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: 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! May 19-23

6th Grade Art:



This week in art, we finished up our letter sculptures! Next week, we'll photograph them for Artsonia and get them graded so that they can go home.

Today, we started our final project for art - a class comic book! Our theme this term is "If I was the teacher..." and students will each create one page for our book. The end result should be pretty awesome! We looked at the work of some other comic artists/cartoonists for inspiration.

Also today, we turned in our second sketchbook drawing: a room design in 1-point perspective.

7th Grade Art:


Today was the start of our pop can drawing assignment! Students brought in a can of pop and were allowed to drink it in class while working on an observational drawing of the can. These pictures will be colored using oil pastels. We will work on them all through next week, and they will be due next Friday, May 30th.

The beginning of the week was spent finishing up our monochromatic self-portrait paintings. Those will be graded and uploaded to Artsonia soon! We also have a sketchbook drawing (black and white hand/contour drawing) due next week on Wednesday, May 28th.

8th Grade Art:


This week, we brought our ceramic mugs home! Today, we drank lemonade out of our mugs to celebrate the conclusion of the unit, and took our work with us at the end of class.

We spent the earlier part of the week finishing up our 8-Bit/Excel art unit, and catching up on any other missing work. Students took screenshots of their Excel designs and uploaded the images to Artsonia using "classroom mode" on our laptops. They also wrote short artist statements about their work, explaining the choices that they made in their designs. You can check out our gallery of designs on Artsonia here.

In other art news...


I have some SUPER EXCITING news to share! One of our seventh graders, Jack R, was selected to be a part of the IAEA (Illinois Art Education Association) Student Art Show!

Sixty-two art teachers throughout the state of Illinois submitted over 725 artwork entries for selection, and only 40 pieces are ultimately chosen to be a part of the show. Jack’s observational colored pencil drawing of an aluminum can in various stages of crush was one of only two artworks created by seventh graders in the collection. This show will be on display at the IAEA conference this fall, and at various other locations throughout the state as the show travels from October 2014 through June 2015.

Jack’s work will be professionally matted and framed for the duration of the show, and there will be a reception honoring the winners, their parents, teachers, and administrators on November 8th, 2014 at the IAEA fall conference in Lisle, IL.

Congratulations Jack! What a great honor!

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! October 21-25

Today (Friday 10/25/13) - I will be out of the building so that I can attend the IAEA conference in Lisle.  I'm pretty excited to get to meet up with my fellow art teachers and talk "shop."  I always come up with a bunch of really cool ideas to use in the classroom!

6th Grade Art:


Our letter sculptures are really looking good!  This week, we applied textural designs to the front of our letter sculptures using puffy paint!  Then, we began the first layer of acrylic paint, which will serve as a base coat for our tempera paint "wash," which gives our final sculpture an aged/antique look that really brings out the textures we drew on the front.

Today, students worked on their Sketchbook #2 assignment - the interior room drawing - which will be due this Monday.  If it didn't get finished in class, it's homework over the weekend!

7th Grade Art:


Seventh grade students finally began painting this week (it kinda feels like we've been waiting forever)!  First, we practiced painting value scales in different colors.  This gives us the opportunity to choose from several different color schemes by seeing a "preview" first.  Then, we started painting our final portraits, which could be finished as early as next week!

We are also working on our second Sketchbook assignment (the Op-Art inspired black and white design), which is due this upcoming Monday - so again, if you did not finish it in class, it is HOMEWORK this weekend!  If you do not have Sharpie markers at home, you may use any kind of black markers that you have available (like Crayola, etc).

8th Grade Art:


This was the very first week of quarter 2 8th grade art!  We spent the first part of the week (after introductions and such) starting our first sketchbook assignment, which is a black and white zentangle profile drawing of our faces. Students are filling the space (inside and outside of our heads) with words, symbols, pictures, and patterns that all represent themselves.  These drawings will be due next Friday, November 1st.

We also started planning for our first ceramics project this week!  Students planned out and colored in a sketch of what they would like their glazed clay mug to look like.  These students will also make "mini mugs" as a practice before beginning the larger final mug... but that's next week!

Artsonia permission slips are also due from 8th graders today - even if you turned one in last year - because I will update email/contact information each year.

I still have the un-glazed clay mugs from quarter one students, in case you've been wondering where yours was... the kiln ventilation has still not been fixed, so if I try to use the kiln, it lets hazardous fumes into the classroom (which gives the students and I headaches... not so good!).  Therefore, for the safety of all, I will not glaze fire in the classroom until this matter has been resolved.  Unfortunately, it means we're playing the waiting game until then, so quarter one students will just have to hang on a little bit longer until their projects are ready.  I feel really bad about it, but the matter is now out of my hands - I've done all that I can at my level.

In other news...

Eighth grade Sandburg students from quarter one art classes will have artwork for sale at Elijah's Coffee in downtown Elmhurst!  Our "mini mugs" will be available for $5 each, with all of the proceeds from this sale going to UCCA Elmhurst to support their food pantry.

The sale begins on November 1st, as part of the Elmhurst City Centre "Arte at Night" event, but we will be selling our mugs throughout the holiday season, too!  You can see the full list of participating merchants and their hours on the UCCA site here.

Also this week, the multi-needs class stopped by to make some fun and festive Halloween glitter spiderwebs and spiders made from pipe cleaners and pom poms.  A couple weeks back, we made skeletons out of air dry clay.  I wonder what fun holiday projects we'll be dreaming up next?

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.