This week in art! April 22-26

6th Grade:


This week, we began our letter sculpture project!  It was a good thing we learned all about block letters in our first drawing assignment, because we used this knowledge to draw our large letters for our sculptures!  Cereal box cardboard is used to make the basic letter form, which is stuffed with newspaper and taped together with masking tape (how appropriate that our recycled materials project fell right around Earth Day!).

On Friday, our first sketchbook assignment (the one-point perspective name design) was due.  We also pulled out the paper mache buckets and began coating our letterforms!  We'll continue building our sculptures into next week.

7th Grade:


This week was the start of our painting unit.  Students altered digital photos of themselves using Adobe Photoshop Elements software to create 4-levels of value on their image.  The image outlines are transferred onto white paper to be painted.  Before we begin our final paintings, we complete a value scale worksheet that allows us to practice mixing paint tints and shades, and also lets us try out three different color schemes so we can decide which one to use for our final portrait painting.

Our first sketchbook assignment (the two-point perspective surreal landscape) was due yesterday (Thursday).  Be on the lookout for those grades to post soon on Powerschool, and for our artwork to be posted on Artsonia!

8th Grade:


Wow!  Check out how our awesome sculptures are coming along!  We've been working hard this week.  The first half of the week was spent finishing up our armatures for our plaster sculptures, and the second half was spent applying plaster!  To top it off, we even turned in a sketchbook drawing assignment on Wednesday (our "master copy" drawing).  Next week, we'll be finishing up the plaster application and starting a new sketchbook drawing assignment.

In other news...


My "dream come true" story is on the front page of the iPEVO Wishpool site!  I'm not sure how long it will be up for, so you can also view it via this direct link.  The wireless station I won from them is really cool - I'm currently working on dreaming up fun ways to use it in the classroom with students!

Also in other fun news...


Last weekend, I was fortunate to attend the "Soiree 2013" event for the Elmhurst Art Museum!  It's a super fancy fundraiser event for the museum, and Mercedes Benz of Westmont purchased an entire table for the Elmhurst art teachers so that we could attend.  How cool!  There was super yummy food from Cafe Amano, and amazing theatre performers and live music!  I even had to get all dressed up to go!  Yowza!

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.

This Week in Art: March 18-22

Next week is SPRING BREAK!!! Woo hoo!!! I think the teachers are just as excited as the students for this one!  Enjoy your time off!

6th Grade Art:


We finished up our letter sculptures this week, and we've started on our final sketchbook assignment, #3: a manikin drawing.  Students love to pose and play with the manikins in the classroom, so for this assignment we finally get to use them!  Students pose a wooden manikin in action, draw it, and write a sentence to describe what the manikin is doing.  Our goal with this drawing is try to show movement and value - making the manikins look 3-D.  This drawing will be due on Friday, April 5th.

7th Grade Art:


We started (what I think is) one of the most fun projects of 7th grade: "Evolution of an Aluminum Can!"  Students bring in a canned beverage of their choice, and we get to drink it in class while we draw from observation.  Once our first drawing (of the whole can) is finished, we partially crush the can and repeat the process.  Once this second drawing is finished, we completely crush the can and draw it for a third time!  It's fun to challenge our skills at looking at drawing from real life.  This drawing is done in colored pencil (we even pull out the metallic sets for this!) and part of our unit on still life.

8th Grade Art:


This week was the first week of quarter 4!  Can you believe we're in the home stretch of this school year?  Crazy!  On Wednesday, we went to the library 8th period to work on sketchbook assignment #1: draw a scene from your favorite book.  The library is the perfect place to find literary inspiration!  Although the library was already reserved 9th period, many students still went down to check out books for their drawings during that class.  We worked on these pictures Wednesday-Friday, so we'll be ready to start something new when we return from spring break!  These drawings will be due on Friday, April 5th.

In other news...


I won a wireless station for USB document cameras and iPads from the iPEVO Wishpool program!  This is a great program, so be sure to share with any other teachers you know.  Each month, a different item is listed that teachers can "wish" for by signing up and telling iPEVO how this item would be useful in their classroom.  If your wish is selected, the item is sent directly to you at school!  You may remember that I received three bluetooth keyboards and cases for the iPads through this program a couple months ago.  I love iPEVO and all they do for schools!

Our wireless station (once installed; we have to wait until our tech department has some available time to help us) will allow us to view items on the document camera via our ipads - wirelessly!  I can't wait to try it out - I think I might take it home to test out at my house over spring break!  So fun!

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.

Weekly Update: January 28 - February 1st

This week, we have an institute day on Friday, February 1st.  I'm going to be attending a meeting all about using iPads in the classroom, so I'm super excited and hopeful that I'll learn a ton of new ideas for using our art iPads!

6th Grade:
This week, we finished our paper mache sculptures!  I'm not going to post any photos until they're up on our Artsonia gallery - wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, but they're AWESOME!

Our 1-point perspective room drawings (aka sketchbook #2) were turned in on Thursday, so those have been graded and are currently awaiting photography and uploading to Artsonia.

Also on Thursday, we began learning about drawing techniques: hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and doodle.  We'll be using these techniques in our next major assignment, which is a pen and ink drawing!  Exciting stuff coming up!

7th Grade:


On Monday, we started a short still-life drawing unit.  Students brought in canned beverages (soda, lemonade, iced tea, etc) and drew the cans (the best part was getting to drink the soda in class on Monday at school!).  Then, we crushed them 1/2 way and drew them again.  Then, we crushed them ALL the way and drew them a third time!  These drawings will be finished up at the beginning of next week.

On Thursday, we turned in our Op Art-inspired drawings.  These have been graded (check your grade in PowerSchool!) and are awaiting photography and uploading to Artsonia.

8th Grade:


This week was spent on two things: finishing up the clay construction on our clay mugs (they are now awaiting a kiln firing), and starting the planning process for our faux taxidermy animal heads!  Students had to research, find, and print out two photos of their animals: one front view, and one side view.  They then sketched out their vision for their sculptures.

On Monday, we'll begin construction on the armatures for our final pieces.  Also, sketchbook assignment #3 (the "master" copy) is due on Monday, so don't forget!

In other news...

This week brought a super awesome surprise!  The iPEVO company sent us three iPad folio cases with bluetooth keyboards for our iPads!  It was all part of the iPEVO "Wishpool" project.  You can view my wish here.  This company makes the coolest little gadgets, so check them out!

I can't wait to start using these keyboards to write up our artist statements for Artsonia!

Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.