit design project has two separate graded assignment pieces: the four-graphs design worksheet (pictured above, left) and the printed out Excel design (pictured above, right).

Our third sketchbook assignment (a copy of a "master," or famous artwork) was due TODAY.  Make sure your grades are in order by checking Powerschool every week - you don't want any missing assignments to pile up/sneak up on you at the very end of the quarter!

We will have one more sketchbook assignment to go (that's #4!) before the end of the quarter, which we will begin next week on Monday and Tuesday (10.7 & 10.8).

Lastly, have you checked out your "Pixelated Portrait" on Artsonia?  They're pretty awesome!

In other news...
I would like to give a super-huge THANK YOU to Mrs. Krueger and Mrs. Jardina, who came in this week to help me out by matting a whole bunch of student artwork for an upcoming exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum!  More info to come soon!

Thanks for another awesome week!
-Mrs. L.