Resolve to make ART this year!

1/29/2018

Resolve to make ART this year!

The new year brings new art experiences for all grade levels! Scroll down to see what's been happening in ART so far this year!

Creative Paper Mache Trophy Head Sculptures - Studio Art (7th and 8th grade)

This year, studio artists are exploring sculpture as their art form, and paper mache as their medium.

Student artists are learning to work with a partner to generate clever and creative ideas for a creative trophy head sculpture.

Once an idea is settled upon and a detailed sketch is drawn, artist pairs begin to build a newspaper armature for their sculpture. Wire and masking tape are also used to detail the paper sculpture.

Once the armature is complete, students begin to layer paper mache over the armature to give their sculpture a hard shell. Students also use newspaper and art paste to create paper details in their design.

The finished armature is left to dry, and then will be finished in acrylic paint and various other materials to add texture and whimsy to each sculpture.

Look for these amazingly creative trophy heads to be complete by early spring!

Concept sketch by Breanna Hebron

Concept sketch by Morgan McDermott and Lily Bostwick

Concept sketch by Andrew Hopkinson and John Sanford

Student artwork in progress

Mrs. West leads an in-process critique

Digital Self Portrait Paintings - Media Arts (7th and 8th grade)

Media Arts students are beginning the year learning to use a new tool - the drawing tablet! With these tools and some incredible drawing and painting software called ArtRage, student media artists are creating amazing digital self portrait paintings.

Starting with a photograph of themselves, each student is learning to use a combination of Adobe Photoshop and ArtRage to create layers above and below the photo image, allowing them to trace their facial features to create a drawing, then digitally painting the drawing to create a finished painting!

To this painting, students are adding a creative background that communicates something about themselves. The results are stunning!

Look for these to be printed and hung by early February!

Monochromatic Bicycle Compositions in Acrylic - 6th Grade Art

Sixth grade artists combined their powers of observation with an exercise in color to create these beautiful monochromatic bicycle composition paintings.

Students first closely studied and carefully drew a close-up line drawing of part of a bicycle. These drawings were refined and then transferred to a square piece of patterned paper.

These drawings were then outlined in black marker and the negative spaces around and through the bicycles were then painted white, leaving patterns visible only on the bicycle itself.

Finally, students mixed and painted a palette of monochromatic colors into the negative spaces in their artwork and mounted the finished paintings on black paper.

Artworks will be on display in the middle school commons area soon!

Graffiti Name Art - 5th Grade Art

Fifth grade artists are in tha' house and are learning to create some amazing graffiti name art!

To begin, students talked about art that they had seen created in public spaces, in both urban areas and closer to home. We discussed the art form known as graffiti, and talked about the differences between graffiti and vandalism.

We looked at many examples of graffiti, and learned about some artists that began as street artists, such as Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, Shepard Fairey, and Banksy.

Finally, we began dreaming up new ways to draw our own names.

Once we settled on one that we liked, we drew it again, larger, on a piece of heavy tagboard and outlined it in permanent marker.

These were then cut out like a stencil and spray painted using heavily saturated liquid watercolors.

The final step is to mount each name on two layers of colored construction paper choosing colors to complement the painted design.

Look for these to be on display in the building in early February!

Two works by Keith Haring

Two works by Jean Michel Basquiat

Two works by Shepard Fairey

Two works by Banksy

Student name design example

Completed artwork by C. Fess

Panamanian Molas - 4th Grade Art

Fourth grade artists looked beyond our borders to learn about the beautiful Panamanian folk tradition of creating embroidered designs known as Molas. Molas are traditionally created by the Kuna people of the San Blas Islands off the northern coast of Panama.

The word “mola” means “shirt” in the Kuna language, and these colorful and elaborate fabric panels are traditionally worn by Kuna women.

Students created their own original mola artworks in construction paper collage, and learned how to layer and repeat patterns to embellish their designs.
In creating their own unique mola artworks, each student was able to experience a tiny bit of a world outside their own.

Figure Sculpture inspired by Giacometti - 4th Grade Art

Alberto Giacometti with some of his work

An example of a figure sculpture in progress

Fourth grade artists began a unit in art this week that explores figurative sculpture as an art form, and they began this exploration by studying the elongated figure sculptures of Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti.

Giacometti began as a classically trained sculptor, but students learned how exposure to new ideas (African art and Surrealism) and life-altering experiences (WWII) influenced and changed Giacometti's art into the tall, thin figures for which he is known. Students thought about how exposure to his style of art might influence their own.

Using aluminum wire and aluminum foil, student artists will create their own versions of Giacometti's tall, thin figure sculptures in action poses.

Once these armatures are complete, they will be covered with a thin layer of paper mache and then painted using a technique that will imitate the texture of the bronze sculptures of Giacometti.

Look for our finished "bronze" sculptures next month in the elementary commons area and in the cases near the front entrance!

Pirate Self Portrait Collages - Third Grade Art

Third grade artists recently used inspiration from a pirate story written in class to create self-portrait collages of themselves as a pirate!

The art lesson began with a study of facial proportions, and student artists used a mirror to study and draw their own face.

Next, students translated these drawings into cut paper collages of themselves, and then added pirate clothing, hats, and props to complete the artworks!

Their artworks and the stories that inspired them are on display in the elementary commons area. Come check them out!

Drawing and shading three-dimesional solids - 3rd grade art

Mrs. Brutcher's class learning to draw and shade a cone.

For the past few weeks, 3rd grade artists have been learning the art of drawing and shading geometric solids, like spheres, cubes, cones and cylinders. We paid close attention to the direction of the light, and learned about highlights, light areas, shadow areas, core shadows, reflected light and cast shadows on and around the forms. We used this knowledge and the shading techniques we learned in art class to make our geometric solids them look REAL!

Next: 3D Robot Drawings! - 3rd Grade

An example from last year

Once we learned how to shade three dimensional solids, we imagined creating a ROBOT using some of these forms. We wanted to design and draw a robot that would HELP solve a problem in the world. We thought about what our robots could DO. What might be the robot’s PURPOSE? We then created sketches of a robot that could perform that task.

From the sketches, artists created a larger, more detailed drawing of their robot, and added shading to the entire robot as if it were illuminated by a single light source, and adding a background to help describe what the robot does to help our world.

HeARTwork - Kindergarten Art

Kindergarteners are leaning about works of art created by Jim Dine. Dine is an abstract pop artist that LOVES COLOR and HEARTS -lots and lots of HEARTS!

Learning about the bold, bright and electrifying NEON COLORS, students used neon paint to design a colorful abstract background. Students worked their creative freedom to paint in many directions allowing the paint to overlap creating new colors in the process. Next these young artists will refine their cutting skills by cutting out four heart shapes from color construction paper and add even more COLOR to them using oil pastels. Lastly the students will glue their hearts onto their backgrounds! Be sure to come in to marvel at these beautiful masterpieces for yourself!

Work by : Jim Dine

SUN & MOON ~1st Grade
Mexican Folkart Sun and Moons created a strong connection for our first grade artist as they study patterns in nature with their classroom teachers! While understanding the pattern of day and night, students learned thatdesigns and patterns are used to create folkart! These young artists learned about the whimsical & colorful style of Mexican Folkart. Each student created their own drawing of Sun and Moon. Then added small patterns and details to each side. Next we studied the WARM & COOL colors. We used the warm colors to descibe the SUN and used COOL colors to describe the MOON! Last we reviewed the pairs of opposites we studied to create a word boarder around their masterpiece!

Architecture & Printmaking/ Abstract Sculptures ~ 2nd Grade
Below are pictures from our gallery display~ We just wrapped up this amazing architecture project and now we are on to sculptures! Stay tuned for our upcoming gallery show of abstract sculptures!

ABSTRACT SCULPTURES COMING SOON!!!!

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Visual Arts - Stephanie Luzny and Erin West

All K-6 students take visual arts at Riverview. 7th and 8th grade students may elect to take classes in the arts.

Kindergarten, First and Second Grade Art

Cycle 1 art classes focus on building art fundamentals for our youngest artists. K-2 students are introduced to the art elements of line, shape, color, texture, and space and learn art vocabulary to help them describe these elements in the art they encounter. Students create two-dimensional artworks in various dry and wet media, and use clay and paper to create three-dimensional artworks. Students are introduced to art and artists from the dawn of civilization to contemporary art, and learn that art is a language used to communicate ideas that cross distance and time. Students learn to read the artworks of others through the art they create and learn to communicate about themeslves through their own art.

Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade Art

Cycle 2 art classes focus on further developing the art concepts and skills introduced in the cycle 1 classes. 3rd - 5th grade art students hone their art skills by learning to draw from observation, building on their knowledge of the art elements of line, shape, value, and texture. They investigate the element of color through explorations in color theory and color mixing. These students develop their understanding of the element of space through the creation of sculptures in wire, cardboard, paper and found materials, and contintue to investigate art and artists from around the world and from their own backyard.

Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Grade Art

Cycle 3 art classes shift their focus from building art skills to developing an understanding of the creative process. Armed with a firm grasp of art concepts and techniques, students begin to explore what it means to be an artist. Students investigate various possibilities and generate original solutions to each art problem. They are encouraged to select the media and techniques that will help them best communicate their artistic ideas, and spend more time reflecting on art processes and products. These practices prepare students to be independent artists in their final years of middle school and beyond. Most 6th grade students are enrolled in visual art and 7th and 8th grade students may elect to take Studio Art or Media Art.

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Visual Arts
Erin West and Stephanie Luzny