The Ratner School Art Program

We had an amazing week of successful field trip experiences to MOCA. The students were well engaged, enthusiastic about going to MOCA again and felt very comfortable voicing their opinions on what they saw. I am always so proud of the behavior and attitude of our students when we visit museums. As always, I love to hear them speak about contemporary art and what they see in the work. The students were partnered with their original "buddies" for each trip this year and I noticed a comfortable level of familiarity between the upper and lower aged students. MOCA is more than eager to continue the partnership with our school next year and gained as much as we did from the partnership. I hope you will all have an opportunity to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art with your child and let them show you around. We are so fortunate to have many choices in Cleveland to view art and participate in a variety of creative ways. 

Creating an observational drawing of the sculpture after discussing the meaning of the work. 

Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarten class began work on their Earth Day project this week. We wanted to tie in the theme of "Garden" to the unit and began working on poems focused on what the students would see in a garden. We had a group "brain storm" thinking of descriptive words, places, things and action words to build a poem about a garden. Each classroom then wrote a poem based on the imagery we came up with as the group. We discussed how to illustrate a poem and how the visual images could add to the feeling of the poems they had written. Each student worked in their own poetry book to draw illustrations. This week they will begin coloring their drawings with colored pencils. Be sure to look for them on display at the Gala on May 1st.

1st and 2nd Grade Art

With his portrait drawn by his 2nd grade partner!

3rd and 4th Grade Art

5th and 6th Grade Art

7th and 8th Grade Art

The Ratner School Art Program

This week will bring the field trips to MOCA and will conclude the partnership for this school year. I always look forward to the experience with the students and hope that they have gotten as much out of the partnership as I have. I am pleased that they have the chance to explore contemporary art at a more in-depth level than most students. I hope your child will share their experience with you and I encourage you to ask them about the work they have viewed this week.  I want to remind you that MOCA has free admission every first Saturday of the month. 

Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarten students had a one class week in art due to the Zoo field trip. They were full of stories and exclamations of what they experienced on their trip and I loved hearing of their adventures. We finished the work on the seed mosaics and they showed a strong understanding of symmetry, fine control of the material and creative use of unusual materials to create their art. We will begin working on creating poems about the garden this coming week and illustrating their poems in handmade books.

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We have had a great time exploring self portraits in art for a couple of weeks. The students created a portrait using found objects including puzzle pieces, buttons, paper, wire and maps. They "shopped" from a table with hundreds of choices to create their portraits and showed great problem solving in creating their work. I think they will need one more class to complete their work. 

We were able to catch a break in the weather on Wednesday and were able to go outside to make the volcanoes erupt! The 7th and 8th grade class helped out and the students had a fantastic experience. I realized I never posted finished shots of the ceramic bird nests for you to see. I trust all the ceramic work arrived home safe and unbroken.

 

I love cross-curricular projects!

                               

3rd and 4th Grade Art

I feel like I should have a special party to celebrate the last firing of the kiln this year! The final work came out of the kiln Monday with great success. The lidded vessels are simply wonderful. Each piece is unique, well above grade level work and wonderfully crafted. I love seeing the personality of each maker showcased in their art work. We took some time to critique the work and then displayed the pieces on top of their lockers outside their classroom. If you happen to be in the school, please take time to come up and see the work. I will leave the work out for a couple of weeks, but worry about the pieces getting broken, so will wrap up the pieces to send home soon.

                                                      

5th and 6th Grade Art

We had a blast in art this week. This group of artists have been so wonderful to work with this year and have given me so much joy working on the rain barrels. They have fantastic ideas, work well with one another and are genuinely kind with their comments. I thought they deserved a slight break in the work on the rain barrels and we had a "play day" in art. I set out ink, fountain pens, straws and set them free. They had a great time experimenting with blowing ink around the paper and created some energetic and visually interesting work. Thank you for sending me such great kids to work with!

               

                 

7th and 8th Grade Art

This week the class focused on creating elements for the Midsummer Night Dream environment in the upper hallway. This project involved a close collaboration with the work they have been doing in their English class. The students chose a quote from the Shakespeare comedy play that they could represent in a visual way. They had to define the elements they needed, how they would represent the quote, how to evoke an emotion with the work they created and finally, how to construct the environment. That is a tall order for this age group, but they always surprise me with their inventiveness and creativity. The project is a great example of the wonderful methods used throughout the curriculum at Ratner for truly engaged learning.

                                                        

The Ratner School Art Program

I have enjoyed hearing the students tell me about the adventures and travels they experienced over spring break. Everyone seems rested and glad to be back to school. With the exception of the Kindergarten class, all the students had one class with our partner at MOCA, Nicole Ledinek. She came to the school to talk to the students about the art they would experience during our upcoming field trips next week. The classes analyzed a piece of art for one minute and then discussed what they observed. Each class had a different impression of the same piece and it was a valuable process for the students to participate. The 3rd,4th,7th and 8th grade students will visit MOCA Tuesday, April 12th and the 1st,2nd,5th and 6th grade will visit Thursday, April 14th. This visit will conclude this years partnership with MOCA. I have found the partnership to be a wonderful and valuable addition to the art program at our school and look forward to continuing the relationship next year. Thank you all for your support of this partnership. 

                                          

Kindergarten Art

We finished up the Charley Harper birds early and began to explore creating art with blown watercolor paints. The project was enjoyable for the students and they embraced the loose nature of using different techniques of moving paint on paper with gusto! Following the Ohio unit, began our study of Cesar Chavez and the work with farmers he is known for. We are building seed mosaics for this unit, focusing on creating a symmetrical, radial pattern built by gluing seeds, beans, flowers and grains on a 9 inch square board. We will have one more class to complete this work.

1st and 2nd Grade Art

 We began our week with the visit from our partners at MOCA, talking about art and how our field trip is going to look for next week. The students were inquisitive, thoughtful and full of ideas for the upcoming trip. I am looking forward to the April 14th visit!  Our other classes of the week involved exploring self portraits. I first directed the students to draw themselves from memory, not offering any lesson on proportions, details or scale. They had to rely on adding information to their drawing to show who they are. The next lesson involved a more controlled portrait using a mirror for observation, a lesson on the "map" of a face and proportions. The students were encouraged to add depth, details and to slooooooooow dooooooown in the drawing process. The difference is striking! I love both portrait approaches for different reasons. We will continue this focus for at least 2 more weeks, exploring new materials to create portraits.

                   

3rd and 4th Grade Art

We missed one class last week because of spring break. For the second class, we had our visitor from MOCA come in and talk to the class. I am so impressed with the comments and observations our students have when they discuss art. They are intelligent and insightful with their thoughts and interpretations with the art they view. They make me view art in a new way as much as I help them see things differently. 

This is our school wide board created by reflecting on our partnership with MOCA 

5th and 6th Grade

The super heroes came out of the final firing of the kiln with no casualties! The glaze looks good on each sculpture and the work is displayed in the upstairs black box displays. Try to stop in and see the work if you are in the school. The students in this grade are my rain barrel master painters and we worked this past week on adding more details to the seven barrels. Nicole L. from MOCA came in for one art class last week to help guide the students through exercises to strengthen their experience at MOCA for the field trip next week. 

                  

7th and 8th Grade

Last week was filled with special events in art. The beginning of the week brought our partner from MOCA. Nicole L. visited the school and guided the students through several exercises on viewing, talking and interpreting art work. The students will go on a field trip to MOCA next week and view the new exhibition. Our second class included the tea party! We enjoyed cookies and hot tea, tested the function of the teapots and enjoyed our time in the maker space.