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! 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.

This week in art: August 26 - 30

6th Grade:


In sixth grade, we've been working hard, constructing 3-dimensional cardboard letters.  It was really fun to see how our knowledge of drawing 2-dimensional block letters (from sketchbook drawing #1) could be useful in another art project.  Today (Friday), we began applying paper mache to our cardboard forms.  We'll finish that step next week, and start the decorating process, too!  This week, we also turned in our first sketchbook assignment (it was due Thursday) - so be on the lookout for our first Artsonia gallery uploads coming very soon!

7th Grade:


Seventh grade is well into their first painting project.  On Monday and Tuesday, we used Adobe Photoshop to alter digital portraits that will be used for our paintings.  By Thursday, we began mixing paint colors and practicing painting in value scales.  We explored tints and shades, and saw the sometimes surprising results when colors mix!  By Friday, most students had begun painting their final self-portraits.  Want a preview?  You can check out last year's paintings here.

We also turned in our first sketchbook assignment on Thursday, so be on the lookout for grades to be posted and artwork to be uploaded on Artsonia real soon!

8th Grade:


Look how far we've come on our clay mug projects!  These clay pieces will be fully functional by the end of the quarter!  After the bisque firing, we'll paint our mugs with food-safe glaze, so we can actually enjoy beverages out of them.  Pretty neat.

Today (Friday), our first sketchbook assignments were due.  Stay up-to-date on your art grades via Powerschool, and watch out for our first 8th grade Artsonia uploads very soon!

In other news...


Have you seen our Sandburg student artwork on the "blocks" sculpture in downtown Elmhurst City Centre? It's right in front of Brainfreeze, on the south side of the train tracks!



All of the artwork is from last year's 6th and 7th graders (aka this year's 7th and 8th graders!).  It's a project that's been in the making since last spring!  I was so excited when I finally got to see it in person!

Thanks for another great week!
- Mrs. L.

Week in Review: April 8-12

This was the last day of art for "Term E" art classes (6th & 7th grades).  Monday starts our final group of students for the year - wow!

Also, today after school I will be at the Elmhurst Art Museum for our K-8 Art Exhibition reception from 3:30 to 5:30 pm.  It's so fun to see our students work on display in a real art museum!

6th Grade:


This week was spent finishing up our pen & ink animal drawings.  Students had to incorporate a variety of drawing techniques and patterns into their final images.  They also had the added challenge of mastering two different kinds of pen tips!  One was wide and round, perfect for creating large dotted patterns and bold, wide lines.  The other pen was small and narrow, perfect for fine details and thin line work.  I can';t wait to show off our final pieces on Artsonia!

This week, we brought our letter sculptures home.  Hopefully, your student's work made it all the way home!  If it is suspiciously missing, be sure to check it out on the Artsonia gallery.

7th Grade:


This week, students turned in their final sketchbook drawings (the comic square enlargement) and began one final drawing: an oil pastel enlargement of their pop can (either the first or second stage of the evolution drawing).  It was fun to get to try out a new media, as we haven't used oil pastel in middle school art before. Oil pastel can be easily smudged and blended to create bold shadows and accent colors.  We drew these pictures on black paper for added contrast!  I plan to display these drawings in the school in the next few weeks.

All pop can "Evolution" drawings have been sent home.  If you haven't seen your student's drawing, you can check it out on our Artsonia gallery here.

8th Grade:


This week, we finished up construction on our large mugs, which will be glazed after they are fired.  I also fired all of the "mini mugs" we made last week.  These tiny mugs will look really cute after they've been glazed and decorated alongside the large mugs.

Next week, we'll be starting a new project!  This will allow our clay time to dry before it is fired.  Air dry time is important with clay.  If clay is put into the kiln while it is still wet, it can explode in the kiln, causing damage to any projects around it (besides destroying the original project as well).  So much to remember when working with clay!

In other news...
Now is the time to start thinking about art classes for spring and summer!  If you're interested in working with clay, a fun local business to try is Wild Bird Pottery Studio.  There are youth workshop classes for ages 8-18 after school, and a 5-day summer session that includes working with the pottery wheel.  How fun!

For full details, or to register, visit the Wild Bird Pottery Studio website.

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.

This week in art: April 1-5

6th Grade:


Sixth grade students were VERY busy this week!  We started out on Monday with some drawing technique practice worksheets (we're working on patterns & textures at the moment).  On Tuesday we did some reading about African textile art, which serves as the inspiration for our upcoming patterned animal drawings which will be done in pen & ink - more on that next week!  Wednesday and Thursday were spent looking up animal photos and sketching out our outlines for our final animal drawings.  On Friday, we turned in our final sketchbook assignments: a manikin drawing.

Next week is our last week of Term E!  So hard to believe how quickly time has flown by!

7th Grade:


Seventh grade students are doing a whole bunch of drawing right now!  We are finishing up our "Evolution of an Aluminum Can" drawings (most students finished on Friday).  I'm going to start grading and photographing finished projects this weekend, since our last week is next week and I'll need to get grades in ASAP.  So if you're not finished, make sure you have your can drawing ready to turn in on Monday!

The other drawing we're working on is our third (and final) sketchbook assignment, which is a grid enlargement of a comic square.  We learned about Albrecht Durer and how he used a grid in order to produce more accurate drawings, and also looked at Roy Lichtenstein's comic-book style artworks.  We combined inspiration from the two sources to come up with this result!  This assignment is due on Wednesday, April 10th.

8th Grade:


Quarter 4 is well under way now!  This week, we started planning for our glazed clay mug ceramic project.  As a practice session before beginning our final mug construction, we made "mini mugs" the size of tiny espresso cups!  This gives us a chance to try out basic clay construction (rolling out slabs, wedging, score/slip/smooth to attach pieces) so we'll be more proficient when we begin making the larger version.

Some students did begin their large mugs this week - we'll be working on them all next week, and hopefully finishing up construction (with the designs and handles) and setting them out to dry by then.

Also this week, sketchbook assignment #1 was due today - a scene from a favorite book.  Next week we'll begin talking about sketchbook assignment #2.

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.

Functional Glazed Mugs by Eighth Grade

In Eighth grade this year, we made mugs - functional mugs that can be used to actually drink out of here at school!  The idea is that students can use them in their Language Arts classes during SSR (sustained silent reading) in the library while they drink hot chocolate.  This is a tradition that's gone on in our school for several years now, but typically with styrofoam cups or store-bought mugs brought in from home.

I thought to myself, "How fun would it be to promote reading, visual arts, and being environmentally-friendly all in one project?!"  And the mug project was born.  This is our first glaze firing of the year, and my first glaze firing with students, EVER.  I used Teacher's Palette glazes from Amaco.  I think the final projects turned out really cute!

The theme of the mug design is your favorite book or book genre.  We built these mugs by hand, from slab construction.  We rolled a cylinder, gave it a bottom, and added a handle.  The decorating was entirely up to the students!

I used my Hipstamatic iPhone app to take these photos, which give them a bit of a vintage feel.  I started using my iPhone more frequently for photography since last weekend, when Mr. Leban and I went on a family vacation to the Milwaukee Art Museum.  But more about that soon...

The first firing of the school year.

Seventh and eighth grade students are nearing the completion of their first clay constructions of the year, which means it's time for the first firing of the year!

Seventh grade is working on tiny clay cupcake sculptures that double as keepsake boxes.  This is a project we did in seventh grade last year, too.

Eighth grade is completing an entirely NEW project.  They're making functional mugs that will be glazed (and food safe for drinking), so that they can use their mugs in the library for hot chocolate during silent reading classes!  To keep with the "reading" theme, mugs have been decorated with designs and symbols relating to a favorite book or book genre.