March is Youth Art Month!

Ten Circles, Five Lines by Kindergartners

Kindergarten artists were asked to create artwork using ten circles and five lines.  We discussed all of the ways they could use theses pieces to create unique works of art.  They painted with liquid watercolors. 

Clay Masks by grades 1&2

Onomatopoeia Words Inspired by Roy Lichtenstien

Pop Art!

In the 1950s and 1960s, young British and American

artists made popular culture their subject matter. 

By incorporating logos, brand names, television and

cartoon characters, and other consumer products 

into their work, these artists tested the boundaries

between art and everyday life. 

Roy Lichtenstein was one of the originators of this 

new pop movement. Fascinated by printed mass 

media—particularly newspaper advertising and 

cartoon or comic book illustration—Lichtenstein

developed a style characterized by bold lines, bright

colors, dot patterns, and sometimes words.

The art of today is all

around us. 

Roy Lichtenstein

"America's Worst Artist Ever??"

What is ONOMATOPOIEA?

"Splat, Giggle, Moo"

click here to learn more about Roy Lichtenstein from the National Gallery of Art

Hundertwasser Architecture Evaluation

Fifth and sixth grade artists:

Please click the link below to fill out the evaluation for your Hundertwasser Architecture Project.  Please submit one evaluation per group!

Click here for your Hundertwasser Architecture Evaluation

I'm back!

After a brief stint at Waitsfield School and a lovely February break I am now back at Fayston until the end of the school year.  Mrs. Morse will now be covering my classes at Waitsfield for the rest of the year.  

I returned from maternity leave to find many wonderful lessons completed or in progress.

First and second graders created "Stick-Start Abstract Paintings." They used sticks to print abstract designs in black acrylic, then painted the white space with liquid watercolors. 

 

Third and fourth graders learned about the color wheel and complimentary colors.

They also created Picasso face collages.

Kindergarten artists also learned about Picasso and created Picasso Portraits. 

Click here to learn more about the progression of Picasso's portraits from realistic to abstract.

First and second graders created collages inspired by Jerry Uelsmann.

Fifth and sixth graders learned about Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser.  They created buildings in Hundertwasser's architectural style. 

First and second graders painted green paper in different values and textures, then used these to create tree collages.

 

Thank you to the wonderful Kindergarten class for such a warm welcome back and a fabulous Dr. Seuss hat! 

Happy New Year!

Vivian Wood McDonough was born on December 12, 2014! 

I have returned to work at Waitsfield and will be there until February break.  Then Alex Morse will  take my place at Waitsfield until the end of the school year while I return to Fayston School.  

Zoom in on Pinecones

I am constantly encouraging students to "draw what you see, not what you know."  This lesson was an exercise in drawing from observation.  We got up close with our pinecones and looked for patterns and repeating shapes. We tried to capture interesting views of the pinecones as we made the smallest details the focal points of our drawings. Third and fourth graders worked carefully in pencil and Sharpie marker before painting their works using value scales with liquid watercolors. 

Inspired by Andy Warhol's Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree print by Pop Artist Andy Warhol 

Trees by first and second grade artists:

Mondrian Squares in Primary Colors

Dutch artist Piet Mondrian was well known for his artwork made up of straight black lines and primary colors.  He created grids using vertical and horizontal lines.  

"I construct lines and color combinations on a flat surface, in order to express general beauty with the utmost awareness. Nature (or, that which I see) inspires me, puts me, as with any painter, in an emotional state so that an urge comes about to make something, but I want to come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything from that, until I reach the foundation (still just an external foundation!) of things…

I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true." - Piet Mondrian, (Netherlands, 1872-1944)

First and second grade artists were inspired by Mondrian's artwork.  We used black paper strips to create the grids, then painted the rectangles and squares with the primary colors.