Oil Pastel Landscapes

     In first grade, we already knew that landscapes are artworks of outside scenes, but we did not know that landscapes have three different parts.  We talked about some of the tricks artists use to make their artwork look super realistic.  One of those tricks is the use of scale.  We learned that the parts of a landscape that look the closest to us, and appear the largest are in the foreground.  We learned about the medium sized objects in the middle ground, and the smaller objects that look like they're far away from us in the background. 

    The students drew landscapes with all three parts in whatever season and whatever weather and time of day they wanted.  We then experimented with oil pastel color mixing to create these vibrant artworks.

Third Grade Color Theory with Kandinsky



     Our third grade artists had a bigger color theory experience with these paintings than they've previously had.  We often talk about the primary colors, or warm and cool colors, but we don't often look at all of the main color families at the same time like we did for these paintings.  After learning about the importance of color choice to abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky, we learned a lot about the color wheel. 

     The students were challenged to create tempera paintings with blocks of primary colors, secondary colors, warm colors, cool colors, complimentary colors, tinted colors, shaded colors, and one free choice colors block!  In their blocks, students painted circles or parts of circles and completed their paintings with metallic tempera details.  Because the students were all using the same colors in their artworks, they were encouraged to add design elements that would make their painting look unique and like no one else's.
     Can you identify all of the color families??



Primary: red, yellow, blue

Secondary: orange, purple, green

Warm: yellow, orange, red

Cool: blue, purple, green

Complimentary: red and green, yellow and purple, and blue and orange

Tint: when white is mixed in to any color

Shade: when black is mixed in to any color



Oil Pastel Horses

     My wonderful friend Mrs. Susa at Lake Elementary School passed this great lesson idea on to me, and I thought we'd give it a try here at Suffield.  I am AMAZED by the incredible work our fifth grade artists created!  For the lesson, we looked at the role of the horse throughout art history (cave paintings, Native American hide paintings, Remington, Degas, Butterfield, etc.!), and then we started simple horse sketches (using pretty much just circles and ovals) and the students layered oil pastels from there.  We looked at a few artists who included unexpected colors in their work, and many students decided to try this too.

     To make these vibrant colors, the fifth graders created white oil pastel bases by using the side of the pastel.  Then they layered other colors to "build up" a life-like horse.  We also talked about highlights and shadows and the students were challenged to not just include these light and dark areas in the eyes, but also in the hair and other places.  They finished by making backgrounds of their choice in colors that would compliment their horses. 

  

1st Grade Wild Rumpus Photostory

     As I mentioned in my post about the first grade Wild Things, Mrs. Baker (our wonderful media specialist) helped put together a Photostory of the "wild rumpuses" we had in art class.  We spliced our kids with a wonderful clip I found on YouTube.  Check it out (and turn your volume up)!

Thank you Mrs. Baker!

Miss Ryan, Student Teacher

Hi Everyone!

     My name is Marin Ryan and I am a student teacher from Kent State University.  I will teach at Suffield Elementary until March 4th, then move to my second assignment at Field Middle from March 21st to May 6th, and finally graduate in May with a Bachelor's degree in Art Education, with minors in Studio Art and Education.  In my own artwork, I enjoy figure drawing and ceramics most, and I hope to continue taking art classes throughout my teaching career.  Although I'm from Harmony, Pennsylvania, a small town north of Pittsburgh, I recently studied abroad in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and hope to continue to travel in the future.  So far my teaching experience has only been with high school students and preschoolers, so I am very excited to be working with the elementary students here!  They are a great group of kids and I hope I can teach them as much as they're teaching me.

Here are the lessons I've started (or will soon begin!) with some of the grade levels:

1^st Grade: Silent Buddies

            The children will be making simple stuffed animals to donate to patients at Akron Children's Hospital after talking about how nice it is to have a “silent buddy” to comfort them when they are alone.  Although I will do the sewing for the project, the students will get to draw their own animal design, stuff it, and decorate it with marker designs. 

2^nd Grade: Imperfection Self Portraits

            Second graders learned what imperfections are, and how we all have them (even models!).  They are making realistic self portraits including one imperfection, and adding color to them using tissue paper. 

4^th Grade: Press Pause: Zig-Zag Paintings

            In this lesson, students talked about busy activities they did and relaxing activities that help them to “press pause.”  They will be making “zig-zag” paintings that show them doing a busy activity from one angle and a relaxing activity from another angle.  To brainstorm what makes an artwork look busy or calm, they found similarities and differences in two artworks- you can check these out in the hallway!

This is an example of a "PostSecret"

5^th Grade: Secret Box

            The students will look at some of Frank Warren's PostSecret postcards to learn that sometimes people have a secret goal or a secret fear that they aren't ready to share yet.  They will make a box to hold a secret of their own, and decorate it using stamping and collage. 

I am also finishing up two of Mrs. Tannert's lessons right now: Kindergarteners are working on “Ugly Bugs” and Third Graders are finishing up a project on color theory.  I am excited to start my own lessons with these students soon!

Jim Dine Heart Design Challenge for Fourth Grade

     Don't you just love Jim Dine at Valentine's Day?  I sure do, but I'm not always organized enough to get seasonal lessons planned, started, completed, and displayed before the season has passed!  This little design project worked out great as a one-day, in-and-out challenge before my student teacher would be taking over the fourth grade art classes. 

     Before making these beautiful heart artworks, our fourth grade artists learned about Ohio Pop Artist, Jim Dine.  They learned that his numerous heart paintings and prints meant different things to him at different times.  He thought of them as a kind of "landscape", and he used them to show what he was feeling in the moment.  We discussed his work pretty quickly, and then the students had the rest of the class to respond to this challenge:

"Create a design using hearts.  You must use at least two different kinds of art media.  BE CREATIVE!!"

    Each student was given the choice of up to two pieces of drawing and/or craft paper, and I put out a variety of paints, oil pastels, markers, etc.  This also gave me an opportunity to put out my little bag of ribbons and other craft items that we don't get into that often.  The kids really liked this studio and I love the results!