Thursday, December 16, 2010

Carolyn Braden is Published!

Go to the link below to see the article I wrote for Davis Publications SchoolArts Magazine!


It's a project I did with my fourth grade class a couple of years ago.  It took 2 years for the article to be published (I wrote and submitted it 2 years ago) but it's finally out there!  It was published in the December 2010 on-line edition of the magazine.  If you are interested in new ideas for art projects, get SchoolArts Magazine.  It's the top art resource magazine in the United States.  If you are a teacher, you can subscribe to get the on-line magazine free!  It's the entire magazine, just on-line!  


http://www.davis-art.com/Portal/SchoolArts/articles/12_10-elementary-studio-art-lesson-trapped-in-stone.pdf

Monday, December 6, 2010

Making Art Trading Cards!

We make Art Trading cards during our Art Store days. We make
pastiches of famous art on the front (using artist's works we study in
Art of the Day) and put information about the artist on the back.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Fourth Grade Oil Pastel Self Portraits

Stage four of the artist in residence mural project!

Stage three of the artist in residence mural project!

Stage two of the artist in residence mural project!

Stage two of the artist in residence mural project!

Stage two of the artist in residence mural project!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

New Rotation Starts on Tuesday and Update!

We are finishing up another rotation of classes.  The classes I have now (1, 2, 4, 5) have finished up their License to Vote contest entries.  The selection of who will represent Byck at the LTV Contest Finale in the spring is now underway.  The two entries selected will be finalists and their art will go to compete with other JCPS elementary students.  


5th grade is now working on Graffiti Arts:  The good, the bad, and the beautiful.
4th grade is now working on The Three Me's, a Portrait Unit.  They will create Self Portraits in Oil Pastel, Collage, and 3-D Sculpture.
2nd grade is now working on When Pigasso Met Mootise:  Portraits of the Artists.  (Guided Drawing)
1st grade is now working on The Rainbow Fish Portraits.  (Guided Drawing)


Kindergarten has finished their Watch Me Draw projects and are now working on their Shape Mosaics.  They will then create Piet Mondrian Collages with primary colors, shapes, and lines. 


All classes have been working on their "I Can....." statements.  At the end of every class, students state what they can tell me about what they learned during the class periods.  They use their art vocabulary when telling me their statements.  We are also doing a multiple choice quiz orally as part of their end of class review.  The students are so smart!  Every student raises their hands when we do our reviews.  


The end of the rotation is on Monday and the whole rotation of classes starts over on Tuesday.  I am excited to welcome Caroline Zama, our Artist in Resident!  She will be working with my fifth graders for a week to create clay tiles.  Each student will make 2 tiles.  One tile will be a low relief self-portrait of the student, and the second tile will be a mural background piece.  All the tiles will be put together in a Byck inspired mural when the residency is complete.  Ms. Zama will be working with all 5th graders on this project, as their classes rotate to art.  We are doing the residency via the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft.  I am working to get another residency going for the 3rd grade.  If my grant application is approved (fingers crossed!) students in the 3rd grade will work with Louisville artist Michelle Amos to create Native American Kachina Dolls.  


After the new year, I have planned a field trip for the second grade.  With funds from our wonderful Fund for the Arts 5x5 Grant, the students will go to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, tour the museum, eat lunch there, and create a 3-D clay cube project.  


My student teacher, Lauren Williams, will be finishing her time up in my room on December 1st.  She taught this rotation of classes and had done wonderfully!  She has loved working with your talented students.  Wish her luck in her future goal of being an art educator!
  
So many great things going on this year!  Check back soon for more pics and updates!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Last Year's Fifth Grade "Around the World" Artist in Residency Project

These flags were made with the fifth graders last year. Mrs. Braden coordinates an artist in residency every year with the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. Last year the students made flags that represented what the students wanted to be when they grew up or what their hopes and dreams were for the future.  They dyed the fabric and then embellished the flags.  Students also used words in different languages to communicate their wishes.  
This year we have a clay tile mural planned for the fifth grade to make with during the artist in residency.

Last Year's Fifth Grade "Around the World" Artist in Residency Project

Last Year's Fifth Grade "Around the World" Artist in Residency Project

Mrs. Braden's "Humphrey Gokart!"

If you haven't met Humphrey yet, here he is!  Humphrey is Mrs. Braden's puppet that loves coming to school and help her teach art!  The students love him!  He loves doing reviews with them!  He learns from them and they learn from him.  His sister, Marilyn Bigtoe visits often too.  She is very busy with her ballet classes but she tries to stop by to fill in for Humphrey whenever he's on an audition.  So much fun!

First Grade Eagle!





Yes, this was drawn by a first grader! We did a guided drawing and
they did so great! What talents my students have!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

What Mrs. Braden's Stars Are Working On Now!

My fourth, third, second, and first graders are working on their drawing skills in their current project.  The are "designing" a cover for Louisville Magazine.  The theme is Churchill Downs, and the Kentucky Derby Race.  They are the designers  and they must think of how they would represent Churchill Downs in great way for the cover.  This is a contest for The Derby Museum that I participate in every year. I will be selecting several of the students works and submitting them for the contest.  Even if we don't have winning artwork from our school, the student work I selected will still be put on display in the Kentucky Derby Museum for visitors from all over the world to see!

Kindergarten is about to explore Mosaics.  They will learn the skills of outlining, gluing, and knowing patterns with this project.  

I am about to submit students works for PTA Reflections and for the River Sweep contest.  We have some great art to represent Byck!!!!!

We started our Discover classes on Friday.  My student teacher, Lauren Williams, and I crafted an African Quilt design project.  Since the theme of my Discover class is "Think Big!", they will create a large scale paper "quilt" using African Quilt patterns and colors as their inspiration.   Ms. Williams has control over my Discover class, while I will remain her assistant.  Ms. Williams has taught my kindergarten this week and will continue to take over my classes one at a time as she feels more and more comfortable. 

Rainbows and Dreams!





This year's theme, Rainbows and Dreams, was inspired by one of my
wonderful students!

We Earned WAAS Day!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

New Rotation and Update September 28th, 2010!

It's already time for a new rotation of classes!  My new group starts tomorrow, Wednesday, September 29th.  If your student is in art right now, they will rotate to Arts and Humanities tomorrow. 

During this rotation here are some things we recently started and will finish when this rotation returns to art:

Fifth grade is starting on their Graffiti Arts:  The Good and The Bad project.  We are using oil pastel techniques to make our graffiti appear like it was sprayed on our paper.

Third grade is starting on their Georgia O'Keefe geometric/organic flower project.

Kindergarten started working with patterns.  They met Patty the pattern turtle and are working to color her shell in an ABAB pattern using warm or cool colors.

First grade is finishing their Guided Drawing of the Rainbow Fish.  They will begin their ideas for their upcoming Oil Pastel Symmetrical African Mask project.

Second grade is learning about geometric and organic shapes.  They learned that Pablo Picasso loved geometric shapes and Henri Matisse loved organic shapes with the book When Pigasso Met Mootisse.  They will be learning to draw portraits using ideas from this book. 

Fifth grade will have an artist in residence working with them starting in November.  They will be working on tiles for a tile mural installation for Byck Elementary.  The project will be created with the help of the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft. 

I am currently working on a grant to have Michelle Amos, a Louisville artist, to come work with my third graders on making Native American Kachina Dolls. 

Discover classes start on Friday, October 8th.  My class this year is called Advanced Art:  Think Big!  We will be doing very large scale paintings and other advanced art projects.

I will  be updating again soon about my new addition to my class.  I have a student teacher coming to work and learn in my classroom.  She is from Murray State University.  She will be in my classroom October 4th through early December.