Guest Blogger #1 :: If you were art teacher for a day…

Starting 3rd quarter,  I will have some of my students write and reflect on a variety of art-related topics. This will give them an opportunity to express themselves using words. Here is the first entry by 8th grade student, Merve D (edited for grammar only)

If you were art teacher for the day, what kind of project would you assign and why?

If I were an art teacher for the day, I would assign an oil painting on a canvas project.  I would let my students know that, they should paint there feelings toward art.  What it means to them, how they see art, or their point of view towards art.  So, I would make sure that what they are painting will be personal, and have true meaning to everyone who will see it.  This would be a kind of project that is not graded on how it looks,but how it is painted by the painter. This would also give them the right to paint whatever they want.  Because I would want them to understand that one picture is worth a million words.  When students do a project that their teacher wants them to do, they do it for their grade. But, when you let them draw or paint whatever art means to them, they will enjoy it, because not everyone is the same. In the end, the whole class would talk about each other’s projects.

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Very well done, Merve! Thank you for expressing your thoughts, and we are looking forward to hearing from other students as the quarter commences. 

PA Community Art Project Video – December 2011

 

Check out this video recap of the delivery of our holiday cards printmaking project, made with love by our talented PA students! The background music is an instrumental rendition of  the ever-popular “Let it Snow”, and our wish for at least one proper snow day this school year!!

Save Vernazza Poster Contest

As a middle of the school year mini project, students in 7th and 8th grades will participate in the Arte per Venazza project After watching the CBS news report about the October 25, 2011 floods in the Cinque Terre region of Italy, students in 7th and 8th grade will create their own creative response to the aftermath of the flooding. Inspiration was taken from seeing the slideshow of wall murals completed by artists in January 2012 in Vernazza, and example that public art has both aesthetic value, meaning and purpose.

Just for fun, this will also be a competition and there will be art related prizes rewarded to students for creativity, effort and overall design as pertinent to the assignment. Can’t wait to see what their designs look like!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to school after a wonderful winter break! I hope everyone enjoyed the time off and got to relax a little as well. This week, as a part of our annual “New Year Reflections” project, we dove right back into our Visual Journals with goal setting and decorating a popular New Years’ quote: “New Years Day is every man’s birthday.” We talked about the meaning of the quote and had a great time setting intentions for the rest of the 2012 school year and beyond. Enjoy these creatively pensive works of art, handpicked by the 4th grade class at PA.

 

Stamping and Printing

We started the printing process today! The photos on this page show the 6th graders hard at work, experimenting with different colors and printing until the whole table is covered. Students quickly realized that they needed to have a steady hand while printing and to not roll globs of paint onto the linoleum. There were many designs, ranging from snowmen to hearts and even birds — a small sign that spring is on its way (but we have to get through winter first). We can’t wait to see what happens as more and more students start printing!

Intro to Printmaking

(Above: Holiday card made of a linoleum block and red ink, by artist Katharine Watson, which can be found at Paper Source stores around the country)

Students in K-8 started their special second quarter art project today. Thanks to a grant from the PTO, we were able to purchase professional (but student friendly) art materials from Dick Blick for our printmaking project. Grades 4-8 used the materials from Dick Blick while students in K-3 used the back of paintbrushes and foam board for this project. We watched a video interview from artist Katharine Watson, who is a Washington DC based artist and print maker and learned a lot about the printmaking process. The older students will also memorize printmaking terms (such as ink, brayer, print, edition and plate) and take quiz on them next week.

Since the holidays are coming up, this school-wide art project also presents a community emphasis. We talked a lot about how many stores are open later during the holiday season to accommodate all the people who purchase gifts for friends and family during this time. We also discussed the concept of giving back during this time of year and showing our appreciation for the workers’ efforts. As a token of our appreciation as a student body, each student will print their design at least two times: 1 to keep and 1 to give away. We will make cards for our school’s administration, teachers, nursing home and the workers who work at the shopping center across the street from our school.
The students are very excited about this project and look forward to trying out something new this winter! Happy Holidays!

(Below: Holiday card made with a linoelum block and green ink, by artist Katharine Watson, which can be found at Paper Source stores around the country)

YouCube PopArt Style

Japanese Nature Drawings with Poem (5th Grade)

7th Grade Japanese Autumn Drawings with Haiku

For their end-of-the-quarter project, the 7th graders were asked to observe Japanese scroll paintings from the Freer & Sackler Gallery of Asian Art (particularly with Mt. Fuji in the background) and come up with their own autumn nature paintings, coupled with a Haiku. To practice, the class was divided into several groups and given Haiku worksheets in which they had to record the senses felt and experienced while viewing the scrolls. We also talked about Haiku and why it is just an important element of Japanese painting, culture and art.

Another reason we did this project was so that the students could go outside to observe nature and enjoy the crisp/cool autumn weather before winter came. All the haiku poems that were written were also based on the changing leaves and the season of autumn as a whole. Sometimes, life gets so crazy that we forget to take a deep breath and admire the beauty of change around us.

 

8th Grade Lomography Experiment

The 8th graders have been learning about basic film photography for the last two weeks. In preparation for shooting with film (for many, their first time doing so), students learned about iso and aperture. We also discussed how photography captures light and how film photography forces you to really take your time and use detail while composing your image.

The type of Lomography cameras used included the following: Holga 135, Fisheye 2, Oktomat, Diana F+ with a 35mm back and also the Nishika N8000. This was a good exercise in testing the students’ patience and being okay with the mystery of the unknown.

All in all, it will be very interesting to see how the pictures turned out. We will also be shooting next week for those who didn’t get a turn this week and take part in using some specialty film. Kudos to the 8th grade for doing such a great job and stepping outside their 21st Century Bubble today!!