Thomas Bland Sculpture of our Guiding Principles

Thursday, November 3, 2011

What a great October!

Hello All!
It has been a terrific month!  I cannot believe how fast the school year is moving along!  You'll notice our sculpture, in front of the school, has some cute, little, jack-o-laterns in front of it.  Thank you Mrs. Poorman and her kindergarteners for supplying a great photo opportunity!

Kindergarten-The boys and girls have finished learning about Vincent vanGogh and the women of Gees Bend, AL.  These gals live on a very secluded island in Alabama where a ferry is their only transportation to civilization.  Living in extreme poverty, they managed to create wonderfully artistic quilts with brilliant colors and very contemporary patterns.  Their quilts have made them famous!  The children learned about the women of Gees Bend and how they saved every scrap of fabric to sew their quilts to keep their families warm.  Their quilt blocks are part of a  paper quilt currently displayed in the hallway outside the art room.

1st grade- Just finished a lesson about Wassily Kandinsky, "The Father of Modern Art".  He is called that because he was the first artist who believed that beautiful lines, shapes, and colors were all that are needed to create great artwork.  His artwork is non-objective!  They did a great job!  When I send artwork home that is more process related than product focused I will often apply a sticker to the back of the work explaining what the lesson was about.  Please check the back of their Kandinsky paper for a sticker!

We are currently learning how to weave using paper.  We'll keep our weavings to add to another project at a later date.

2nd grade-Has finished their lesson about Blue Dog by George Rodrigue.  This is one of my favorite lessons because they do such a wonderful job!  They were asked to draw Blue Dog copying the lines and shapes as they saw them.  It is always fun to see what they have Blue Dog doing or wearing in their artwork.  You know....Blue Dog doesn't have to be blue!

We are currently weaving with yarn on our handmade looms and loving it!

3rd grade-Finished their Jonathan Callicutt artwork and they look amazing!  We all loved this new lesson and I will be sure to teach it again next year.  While working on this lesson, the tenth anniversary of 911 ocurred.  This offered a great opportunity to share a little history with the children.  After all, they were born in 2001!  They know very little about the attacks.  Our Veteran's Day program in on Novemer 10th.  Their artwork will be on display for all to view! 

We are currently studying about Robert Indiana and graphin art.  He was born Robert Clark but changed his name to Robert Indiana in the 1970's.  This was a trend in some artistic circles.  His most famous piece of artwork is the LOVE image.  Did you know he could not copyrite that image because the U.S. government said he couldn't copyrite a word?  Donald Trump was able to copyrite "You're Fired!"  Just think of the royalties he has missed out on.

4th grade-Completed their batiks and they are currently hanging outside the art room.  They did a terrific job!  I hope some of you frame their work or make it inot a pillow or quilt block.  We had such a great time working on this project and the results were fascinating.  Ironing the wax out of the fabric left us with some fun surprises.  Batiking is not an exact art form.  It was an important lesson to learn.

 The kids are currently beginning a lesson about drawing the human face.  I am teaching them a formula for placing the facial features in their proper place.  Next, we will turn this generic face into a self-portrait.