The Ratner School Art Program

While we had an abbreviated week due to the snow day and special events, we managed to complete several projects across all the grade levels. I am enjoying watching all the students excitement as the winter break draws near. Once in awhile we are able to have a "free day" in art where the students can choose the direction or project they want to work on. It is a favorite of the students and I love seeing the work they are drawn to. I hope everyone enjoys the time together through winter break and you all find some time to create together. Best wishes to you all, thank you for trusting me with your child's art education!

Kindergarten Art

I am sorry to say that due to the snow day, I did not get to meet with the Kindergarten art class last week. I will see them all at VIP day to wish them well before winter break. 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

All the work is now complete on the last painting project and the students have their cardboard forms attached to their paintings. The last class focused on creating a drawing for the VIP day program. I loved seeing their creative ideas and thank Nadia V. for asking for artwork for the program. The students were very excited to get the opportunity to have their work represented. I will not have the 1st and 2nd grade class this week due to VIP day, but will stop into their classroom to say goodbye before winter break. 

3rd and 4th Grade Art

Because of the snow day on Thursday, we missed one class in art. The students still managed to begin construction on the poles of the tipi and worked on several plans and designs for the construction. We will continue work after winter break on the construction. I loved seeing the spirit of collaboration with their classmates, the willingness to try different approaches and the general excitement with the process. This is a great group of thinkers and problem solvers!

 

5th and 6th grade Art

With the inking work completed on the pastel experimental pieces, we moved into our annual dye work on the art for the VIP day celebration. Each year the middle school students help with the work for the primary celebration. This year the theme is "Peace" so we decided to tie-dye coffee filters and cut them into the peace sign. The work will be hung from the lights in the first floor hallways to illuminate the colors. I always enjoy seeing the environment change with the installation and the primary students enjoy seeing the work as well.

7th and 8th Grade Art

The students have completed the cardboard portraits and they are fantastic! I am so impressed with the level of detail and depth they achieved with their work. They were well focused and careful with the cutting of the cardboard throughout the project. This is a good way to end up the calendar year! For the students that entered the Scholastic Art Awards, we should hear on Wednesday the results of the jury process. I am anxious to see which work made the cut this year as I think we had several strong entries. Good Luck to everyone!

The Ratner School Art Program

We had a busy week in the art room! Our 3rd and 4th grade students enjoyed the visit to MOCA, the middle school adapted to the band rehearsals and created banners for the Friday night dance held at the school, the 1st and 2nd grade class explored mixing liquid paint to create different colors and the Kindergarten students learned a new technique blending oil pastels. We are winding up many projects before the winter break and are looking forward to seeing the completion of the work. 

Ratner 3rd and 4th grade students experiencing the Phil Collins sound installation at MOCA

Kindergarten Art

This week the students looked at Chagall's work paying attention to the colors and the blending of the colors used in his paintings. We talked about the difference between realistic representation and creative representation of color. The students learned how to blend oil pastels using different techniques. The favorite technique was dipping q-tips in vegetable oil and blending the colors together. The students could decide to color their work using their imaginations or coloring their work realistically. The final step of the project will be adding a layer of watercolor paint on top of the oil pastels. 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We finished the final element to the Kandinsky circle project this past week. The students had a choice of different shaped egg cartons to add to their painting. They could chose the inside or outside of the carton to paint and had to determine one main color that would work with their painting. We then looked at different values of each color and the students had to create a concentric pattern on the egg carton using varied values. They then learned about complementary colors and painted the opposite side of their egg carton with the complementary color of the inside of the carton. The sculptural pieces will be attached this week and the piece will be complete. The students definitely improved with their control of the liquid paint with this project and showed a clearer understanding of color theory as well.

 

3rd and 4th Grade Art

We had a wonderful and successful visit to MOCA last week. The students were engaged, polite, inquisitive and enjoyed the experience. We are fortunate to have a strong partnership with MOCA and I appreciate the school supporting the relationship for the last 5 years. I look forward to continued growth with MOCA. Work continued on our tipi build as well. The students had to figure out the length of the support poles, trim all the branches with the hand saw and decide on how many poles would be needed to construct a large scale tipi. We will begin work sewing the burlap cover this week. 

Our critique of the sound installation in the yellow stairs at MOCA

The tipi poles

5th and 6th Grade Art

I missed having a couple of the class last week due to the rehearsals for the band concert, but the students showed focused work in the time that I was able to teach. They completed the chalk and oil pastel design work and added the layer of black ink details to their compositions. Several students experimented with different techniques and were thoughtful with their design work. I enjoyed seeing the experimentations and willingness to try different techniques with their art.

7th and 8th Grade Art

Work continues on the cardboard portraits. The students are seeing more details and layers independently and are adding their personal touches to their portraits. I believe the work will be completed before the winter break and I look forward to the end result. 

The Ratner School Art Program

We had a wonderfully productive week across all grade levels in art this past week. We have painting, portraits, building, critiques, visits and focused creative work happening in the art room. The students are clear in the expectations of the level of work expected of them and they continue to meet and exceed the high standards I expect from them. I am constantly amazed at the work they are capable of and look forward to seeing their creativity every week. For the 3rd and 4th grade parents, please remember that your child will be going to MOCA this Wednesday. The bus will leave promptly at 9:00. We will return to school before lunch time. I look forward to sharing this experience with them.

Kindergarten Art

We began our study of the artist Marc Chagall this past week in Kindergarten art. I love the expressive quality of Chagall's work and the wonderful blending of color in his paintings. The students lead a discussion about how his work makes them feel, looking at individual samples of his work and commenting on what they observed. The students are building their art vocabulary and critical thinking skills with each critique and discussion. We began the 3 week project with writing the Chagall quote "Great art picks up where nature ends" around the border of a large piece of paper. The students then drew their house, a tree, their family and the stars and a moon. This week I will introduce oil pastels and the students will begin to add the first layer of color to their work. 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We began a new project last week in art based around the concentric circle paintings from the artist Wassily Kandinsky. The students refreshed their knowledge of primary, secondary and tertiary colors and worked on their material control. The students had 4 cups with red, yellow, blue and white liquid tempera paint. They each had 3 cups to mix their colors. They had to have a plan to go from lighter colors to darker colors, plot a design, mix the paint carefully without spilling (HA!), and keep a concentric patterns established in each of the 6 sections on their artwork. The first grade class showed strong concentration and control of the materials. The 2nd grade class needed some reminders about the care of the materials, but showed improvement on the second day of class. We will be painting cardboard shapes this week to add a sculptural element to their work.

3rd and 4th Grade Art

We had a fun filled week in art! The students are continuing their studies on the Native People of North America and we have decided to build a tipi in art. I had developed a unit of study a few years ago and we are going to loosely follow that plan again. The students went into the woods on the school ground to look for tall, straight saplings to cut down for the tipi poles. They learned the correct way to use a hand saw to fell the trees and went to work. They quickly learned it is harder to cut down a tree than they imagined! They were persistent and successfully cut 8 saplings for the frame of our tipi. We will be sewing together burlap for the tipi cover and painting traditional pictographs on the surface. This is a fairly long term project that will probably stretch through the winter break.  We also enjoyed a visit from the MOCA education director, Nicolle L. She worked with the students to help enrich our upcoming field trip this Wednesday to MOCA. It is always a strong educational partnership that we look forward to every year. 

  

5th and 6th Grade Art

We started a new project last week in art. I wanted to simplify a series of techniques with the class and give them a more open ended material exploration process following the portrait intensive. I am always trying to balance challenging projects and technique based ideas with creative expressive projects. Each year the classes are different with varying levels of skills and interests. The new project is a study in color, different materials and layers to create an expressive work of art. The students began by dividing a large sheet of paper into 8 equal sections. They were given chalk pastels on the first class and oil pastels on the 2nd class. They could create any design they desired, any color pallette or technique. We will begin the second phase of the project this week, adding ink as the final visual element. 

7th and 8th Grade Art

Work continues at a steady pace for the cardboard construction portraits. The students are working independently and show a strong understanding for the manipulation of materials to achieve the desired effect. I am pleased to see open experimentation, a willingness to try an unknown process and not being afraid to "mess up" on a technique in order to learn.
On a separate note, please look for the table beside the auditorium doors Thursday night at the band concert so I can get your signature on your child's Scholastic Art Award forms. Not all the students decided to enter, but several are. Thank you for your help!

The Ratner School Art Program

I trust everyone had a relaxing and thankful break for Thanksgiving. I enjoyed a great meal with family and friends and am thankful to have a job I love to return to after a short break. We are beginning many shorter term projects between now and our Winter break and have many special events and some field trips planned over the next few weeks. I have not had a blog post for two weeks due to the short weeks for conferences and Thanksgiving, so I hope you enjoy the catch up blog post!

A photo from flicker account Brian104- it certainly captures the season!

Kindergarten Art

I have not had my Kindergarten class for the last two classes, Thanksgiving break and conferences unfortunately fell on their scheduled class times. I hope you enjoyed the thunderbird totems the students created for the study of the Native People of America unit. They are gaining in their control of materials and the class is settled into the expectations of the art program. I look forward to our next unit on Marc Chagall as it is an expressive project enjoyed by this age group.

1st and 2nd Grade Art

Following the construction project of the literature unit, the students asked if they could build with wood in the Maker Space. I agreed and gave the class lessons on how to safely hammer pieces of wood together, how to sand the wood and how to choose the correct size nail for the pieces they wanted to join. They worked carefully (and loudly) pounding in nails and enjoyed the process. I like the balance of the structured projects and the free exploration of materials. I find so much value in the learning process through trial and error with this group and I will keep developing challenging projects to stretch their creative muscles!

This is actually a 3rd graders work, I did not get a photo of the 1st/2nd grade work

Next step for the Maker Space- appropriate sized work benches!

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The Monet bridges were attached a few classes ago and the work is displayed outside their homeroom. I hope you all had a chance to observe and enjoy the work during conferences. I love the way the work looks hung side by side. The students showed a strong skill for building, handled the hot glue guns with care and were excited to share their work. We had a day of free build down in the Maker Space where the students created any type of sculpture they wanted. We missed a couple of classes due to celebrations and the Thanksgiving break, but will jump right back into work this week in art. Please remember that we will be going to MOCA on Wednesday, December 6th!