The Ratner School Art Program

We have had another highly productive and creative week in the art program. The students have worked diligently to finish up several long term projects before we leave for Spring Break. I like coming back to school with a new set of projects to finish out our school year. I hope you all have a restful break and enjoy time with your family.

Kindergarten Art 

We began a new study based on the art of Alexander Calder. The students saw a short presentation showing several example of Calder's work, focused mainly on his bent wire portraits. A short video was presented showing Calder creating his wire portraits. The first step of the project was to create a wooden base for the wire portrait. Each student worked in the Maker Space sanding their wooden block to create a smooth surface. After sanding, the students painted their bases with white paint to prepare for the sculpture. They enjoyed working in the Maker Space and I plan on working in the space again with them.

1st and 2nd Grade Art

I am glad to announce that all the biography portraits have been completed! As always, I am so impressed with the level of detail and sophistication the students displayed in their biography projects. They were inventive, creative and engaged in every step of the process.  I am looking forward to hearing their biography presentations tomorrow.

3rd and 4th Grade Art

We only had one class last week due to the Inlet Dance performance. The students continued work on their expressive self portraits and several students began their background design. They all seem to have enjoyed the project and I look forward to seeing the completed work. I believe everyone will complete their portraits this week and I plan on sending home the Monet bridge work (finally)!

5th and 6th Grade Art

Well over half of the students have finished their landscape collage projects. While the project took more time than in the past, the results are worth the wait. The students showed strong growth in their ability to see and match the colors and textures of the original sample and then began developing their own process to add to the work. I should remember the process after all these years teaching, but I am always amazed at the work they can create. I will try to send home the portrait projects this week and hang the landscape work up in the school.

7th and 8th Grade Art

The finishing touches are going on the candy dispensers this week and 99.9% of the dispensers work! We had a couple of missteps with the assembly of the parts and I believe the students learned so much with this project. One of the main reasons I wanted to create a Maker Space at the school was to teach the students how to follow a plan, work on building their problem solving skills and give them a basic understanding of hand held and power tools. I am so pleased with the progress the 7th and 8th grade class has demonstrated in these areas. I believe they are well prepared for the rigors of any high school program. 

EXTRA CLAY PAGE

I am sorry I forgot to post any of the finished clay pieces after they came out of the glaze firing. I hope you enjoy seeing a few of the middle school projects. 

The Ratner School Art Program

I can safely say that spring fever is starting at our school. The students are excited with the sunlight, not wholly focused on the tasks at hand, but still creating wonderful works of art. I think the constant snow has helped keep the fever at bay, but I am with them waiting for the promise of warmer weather! We are all finishing up projects in each class and hope to finish each session before the break. Thank you all for your continued support with your child's art education, I could not do my work without your encouragement.

Will spring ever come?

Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarten students continued their study of Beatrix Potter by creating their own book. Each student had a stitched book with 10 pages to complete. They had stickers of several Peter Rabbit characters that they had to place on the page, create an environment by drawing with colored pencils and build a storyline. They learned basic perspective, how to draw a setting so the characters were not "floating" in the page and how to create a simple sequence using drawings. 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

Most of the students have completed the building of their biography subjects. We have a few students who are still adding details to the clothing of their subjects, but I expect we will complete the work this week. I am always impressed at the level of detail and accuracy these young artists display in their work. Most of the figures are recognizable without any labels and are now displayed outside their classroom. I hope you can take the time to stop in and see their remarkable work and read the biographies that each student has written to accompany their artwork. 

Barack Obama

F.D.R.

Donald Trump

3rd and 4th Grade Art

All the students have progressed quickly on their self portrait projects. We looked at several samples of famous self portraits and talked about why the artist used certain colors or techniques in each portrait.  Each student has a black and white print and a color print of their portrait. A variety of material is offered each class to alter and add to the original print. Watercolor paint, markers, oil and chalk pastel and colored pencils have been used so far. This week we will explore acrylic paint and collage work to add to the portraits. They are enjoying using several different techniques and are having strong conversations about what they want their self portraits to express about themselves. 

5th and 6th Grade Art

The students are working diligently to complete the landscape collage project. They are all independent in their work, able to find each color and texture for their piece. They understand the importance of following the steps as presented and are finally setting a quicker pace of work. This is a highly social and talkative group of students and I have recently assigned seats to everyone to help move the work forward at a more reasonable pace. We will complete this project before spring break.

Student piece

Student sample (Monet)

Student piece

Student sample (Van Gogh)

7th and 8th Grade Art

We are nearing the completion of all the construction on the candy dispensers! The students have shown good control with all the power tools, figured out many new techniques, pushed past any fears of using power tools and have truly been engaged for the length of the project. I love having a safe space to work on constructing projects and appreciate all the support the school has shown for the Maker Space. I am working on getting more clamps and hand tools to help speed up the process of building as many students have to wait for their turn with the few tools we have. I love how they have their favorite drill or good grip clamp and seeing the care they take with their work. I think they would spend the entire year in the Maker Space if possible!

The Ratner School Art Program

We continue to move forward on many processes and projects across all the grade levels. The students are still engaged, excited about the work they are creating and eager to begin each day in art. I have not noticed signs of disinterest or spring fever (yet)! 

I am glad to say the last glaze batch is in the kiln as I write the current blog and all the work seems to be holding up well. I had a couple of small cracks appear in some of the larger work because the kiln cooled off too much due to the snow day on Friday. It fortunately happened to the older students work and they are usually understanding about kiln mishaps. 

I am excited about the upcoming summer art camp program at the school and hope the 1st-4th grade parents have considered the option for their child. I know it will be a fun and enriching experience and I am looking forward to the opportunity. 

My snow day photo

Kindergarten Art

We began work on the US symbols unit in art last week. I try to tie in all the art processes into the Humanities program and use the Statue of Liberty to teach portrait proportions and techniques. The students look at a sample of the Statue of Liberty and learned the "map of the face" as it pertains to portraits. Each student transferred the information of the face onto a blank outline of Liberty's face. Yellow crayon was used as a resist technique to color the windows in the crown and then a blue-green watercolor wash was applied to the surface to imitate the copper patina. The portrait will be cut and glued onto a solid background next class. 

All the ceramic bowls have been glazed and fired in the kiln. Look for them to come home next Thursday as we will not have class this week due to conferences. 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We are continuing work on the biography portraits and the students are progressing well with their constructions. I marvel at their ingenuity with design and they are amazingly creative with their approach. They are using several different approaches and materials with this project and are gaining independence with their work. We are fortunate to have so much variety in materials for the students to use and I enjoy seeing their problem solving skills develop with each new project. 

All the ceramic birds nests will be displayed on top of the cubbies during conferences, then we will wrap them all up and send them home next week. 

I am excited at the interest in the art camp offered this summer at school and look forward to having so many of our students participate!

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The tipi has been reassembled in the upstairs hall. The students showed amazing teamwork and higher level problem solving skills with this project. They stayed with the process over the course of the project, able to pick up work where they left off, retaining all the information and steps to complete the project. We experienced some difficulty moving the tipi from the art room to the second floor as the structural poles shifted. The students worked together to figure out a solution. While the form changed, they were very proud and pleased with their work and I decided to reflect their enthusiasm and left the form the way they constructed it. I hope you all take time to view their ceramic pots in the black box displays on the second floor and poke your head into the tipi for a moment.
I am excited at the interest in the art camp offered this summer at school and look forward to having so many of our students participate!

5th and 6th Grade Art

The final round of glazed banks are in the kiln today and will come out tomorrow. Some students have seen their glazed work and a few are waiting to view their pieces before I put them on display. We will try all the banks and see if a quarter can be inserted in the top slot and if they made the bottom hole large enough to get the money out. I am afraid several students missed that part of the rubric and they will have a penny and dime bank. Lessons learned! Work continues on the magazine collage landscape and they are beginning to see the colors and textures more quickly than before.  Students are learning to follow the steps as presented, some are learning the hard way to not do details first and many students are on track to finish the project this week.