3rd Grade Embroidery: Completed Peruvian Stitchery

A big thank you to Michelle Amos for making this project a success. The 3rd grade have finished their embroideries funded by VSA Kentucky. Their pieces were finished with natural sticks and edge stitching by our artist in resident, Michelle. We are now finished with the project and I am very proud of the creativity of my students.

Carolyn Braden: Received VSA Award

I wrote a proposal to have a local artist come to school and work with my 3rd graders on an art project. My proposal was approved and I received $1,200.00 to make my idea happen. The artist is Michelle Amos who is a local fiber artist. She is working with the students on a Peruvian Embroidery piece. So far, students have learned a little about Michelle, how to thread a needle and create a running stitch. Students will next draw an animal onto burlap and use stitches learned to fill in the animal with bright colors. Peruvian children create embroidery pieces of things they are familiar with. With this project, I hope for my students to understand that other children in the world create art just like them and build confidence in their new art skills learned. I am also thrilled they get to work with a real working artist. Every week I discuss types of jobs students could get with a degree in art. By working with Michelle, they understand you truly can be a full time artist.

Here is my media news release about the project:

LOCAL SCHOOL RECEIVES AWARD: VSA KENTUCKY ARTS INCLUSION

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, JANUARY 2013---Schaffner Traditional Elementary will be working with local artist Michelle Amos due to receiving the VSA Kentucky Arts Inclusion award. The school received the award from the non-profit organization which provides opportunities in the arts for children and adults with disabilities.

Under the guidance of Michelle Amos and Carolyn Braden, the Visual Art Instructor at the school, the third grade classes will work on Peruvian Embroidery pieces. This project has been organized in conjunction with the art curriculum, and is an integral part of the school’s efforts to promote the exploration of self-expression in young students.

Next round of VSA grant Kachina doll project

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VSA Artist in Residency with Michelle Amos!

The gesso stage of the third grade Kachina dolls!

VSA Project Gesso Stage, Third Grade

VSA Project Gesso Stage, Third Grade

VSA Project Gesso Stage, Third Grade

VSA Project Construction Stage, Third Grade

We're Back!

Back in the classroom again.  It's a new year and we have many new projects on the horizon.  My current fifth grade is finishing up their time with our Artist in Resident, Caroline Zama.  The entire project will be a mural (hopefully to be placed in the school lobby) made up of clay tiles depicting the students self-portraits.  The center of the mural will be the Byck sun with the Byck cougar.  The symbols will be made up of tiles that depict the students view of Byck Elementary.  The fifth grade will then complete their Graffiti Arts oil pastel art and then they will visit Egypt by creating pop art pharaoh plaster masks.

My third grade gets an Artist in Resident too!  I am happy to announce I received the VSA grant I applied for. http://www.vsarts.org/ 

Louisville artist Michelle Amos will working with my third grade students to create 3-D Native American Kachina dolls.  That residency starts on January 24th.  

My kindergarten is about to create Japanese Carp windsocks.  We will make them out of paper, watercolor, and tissue paper.  They recently completed their Sole People, which was a printmaking project that introduced how primary colors make secondary colors when mixed correctly.  Through that project, they learned about Jan Ernst Mazeliger.  He was an African American inventor that created the sole lasting machine.  (A machine that was created to attach the sole to the body of shoes).

Each of my first grade classes will be working on different projects to go along with a 1st grade musical we will showcase in the spring.  They will be helping to make background scenes, props, and more for the musical.  

My second grade is working on a weaving unit.  We learn about Kente cloths and create patterned paper weavings.  We then move on to creating yarn weavings on a loom.  They will also create a clay cube head during their visit to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft (field trip!)  The trip is scheduled in February.

Fourth grade is involved this year with a large unit on self-portraits.  They are exploring who they are by creating 3 self-portraits that are all created in different media.  The first is an oil pastel portrait, the second is a photo collage portrait, and the third is a 3-D carved cube portrait.  If time permits, they will also create a wire armature of themselves.  

Discover classes start soon.  This rotation, classes will be for K-2nd grade.  My class will be teaching the importance of muraling, prop, and costume design in theater, television, and movies.  In this class, students will be creating a background for the 1st grade show, a prop, and a costume.   

So, as you can see, we have many things going on in the art room.  Students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade are all working on writing about art.  After each project, students are taking an assessment quiz and creating a personal narrative, a letter, or an evaluation of their art.  We are a truly busy art class!