The Big Self Portrait Poster Project

As a thank you to parents and the school for supporting me in my Square 1 Art fundraiser, I am going to give the gift of art to everyone. My students are creating self-portraits in various forms. I am going to have grade level posters made of the portraits to give the students. Each student will receive a poster that has their art along with their entire grade level on it. I am also having a mural created with each portrait on it to hang up as a permanent art installation in the school. I varied the types of self portraits the students created. Kinders created Roger Hargreaves inspired "Little Miss" and "Mr. Men" portraits. 1st grade created abstract portraits. 2nd-4th grade created realistic portraits that showed their individual personalities and 5th grade concentrated on their eyes. Some grade levels did my "2 Stars and a Wish" critique after completing the art. They gave great feedback to each other. 

Here are some photos of their incredible and awesome art. 

I love this students interpretation of the eye focused project. He said it didn't show the eyes yet it was all about the eyes. What an amazing thinker. Some students didn't get it but I totally get it. I told him it's an "artist-thing".

Square 1 Art: Fall 2013, 3rd Grade Project

Here is an example of my third grade project for my Square 1 Art fundraiser, 2013. This student is showing so much creativity in her hippo portrait. A bathing suit! I love the humor my students show in their art. It's inspiring. 

Kinders: The Dot, Ish and Sky Color Projects

These are my Kinders very first drawings of the year. We read The Dot by Peter Reynolds and made shape drawings. The following week we made line drawings after reading Ish. This week we read Reynolds book Sky Color and mixed primary colors to make secondary colors. They now understand shape, line and color and will be ready for their first big art project, Pattern Owls. 

Carolyn Braden's TOIE: The Artist Series with Marvin Finn

Keeping up with the arts this summer! Here's a new idea I had for videos; Carolyn Braden TOIE: 

The Artist Series.

I want to capture students attention about artists that may not be as well known to the world. 

I started my series with Marvin Finn. He was a folk artist that I hope many can be inspired by.

Here's the video I created:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CajpzDEsmaQ

Organize Your Art Classroom: Clay Glaze

Organize your art room to have complete project success. Here's how to organize your clay glazes for easier distribution.

More 2nd Grade Portrait Weavings

Not all of these are finished yet, but they are on their way to being fantastic!

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.

2nd Grade Weaving Portraits

I do paper weavings with 2nd grade every year and usually have them turn the weaving into a fish or butterfly. This year I wanted to change it up and had them turn their weavings into portraits. They created clay masks this year so the portraits were a great follow up project connection.