The Ratner School Art Program

What a week of art and activity! The band concert was amazing and I enjoyed seeing the middle school students perform. We have a week filled with special events and the MOCA field trips on Wednesday and Thursday for 1st-8th grade this week. The students are excited to see the exhibitions and spend time with their partners at the museum. Please make sure your child is on time on the day of their field trip as the bus will leave promptly at 9:00. Thank you to everyone who has brought in cereal boxes for our next 5th and 6th grade project. We still need more, so keep them coming!

Kindergarten Art

The students worked diligently on creating holiday cards to send to various communities around Cleveland. We created Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa cards to send a retirement home, a shelter and the Veterans Hospital. The cards are charming and the students enjoyed creating art to share with others.  

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We worked on the Mondrian pieces this week in the Maker Space. The students arranged their primary color pieces on their white boards and glued them into position. The next class we hammered. And bent a lot of nails. And had some successes and some failures, but learned new skills! The students loved hammering nails and showed improvement by the end of the class and even built a few structures to add to the community build. Do not be surprised if your child asks for  hammer, nails and wood for the holidays!

Many bent nails

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The illustrations are completed and ready for the publishing party this Friday. Mrs. Morin was so pleased with the illustrations and the students are very proud of their work. They showed great inventiveness with their material choice and were open to new ways of telling their story. We began work on holiday cards to donate this week as well and the students are showing thoughtfulness in their designs and cards.

 

5th and 6th Grade Art

We continued working on the shading project this week. The students have transferred the information onto the large drawing paper and have progressed well shading the objects. They have found several methods of shading and are showing improvement with each class. The transitions between values are getting smoother and they love to see the illusion of depth and volume when they view their work from a distance. We will probably need one more class after winter break to finish up the projects. 

7th and 8th Grade Art

Thank you all for the kind words about the bird house constructions the 7th and 8th grade students displayed for the band concert Thursday night. They are all quite proud of their work and they were looking forward to showing off their constructions. I will tell the students to take their work home this week if they are able to carry the houses with them. Thank you all again for your support of the Maker Space, it has truly expanded the curriculum in a positive way. The students helped clean the Maker Space and then worked on a series of holiday cards to donate after the upcoming VIP day this Friday. 

A quiet and peaceful holiday card

The Ratner School Art Program

I hope you all enjoyed seeing a small sample of the art work our students created at the annual book fair this past week. I am sorry to have missed the fair, I was setting up for an art fair. Many thanks to Stacey Souther and all the parents who helped set up the art work, I truly appreciate your support of the art program! I have place the 7th and 8th grade bird houses in the lobby this week so everyone can see the work from the upper school students. New work will be hung in the lobby for the band concert on Thursday and I hope you will all take the time to talk to the students about their work if you have the opportunity. I will be at the concert Thursday and look forward to seeing the students perform. Please note that all 1st - 8th grade students will be going to MOCA next week as part of our on going partnership. 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th grade students will visit on Wednesday, December 14th, 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th will visit Thursday, December 15th. The bus will leave promptly at 9:00, so please make sure your child is to school on time. Thank you!

Kindergarten Art

We began our unit on Walt Disney with a new project. Although personally I am not a huge Disney fan, I have always appreciated the inventiveness and skill shown in the cell animation through the Disney studios. I developed a project where the students could try to create their own animation cell. A watercolor background scene was created using a lighter value watercolor wash on thick paper. The students were given a clear acetate sheet and a sample drawing of some main Disney characters to trace with sharpie markers. We talked about scale and placement on the cell and how the characters were made to show movement. A second layer could be created to show details in the environment like trees or bushes. The students could quickly make their character "move" through the scene by moving the acetate layer. They were very captivated with their work and enjoyed the effect. 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We began a new unit based on the work of Piet Mondrian. The students went into the Maker Space to watch a couple of animations about the transformation of Mondrian's work and then began to build a "Mondrian Sculpture" using LEGOS! They had a fantastic time and created several wonderful Mondrian inspired sculptures. I wanted to continue the unit, but did not want to do a painting project. I came up with a crazy notion to do a wood project based on Mondrian. The students (of course) loved the idea of working in the Maker Space, so we ran with the idea! The pieces began with sawing and sanding a thinner piece of wood and prepping the surface to take a layer of white paint. The next phase involved choosing several blocks of wood to construct the composition. Each block was painted with either red, blue or yellow paint to emulate the work of Mondrian. We will begin construction of the pieces this week in the Maker Space. I love the way this project is coming together and I am so glad we have a space to build in!

Mondrian LEGOS!

The painted Mondrian pieces waiting for assembly

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The students are putting the finishing touches on their illustrations for their stories. The stories were written in their homeroom class and the subject matter was set as a personal narrative. Each student chose one part of their narrative they wanted to illustrate. We looked at different methods and materials to express their story in a visual way and the students began working on their illustrations. Drawing, painting and collage methods were all used in the illustrations with extra attention paid to adding some details to their illustrations to add to the telling of the personal narrative. The project will be completed this week and will be "premiered" at the movie release party in their homeroom class.

 

5th and 6th Grade Art

We have begun a new drawing unit in art this week. I have introduced advanced shading exercises to the class and they have been practicing the techniques. The students are improving with each class and we will begin a longer term still-life project this week using the newly learned technique. Shading takes some patience and a lot of practice to improve, but starting the students at this grade level will accelerate the skills and they show great pride when they can transform a simple line drawing to show dimension in forms. 

6th grade shading exercise

7th and 8th Grade Art

Now that the bird house construction project is complete, we have switched gears to a drawing unit. I have re-presented shading to the students and they have been practicing the skills with shading exercises. I love to shade with graphite and find the process completely relaxing and enjoyable. The students are improving with practice and love to see a simple circle transform into a sphere with the application of shading. I am encouraging practice to strengthen their techniques and have seen several students improve dramatically within the time of 2 classes.

                                      

Shading exercises

The Ratner School Art Program

What a whirlwind week we all experienced last week. The students finished several projects, enjoyed the school wide Thanksgiving celebration and topped it off with delicious pumpkin pie with fantastic Kindergarten ti-pi's and thunder bird art as our decorations. The blog post this week actually covers the work completed for the two days last week and the previous week. We are beginning a new project in most classes, including a construction project in the 5th and 6th grade class that requires hundreds of cereal boxes. I will set a container outside the art room door or you are welcome to put any donations into my mailbox in the office. Thank you in advance! 

Kindergarten Art

I have not had the Kindergarten students for Art for 2 classes due to the Thanksgiving break. The

 ti-pi's and thunder bird totems added wonderful decoration to the pumpkin pie festival on Tuesday and I hope you all enjoyed having your child's work displayed for your own Thanksgiving celebrations. We are back to our normal schedule this week and I look forward to the next project with them.

1st and 2nd Grade

The students worked on a yarn, glue and watercolor piece to display at this weeks book fair. While this was a messy project that landed a little bit on the crafty side of art, the students loved creating something quickly and really enjoyed dipping yarn into glue. What a mess! It was great! After the glue had dried on the yarn and watercolor paper, the students added oil pastel to the surface and then painted with watercolor paints. A salt technique could be added if chosen. The results were visually interesting and fun was had by all!

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The students had a great time jumping into a painting project last week. We looked at the work of Wassily Kandinsky and talked about concentric patterns in nature and art. The students then divided their paper into 8 sections, created a concentric pattern in each space and began painting with tempera paint. They revisited the concept of complimentary colors, repeated shapes and gained better control of the application of paint on paper. The pieces are all complete and will be displayed at the book fair this week.

5th and 6th Grade Art

The cut paper Op-Art pieces have been completed and they look amazing! I was so impressed with the concentration and level of skill the students showed. As I stated in an earlier blog post, I typically have the 7th and 8th grade students do this project and it is normally a high school level project! I knew the students could handle the x-acto knives safely, but I was pleasantly surprised with the high level of detail they could accomplish. This is a fantastic group of well focused students in art. I will continue to present challenging projects for them this year. One of our next projects will be the construction of the cereal box rhombicosidodecahedron. If you could please save all the cereal boxes and any other thinner brown board boxes for the project, that would be appreciated. I will place a basket outside the art room for collection. Thank you for your help!

7th and 8th Grade Art

I believe 95% of all the bird houses have been constructed. The students amazed me with their willingness to try a completely new set of skills using unknown tools and processes. They were first and foremost safe, careful with the tools and patient when waiting for instruction and guidance. Once the students became more skilled at using the power tools, they were wonderful teachers to their peers. I saw many students collaborating and assisting others and I was very proud of the spirit of helpfulness in the Maker Space.

The Ratner School Art Program

We had a focused and productive full week of creative work across all grade levels in art. Several classes finished their projects and we have begun new work in several grade levels. I love seeing new skills acquired and the pure joy in creating.  The students are full of great ideas and are constantly amazing me with their willingness to jump into new and unknown territories in art. They keep me busy coming up with challenging ways to create new work. 

Kindergarten Art

The students worked so diligently on the designs of their tipi's and thunder birds. They are showing fine control of their materials, are learning to slow down with the process of creating and are developing stronger craft in their work. I will begin construction and assembly of all the parts and pieces and the work will come home next Tuesday before the Thanksgiving break. 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

The Yeh-Shen inspired story-box work was completed last week and is installed in the 1st floor hallways on top of the cubbies. The students created fantastic representations of scenes in the book and added several wonderful details to their work. They painted, cut, glued and built many elements to visually tell the story of Yeh-Shen. I am impressed with their ability to hear a story and develop a minds eye picture to then create in their work. They showed great creativity and are developing good problem solving skills with this work. I enjoy seeing the students look at the work and determine which scene their peers are illustrating. I hope you can all see the work during conferences. If you can remember, please take your child's piece home with you after your conference. I would love to leave them displayed longer, but they are large and I think the students would have difficulty carrying them home. Thank you for your help!

3rd and 4th Grade Art

Everyone finished the bridge construction this past week and the work is displayed in the 2nd floor black box galleries. The students showed great control of the glue gun, used the various materials in creative ways and constructed some well designed structures. We will begin a new project this week and will take a break from sculptural work for a while to explore painting and drawing techniques. 

 

                                     

5th and 6th Grade Art

We began a new project last week based on the Op-Art movement. Students are creating two layers of cut colored paper to create the finished piece. While the project sounds simple, the cuts are made using an x-acto knife and requires a high level of concentration and planning. The process is to think of each line as a negative space and carefully cut the designs in the layers of paper. Color choice, design and control of the tools are important skills needed to create a successful piece. Most students have finished the first geometric layer of the piece and will continue with the organic layer this week. I have traditionally had the 7th and 8th grade class creating this project, but the 5th and 6th grade class has shown such great control and concentration this year, I thought I would try the project with a younger group. They are doing a great job!

7th and 8th Grade Art

The construction of the bird houses continued last week and I believe we may finish before Thanksgiving break. Most of the cuts have been completed and the assembly of the pieces are beginning. The students are seeing the results of fast cuts with a jigsaw as opposed to careful cuts, the sander is getting a good workout! I love seeing the realization that planning is important, thickness of wood needs to be part of the plan and craftsmanship matters. This has been a great project for the students. 

The Ratner School Art Program

The ISACS conference was well worth the effort and I returned with many ideas to implement into the classroom. The conference also affirmed that we have a remarkable school and amazing programs for the students. I am proud to be a part of this community and thank you all again and again for allowing me to work with your children. Your support and trust allows me the freedom to try so many creative approaches with the students at the Ratner School and I appreciate you!

Kindergarten Art

I was away for the ISACS conference for the Kindergarten class, but am fortunate to team teach with Pat Carey-Bell for the Kindergarten class. She carried on with the Native People unit we began last week. The students transferred their designs onto the shape of the tipi and cut out the shape. A layer of paint was added to the totem poles and we will begin painting the designs this week. The students are showing strong skills with scissor work and are gaining control of the paint material as well. 

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The students have made fantastic progress on the bridge construction and will finish up their work this week if I can restrain myself from taking them outside on these beautiful fall days. They are gaining confidence in building and have learned some of the strongest structures for a bridge. Many students learn best by trial and error and I appreciate how open our art students are to messing things up several times before finding what works. The building process is great for this style of learning and I am equally thrilled for the students when they show concrete understanding of form and balance. 

5th and 6th Grade Art

The Icarus projects have been completed and will be displayed upstairs in the hallway black box gallery. While there were some issues with the construction of the wings and the base of the sculptures, the students gained some knowledge on balance, use of material, telling a story through art and seemed to enjoy the process. We have begun our next project which is an Op-Art inspired paper cutting project. More on that next week. Right now in class we are learning how to control the x-acto knife and use the tool safely.