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.

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.

This Week in Art: March 11-15

(I'm out of the building today at a special seminar on Common Core standards - at the Art Institute Chicago! - but I scheduled this post late Thursday evening so you'll still have your weekly art room update!)

6th Grade:


We've been working really hard all week on our paper mache letter sculptures.  Monday and Tuesday were paper mache application days, and Wednesday we decorated the front faces of our letters with puffy paint!  So now, we're beginning the painting stages of the project.  An even base coat of acrylic paint is layered with an acrylic wash in a second color - we'll get to that next week!

The other assignment to remember is our 1-point perspective room drawings.  Students had time to work on those today (Friday), and final drawings are due this Monday, March 18th.

7th Grade:


Seventh grade is in the middle of our self-portrait painting project, using four value levels.  Students could choose to go white/black/gray, or utilize a value scale in a chosen color.  Above, you can see some of our practice examples.  This way, we could try out different colors before deciding which to use for our final project, and get used to mixing the colors before applying it to our "good" paper!  For examples of this project from past terms, see our Artsonia galleries here or here.

On Friday, students had some time to work on their Op-Art inspired sketchbook assignment, which is due this Monday, March 18th.  So don't forget to finish it up this weekend!

8th Grade:

Today was the last day for quarter 3 8th grade art classes! I can't believe the year has gone by so quickly!  We spent our last week finishing up projects, like our PaperCritters mini sculptures, and our plaster "faux taxidermy" animal heads.  On Friday, we enjoyed using our glazed clay mugs for some delicious hot chocolate!  

I know I mentioned last week that March is Youth Art Month, so 8th grade students created fun miniature versions of themselves at an easel posing with their artwork!  We're going to put these on display at school to celebrate YAM this year.  Aren't they cute?  I got the idea via Pinterest (here's the post) - of course!

Thanks for another great week!

-Mrs. L.

Week in Review: March 4-8

This week was ISAT testing week!  That means that art classes were very short - less than 30 minutes each day for 7th & 8th graders!  So most of our days were spent on the "less messy" arts, like drawing and using computers!

6th Grade:


6th grade students are working on their second sketchbook assignment (we're taking a hiatus from our letter sculptures, but we'll get back to them next week!) - a "dream room" design that uses our knowledge of 1-point perspective from our first sketchbook assignment.  These drawings will be due on Monday, March 18th (so there's still another week to work on them!).  The photo above is the display of this same assignment from last term's sixth grade art classes.  Don't they look great?

7th Grade:


Seventh grade is also working on their second sketchbook assignment: a drawing inspired by Op Art and Zentangles!  These black and white drawings are intricately patterned and use drawing techniques that we previously learned in 6th grade: hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and doodle techniques.  We also learned some cool new contour line tricks for giving our work a 3-D effect!  These drawings are due March 18th.

8th Grade:


Eighth grade students are using the computers and iPads to create Papercritter sculptures as part of our paper sculpture unit!  We have 15 laptops in the classroom that use the Papercritters website to design and print out our creations.  We also use our three iPads and the Papercritters app to do the same thing!  Because the iPads are so popular in art class, we had a "raffle" to pick which three students would get to use the iPads to make their Papercritters.

Each student is required to design, print out, and assemble one Papercritter for this assignment.  If students finish early, they are allowed to make additional Papercritters just for fun!  These paper sculptures are due this Monday, March 11.

Students are also working on sketchbook assignment #4, which is a design for the cover of the program for our 8th grade promotion ceremony!  Not only is this an assignment for a grade, but the winning design (as voted on by 8th grade teachers) is used for the 8th grade program cover!  Whee!  This drawing is due next Wednesday, March 13th.

In other news...

March is Youth Art Month!  Celebrate by doing something art-minded!


Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.