The Ratner School Art Program

The students all managed once again to settle right into their work cycles in every class. I am constantly impressed by the ability and willingness to adapt to any changes within the week. All the students work well to catch up on any missing work due to illness or holidays. I am glad to see the independence and confidence in all the grade levels at this time of year and appreciate the amazing students we have at our school. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the cereal boxes for the 5th and 6th grade students. I believe we now have enough to complete the project!

Kindergarten Art

The students created their final wire portraits based on the art of Alexander Calder. They showed strong fine motor skills, great problem solving with the wire bending techniques and the final pieces were very successful! I will send the sculptures home this week so you can display the work in your homes. The artists began the Eric Carle watercolor backgrounds and will continue the work this week in art. We will be creating cut collage characters to place in their artwork and will expand the scissor work and gluing compositions to complete this unit. 

                    

1st and 2nd Grade Art

It is incredible to see the progress the students have made in 2 classes! The ability to mix colors and control the material has greatly improved and it is evident in the work that there is a clear understanding of several elements of art. Perspective, color theory, shading and line are just a few of the elements the students show an advanced comprehension. This week will finish up this long term painting project where I will introduce acrylic paint to them. This is the first class at this age that I have ever presented acrylic paint to, as it is a more expensive and difficult paint to control. They have earned the privilege by showing mastery of the use of tempera paint and I feel the landscape painting need the richness of acrylic paint for the final detail work. Please do not have your child wear their favorite or best clothes to art on Wednesday or Thursday, acrylic paint is difficult to get out of clothing! Thank you in advance and I think you will all enjoy the work the students have created.

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The students have progressed wonderfully on the design of the Beatles album cover project. This will be the final week for the project and they may finish the work today. A few details need to be added and a reminder on the basic graphic designs rules will be re-presented as well. One of the most difficult parts of this lesson is to simplify the information and to make every element count. It is a different process to learn and the students are showing great improvement in selecting their design elements for the album cover designs. We also truly enjoy listening to the Beatles albums during class. I believe we need to start a choral group at school!

5th and 6th Grade Art

The construction continues on the geometric solid project. I believe we are all set for cereal boxes, thank you to all the families that contributed their recycling in the name of art! The students will be starting on the next stage of the project that involves creating the folds for the 64 faces of the solid to be attached together. We have worked out a fairly fail-proof system of using Popsicle sticks as a guide to the folds of the faces to create the vertices to glue together. They are almost complete with the most difficult part of the process and have certainly shown great improvement with material control and improved their craftsmanship skills.

7th and 8th Grade Art

The paintings are beginning to take a clearer direction in the classes. The students rarely ask for guidance in choosing the color palette and they are able to distinguish the value differences more readily. The final weeks of the project will show the addition of details and the final touches will be added to the compositions. I am happy to say that the artists are also getting much neater in the application of the paint and the clean up has been faster at the end of each class!

The Ratner School Art Program

We had a complete and productive week in art at school. Each class is showing continued growth and understanding in the projects they are working on. I am constantly amazed at the change in the students and their work from the beginning of the year to this point of the school year. Each class, whether they are in Kindergarten or 8th grade, come into the room ready to work, engaged in their art. I enjoy seeing the excitement and even the occasional frustrations of the students as they discover and create their work. We have several projects in the works and I am excited to see where the students will take the final pieces. 

Car park near Waterloo station, London, 1963 (photographer unknown)

Kindergarten Art

We continued our study of Alexander Calder this past week with the construction of the wire portraits. The students had practiced the wire bending and joining techniques last week and enjoyed creating free form wire "sculptures" using aluminum wire. They created a wire outline in the shape of a head and began adding all the facial features. Eyes, nose and mouth placement were discussed and the various techniques learned last week came in handy for construction. They all enjoyed adding the colored wire and various details. This week we will begin the study of Eric Carle.

Kindergarten Art set up

 

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We are progressing well on the Van Gogh landscape paintings. The students have finished all the color washes with tempera paints and are showing a good understanding of color theory, paint mixing and representational sketches. I am pleased with the care and interest each student is showing with their work and they are ready to begin adding details to their paintings this week. After the paintings are near completion, I may have them add more details using acrylic paint. I will see how the paint control is this week!

This is a sketch from memory from a 1st grade student of Van Gogh's Starry Night

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The artists in 3rd and 4th Grade are having such a great time designing their album covers! They are showing a clear understanding about the different effects of various type fonts and the visual cues colors express. I enjoy seeing the students move the elements around to find a good visual balance in their work. Work will continue this week to finalize the designs and then I will scan the final projects to size into a CD cover. Ms. Jarrett is working with the students in music composing the music for their final albums. 

5th and 6th Grade Art

The students are continuing the tracing and cutting prep for the current geometric solid project. They are showing a more complete understanding of the importance of craftsmanship and slow and careful work. This is a challenge for some students, but all are showing a great deal of patience, tenacity and improvement already. The next phase of the project will be the folding and assembly of the form.

Bags full of parts and pieces for the rhombicosidodecahedron

 7th and 8th Grade

Work continued this week on the Impressionist inspired landscapes. The students are showing more independence and confidence with their choice of color mixing and require less assistance choosing their palettes. I enjoy seeing the different approaches and directions the students are taking and the paintings are developing nicely. The pace of work is beginning to be more regular and I believe the students may be able to complete this unit before their Eleuthera trip. My hope is that the work they are doing in art will help them appreciate the light difference they experience on their trip. 

The beginning stages of color blocking

Wheat Fields with Cypresses by Vincent Van Gogh

The Ratner School Art Program

I trust you all enjoyed a restful and peace filled winter break. I am excited to be back at school with a full schedule of new projects and experiences for the students. I am sorry that half of the student body did not get to experience the MOCA field trip due to the unexpected snow day right before winter break. I was disappointed, but there was no way to re-schedule a visit to see the exhibit as they all closed the following week. We will be going to see the next set of exhibits in the spring, so everyone will get to go to MOCA! 

I am excited to tell you all that 3 of our students placed in the Scholastic Art Awards competition. I am so proud that Emma P. and Dustin C. received the top Gold Key Award and Abe K. placed with an Honorable Mention. This is quite a competitive program and the 7th and 8th grade students should all be proud of the work they created for the competition. The show is on display for a short time at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1/17/2017 - 2/3/2017 in the Reinberger Galleries. 

Emma's Gold Key winning artwork

Dustin's Gold Key winning artwork

Abe's Honorable Mention award winner

Kindergarten Art

We began our two week study of the amazing artist, Alexander Calder. We looked at several examples of his work, paying close attention to his bent wire sculptures. We discussed the way the artist drew with the wire to create a 3-dimensional drawing based sculpture. We looked at the parts of the sculptures, mobiles and stabiles that were created by Calder and identified the base of the sculptures and motion found in his mobiles. After viewing the examples of his work, we transferred the class down to the Maker Space to begin working on sanding the wood bases for our sculptures. The students all learned sanding techniques and had a beginning lesson on wire bending, the use of pliers and learned how to cut aluminum wire with wire cutters. They were so proud of the practice sculptures they created. We will begin construction of the wire portraits this week in class.

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We are starting a longer term painting project based on the expressive landscapes of Vincent Van Gogh. I showed the students a short video about the life and work of Van Gogh and we had a group discussion about his work. I pointed out the technique of paint application and the rhythms that were created in his landscapes. The students then had the choice of one of 8 landscapes Van Gogh had painted to study and be inspired by. After the students had made their choice, we took time to study the painting and had a discussion about what they had observed. Each student shared one element they had not noticed on the initial viewing. They found several details and showed a stronger understanding of the landscape. We then identified the horizon line and began with the transfer of information on the large poster board surface. I am looking forward to introducing new color theory and painting techniques to the students.

3rd and 4th Grade Art

We began the highly anticipated Beatles album cover project this week. The students are so excited to begin this project and have been formulating their designs to create their personal album cover. This is another STEAM based tie in to the music program. We have been listening to the Beatles albums throughout the year, talking about their music and how it changed the music of the time and helped influence the music of today. I brought in several album covers for the students to analyze and have a group discussion on the designs. We talked about the power of type font designs to portray a mood, the use of color as a symbolic tool and of course, the impact of a visual image. Each student decided what kind of music their album would portray and developed a visual map of colors, type font style and how they wanted their photo taken for the album cover. They had a few props they could use and then we had a photo shoot! They struck many rocking poses! We had a lot of fun with the photo shoot and I look forward to seeing the development of their album covers.


                                                       

5th and 6th Grade Art

We have begun the rhombicosidodecahedron project! Thank you to the families that have brought in the cereal and light cardboard packaging for the construction of this project. We began the project talking about the different geometric solids and the identification of faces, edges and vertices found in a solid. We then talked about the importance of careful craftsmanship to create a successful piece. Each stage of the project requires a strong focus, whether it is tracing the shape, cutting, folding or gluing the faces together. This is an intense project, but one of our favorites.
I hope you will all find time to come visit the gallery and view the amazing shaded form drawings the students completed. They are dramatic and interesting to see the different techniques each student explored.

7th and 8th Grade Art

We began our painting intensive following the break. The students explored hundreds of Impressionist style paintings from the most recognizable painters of the era. Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Pissaro and Degas were the painters most students chose. We had a discussion about landscapes, the rule of thirds and a few of the painting techniques that would be covered in the project. After the landscape was chosen, the student began laying out the composition on a large sheet of poster board. Techniques of light sketching, finding the horizon line and identifying the main elements of the painting were a few of the areas of focus for the students to think about while starting the project. Several students were able to start with the first color wash areas last week. We will continue to add layers of paint, adding details and gaining new techniques throughout the project.