American Gothic Pop Art

Classic American painting American Gothic by Grant Wood influenced by Andy Warhol pop art color.

Calder and Mondrian

American Artist Calder was influenced by Dutch Artist Piet Mondrian...his use of a limited color palette.

Today I Feel

1st grade design project. Reflecting on our face and the emotions we express. Lesson is supported by  the book "Today if Feel". Students build on their knowledge of emotions/feeling and make a direct connection to their art work. Using a head pattern students trace and cut. Facial features are selected from pre-cut shapes and forms. Small details are added with crayons and color pencils. All work is labeled with student name and the title "Today I feel...".

Torn Paper Self Portraits

John James Audobon

http://www.audubon.org/john-james-audubon

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was not the first person to attempt to paint and describe all the birds of America (Alexander Wilson has that distinction), but for half a century he was the young country’s dominant wildlife artist. His seminal Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-size prints, quickly eclipsed Wilson’s work and is still a standard against which 20th and 21st century bird artists, such as Roger Tory Peterson and David Sibley, are measured

Session IV March April 2011

Completed Egyptian Team project by 6th grade students

Highlights of January-February Session 2011

Birds of North America

5th grade students connect their sketchbook drawings to early American history.

Crazy Folding Paper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc1X8VJBfDA

What will this become, you must wait and see...

City Buildings

We Built this city:
Students looked at famous paintings of country and city life-compared and contrasted the two.
What makes a city?
What is a skyscraper?
If you could have your own building what would it look like?
Using drawing, collage, cutting and gluing students composed their own building facade.
4 individual rectangles will be attached to make one building that will be displayed at the
Open House event in May

2nd Grade Harvest Baskets

Baskets of Artful Beauty

This colorful and complex project took several sessions to complete-that is because it involves numerous skills and art techniques. Cutting, tracing, measuring, weaving, development of foreground, middle ground and background, as well as drawing, gluing and composition. I think they did a wonderful job!

Romare Bearden American Master

Romare Bearden
(1911-1988)

collage artist, painter

Romare Bearden was an African-American who is internationally recognized for his lifelong work as a collage artist. His work told many captivating and inspiring stories to draw attention to social realism and to celebrate the African-American experience. During the 1960's he worked in a type of art we call collage. Collage comes from the French word coller, "to gum or stick something together." His work was created by gluing fragments of paper, fabric, scraps, photographs, drawings, and images in magazines and newspapers to a flat surface. In addition, he used watercolors, oil paints, and inks to make his collages. He enjoyed many art forms and styles including African, Asian and European art.

Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He moved to Harlem in New York City when he was a young child and grew up there in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance (1919-1929), was a period in American cultural history when Black artists felt a need to contribute their African heritage and pride in a positive way to the visual, performing and literary arts. Harlem became the center of this artistic rebirth period during the 1920's when Romare Bearden was a young artist. Many visits were made to the Bearden household by family friend and poet, Langston Hughes, and musicians, Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. From the1940's through the 1980's, Romare Bearden became a presence in American art. He has had many successful exhibitions at premier art galleries throughout the United States.

Romare Bearden captured many wonderful images from his childhood memories and images of the people and places throughout his life. His work is rich with narrative details about black community life-public and private. It is apparent that Romare Bearden had an amazing ability to unify the mixed media of his work through experimentation to communicate universal themes with profound artistic value.

4th grade Cityscape at Night

The City at Night,
Watercolor and crayon,
This was a one session art project.
All pieces had to have at least 4 buildings
and one had to be in the background creating
the illusion of space.

These colorful works are inspired by African American Artist Romare Bearden-known for his collage and watercolor work . Images are on display at the school and at the Serna Center office through the end of March.

3rd grade night sky in the city

a City at Night
Connecting to the classroom theme of space/planets students used metallic crayons to create their own night time sky. What would you have up in your sky?

Part II: using paper rectangles, students create 3 of the 4 sides of a building. This building will be attached to the night sky.

1st Grade Mittens

Mitten, Mitten let's make Mittens.
Students were introduced to the color wheel and learned about complementary colors. Tracing their own hands they  made a pair of paper complementary mittens.

Session III Kindergarten Snow People

Snow People
Part I:  using shapes, order and size create a snow person. Set horizon line. Add details with color pencil. Elements found on the face: 2 eyes, 1 nose, 1 mouth (happy, sad...).
Arms located on the middle section, 5 stick fingers on each hand.

Snow man song: Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman, once there was a snowman tall tall tall
In the sun he melted, melted, melted, in the sun he melted small, small, small

Part II: finish details add weather using tissue paper and glue. L

ast step the glitter snow. Allow time to dry.

3rd grade, colorful, Imaginary snakes

Students learned how to overlap curves to create the illusion of space.
They made a snake drawing first following step by step direct drawing and then on their own.

Part II Adding color, pattern and design with construction paper  and metallic crayons and color pencils.

6th grade Egyptian Project

3rd grade Western Watercolor sky

2 part project introduces students to basic landscape elements and connects to classroom theme of the planets and stars.

Drawing birds from nature

 Part I of the Birds of North America 5th grade project.
Drawing are inspired by the work of naturalist John James Audubon.

1st grade fun with quilt patterns

 Each student created their own 9 patch quilt square using pre-cut paper squares. The  patches will fit together to form a class quilt.

Cookie People

Kindergarten guess what creature we are drawing?

 Fun direct drawing project using basic shapes.
Students add color and details

Kindergarten shapes to trace

Part one select two shapes to trace creating an ABAB pattern.

Part two, select two colors and color in the shapes in an ABAB pattern.

4th grade name tile project

 Complex project in which students use their name to create a graphic image connected to Spainish Tile Design.

3rd grade Day of the Dead skulls

Created from Model Magic

Fall Winter Harvest Basket

 Intro to weaving and building on pattern skills students create a paper basket, draw a table top and complete the still life with fruits, vegetables and leaves.

End of Session One start of Session Two

Fun Day of the Dead drawing/coloring skull project with 6th grade