Thank You Schaffner: Square 1 Art Fundraiser

I just received my supplies I was able to order thanks to the large check I received from Square 1 Art. The parents at Shaffner are amazing! They purchased many items from the fundraiser and it helped my art program tremendously. 

Here is what I am doing with the funds:

2nd Grade will go to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and create clay masks. 

Every student will receive a poster with their self portrait project on it.

A mural will be created with the students portraits on it and it will be hung in Schaffner as a permanent art installation. 

Metal tiles were purchased for the 5th grade to embellish with tooling techniques and ink. Each square will be put together to create a large scale art piece to be hung as a permanent art installation.

I purchased these art materials for future art projects:

Class set of Crayola watercolor pencils

Class set of Crayola oil pastels

Class set of Crayola color sticks

Class set of tempera cakes

Crayola Tempera paint

Clay tool set

6 boxes of clay

Glazes in various colors

Edging scissors set

Kraft paper

Waldorf supply of beeswax clay

Magnetic architecture set

Watercolor paint refills

Embroidery floss

and more!

Most art supplies are consumable materials, meaning they are used and then gone. I have to replace materials often so having such supportive parents truly helps the students have art materials that help them create amazing art.

Many, many thanks!

5th Grade LVAA Grant Project: In progress!

I have started putting the 5th grade glazed tiles to form our mural. They did a great job of following their glaze maps. I am currently outlining the images to make them pop. Next is firing them in my kiln.

Second Grade Clay Masks: Finished!

I put some of the finished 2nd grade masks on display in our library. Some of them agreed to part with their beloved art pieces for a week. I'm glad they did because the school is enjoying viewing the great projects.

Square 1 Projects Are Looking Great!

The students Square 1 projects are looking amazing! Schaffner students still amaze me every day with their talents! Here is a sneak peek at some 4th graders Pablo Picasso African abstract portraits.

Carolyn Braden's Line Poems

To go with the line project I previously blogged about, here are the line poems
I created.

Harriet Horizontal is the line by the sun.
She stretches across the land, she is so much fun!

Dottie Diagonal slides down the hill just like her friends Jack and Jill.

Carrie Curvy waves up and down, swimming in the ocean is where she is found.

Victor Vertical stands straight and tall from the top to the bottom of a wall.

Zion Zigzag zips very fast going to the top of a mountain back down to the grass.

Carolyn Braden's Kinders: Pretty Impressive Line Art!

Today I started my Kinders out with line art. I named the lines Carrie Curvy, Dottie Diagonal, Zion Zig Zag, Harriet Horizontal and Victor Vertical. I tell the students poems I made up about each line and they repeat after me. We draw Harriet first, then Dottie, Carrie, Zion and Victor, in that order. I do a guided drawing for this, using Microsoft Paint projected on a screen. It's my "magic paper". When they finish the drawing they always know what they drew: a pool with a fence and slide. One said today it looked like a water park.
Then they practiced their coloring skills.
I love doing guided drawings. Their art always turns out great! I always allow for the students to put their own twists on their drawings to make it their own. It shows students that drawings are just lines and shapes put together in different ways.

5th Grade 3-D Accordion Paintings

I am so proud of my 5th graders! They understood this complicated project and the results were amazing! My students rock!

What a Wonderful Idea

Today I painted these boards that will adorn homes that are abandoned and boarded up by the city. They will be filled in with color at tomorrow's Old Louisville Springfest. They will be painted in by kids at the Kids Zone sponsored by Kosair Charities. What a wonderful idea to have the ugly plain boards be beautified and not be such an eyesore in the community.

Kindergarten: Japanese Carp Windsocks

After studying about Japanese culture and Children's Day (May 5th, a day dedicated to children in Japan), we created carp windsocks. We used bleeding tissue paper to "paint" texture onto the fish body. We studied warm and cool colors. They loved seeing their 2-D fish turn into a 3-D windsock.

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft: 2nd Grade Field trip!

With the help of a Target Field Trip grant, the second grade went to the KMAC this week. They viewed multi-media folk art in the current exhibit that focuses on Caribbean influenced art. Prior to their visit, we talked about folk art and looked at many examples. We also discussed Marvin Finn's (Louisville artist) art. They created wooden animals with polymer clay heads. They truly enjoyed their day. They even wanted to stay longer and view more art. I think they really enjoyed being able to touch some of the things on display at the museum like adding onto the community braided rope with fabric scraps and exploring more about the art they saw on the museum's touch screen computers.

Fourth Grade One Point Perspective

As a mini lesson (to prep for our Chinese Scroll Landscapes), I taught my fourth graders how to draw a road using one-point perspective. They did an amazing job! I loved hearing them say "Wow! It's like magic!" as we drew the dotted lines to show distance.

First Grader: A Little Artist!

A first grader drew this! I watched as this little artist looked at the Precious Moments calendar and drew it perfectly. Very impressive!

Upcoming Second Grade Native American Paintings

To prep my second grade for their upcoming Native American project, we discussed the difference between 2-D and 3-D. As a mini pre-project, I had them turn a 2-D tepee into one that is 3-D. They got it!

First Grade Vincent Van Gogh Scarecrows

The original idea for this project came from www.deepspacesparkle.com but I changed it up a little. I added a little touch of texture from Vincent Van Gogh.