The Ratner School Art Program

Thank you for your patience for the latest blog posting. I usually have to skip a week to write all the report cards for the students and the blog posts have to be paused for a while. We have begun new projects in each grade level following the clay unit and are making strong progress across the entire school art curriculum. Several classes have completed portraits for the Gala and I am excited to share their work with you all. 

Incidental art from the construction project

Kindergarten Art

The students completed their Gee's bend quilt collages and I will do my best to get them displayed before conferences so you can see their work. They continue to build their cutting and gluing skills and have refined their art vocabulary with each new project. This past week they completed their Chinese Zodiac wheel and the work should be arriving home from their main classrooms. The ceramic bowls have been glazed and are currently being fired in the kiln. I try to fire the youngest student work first as they have a difficult time waiting to see their final pieces. I am curious to see how the glazes work on the terra cotta clay. Please be aware that the glazes are food safe and can be used! The students are very excited to use their bowls to eat cereal or ice cream! 

Before firing

1st and 2nd Grade Art

Each student has glazed their bird nest sculptures and are waiting for their turn in the kiln to view the final project. I am excited to see the results as well! While we are waiting for the completion of the clay unit, we have been working on portraits and collaging. We had a one week magazine portrait project using unusual imagery to create a face. This was a good introduction for building the biography subjects. Each student is researching a historical figure in their main classroom and writing a research paper on their choice. In art, we are "building" and creating the person using various materials. We began with the construction of the head and facial features, drawing and collaging the features, building elements 3 dimensionally when possible. I enjoy seeing the creative solutions of the students and look forward to seeing the project grow as each class works on their piece. Each portrait will have moveable arms and hands so the subject can hold their individual biography. I think the results will be great and the students are learning so much about their subject choice. 

Magazine collage portraits

The beginning phase of building George Washington

3rd and 4th Grade

We have finished firing the sgraffito Native American pots and they look fantastic! I am so excited that the new (to me) technique worked so well. The pieces are displayed in the lit black display boxes on the second floor, I hope you can take a moment to see them during conferences.  We jumped back into the tipi project and have had a great time designing and painting the designs. We will finish the stitching onto the frame this week and will build the tipi in the upstairs hallway beside their main classroom. The students are very excited to sit inside their creation!

5th and 6th Grade Art

We will be completing the glazing of the banks today and then the final firing will happen when there is room in the kiln schedule. In between the building and glazing of the banks, the students began a new landscape project. Each student had several choices of an impressionist landscape sample to work from. They began their piece by studying and sketching the horizon line and main elements of their chosen landscape. The next step of the project is to try and match the colors and textures of the original landscape by finding a similar color in a magazine photo. Attention to tone, color, texture and layers are the main objective of the process. It is difficult to not focus on details and have a clear plan of building the collaged fields of color. 

7th and 8th Grade Art

The students have finished glazing their face pots and are waiting for their turn in the kiln for the final firing. In between the building and firing of the face pots, we have begun a new wood building project in the Maker Space. The students have measured, marked, completed the layout and plans for the jelly bean dispenser project. Each student had a 2x6x24" piece of wood to construct their dispenser. They had to accurately measure for all the pieces needed, received one on one lessons using the chop saw and cut out their pieces. There were a few students having trouble figuring out the layout, but all eventually were able to complete an accurate plan. The next step will be assembly, drilling the holes using the drill press and designing the sliding dispenser mechanism. They are following all the safety rules and are enjoying using the power tools. 

The Ratner School Art Program

I am personally glad to report that all the clay work will be completed this week. I am ready to get the art room back in order and try to begin dusting off everything! I enjoyed seeing the creativity and freedom of the students across all grade levels using the terracotta clay and I am excited to see the final results after the pieces are fired and glazed. 

I hope some of you had the chance to view the Scholastic Art Awards at CIA over the last few weeks. The work has been taken down now and should be coming home with your 7th or 8th grade student soon, keep an eye out for the work. 

         

Photo from Cleveland.com 2015, (I could not find the photographers name)

                                                

Kindergarten Art

We finished the last of the clay work and began our next Humanities unit studying the amazing quilts of Gee's Bend. The students looked at several visual examples of the quilts, noting the patterns, colors and materials used in their creation. We talked about the resources available to the quilt makers and how the quilters created their work to add physical warmth for their families and had a natural sense of design and color in their work. We discussed patterns, shapes, color and texture before work began on their large paper quilt work. The students designed a border to create and cut different patterned papers to build their work. They will finish the border this week and begin to create their central design as well. When the work is complete, we will display all the "quilt squares" together to see one large design. 

Samples of Gee's Bend quilts

1st and 2nd Grade Art

We finished work on the figure drawing books last week. We only had one art class last week due to the Geography Bee and the Olympic game activity. The students enjoyed practicing story telling using visuals and their proportions continued to show improvement as the pages in their books increased. Do not be surprised if your child asks you to pose for them, it is great practice to draw people from life. You are all so much more interesting to draw than a wooden mannequin. The figure drawing project is in support of the upcoming biography unit their main classroom is beginning soon. 

3rd and 4th Grade Art

The students all completed their sgraffito designs on the Native American inspired pots and they are currently drying out to go into the kiln. I believe I will be able to fire the kiln this week with their work. I am so excited to see the results of this new method and the students are rightfully proud of their work. We picked back up on our tipi build project and the students began stitching the large sections of the tipi together. They all made practice pouches before the work began and all enjoyed the process. We are using burlap as our material and a heavy cord for the stitches. The students showed great improvement with their stitch control and we will begin painting the designs this week. 

Before practice

After practice

5th and 6th Grade Art

We have about half of the banks completed as of last week and I am hoping to finish up all clay work today with the banks. I love the concepts that the students came up with and appreciate the fact that almost all of the students went beyond the typical "piggy bank" idea. Even if they chose to build a pig theme bank, the technical skills needed covered several points and I believe all the banks will be functional. Each piece is hollow constructed, has a slot in the top bigger than a quarter and a hole at the base so the coins can be removed. After the work is dried, it will go in the kiln and then we will get to glaze the banks. 

7th and 8th Grade Art

Several students completed their face/animal jugs in our last class and this week will bring the clean up and final details to the rest of the work. I enjoy seeing the variety in style, size and approach from the students and as always am impressed with their willingness to take a risk, try new methods and create with enthusiasm. Some of the work is larger than usual and will take some time to get to the bone dry stage before I can fire the work in the kiln. We will be patient so no work explodes!