1st, 2nd and 3rd Grade Art

We finished the watercolor application on the observational flower drawings this week and the students were so receptive to adding details, value changes and used the materials very carefully. I had purchased very nice quality German made watercolors last year for the older students to use and I felt the younger students could handle the use of the expensive art materials. They had 2 lessons on how to "shop" for the paint pigment and how to control the pressure on their brushes. I realize it sounds like a simple process, but it is difficult for the younger students to curb their enthusiasm with paint! They did not disappoint and were so respectful and careful with the beautiful paints. The final pieces are vivid and the students were excited with the result. Students always amaze me with their capabilities and ability to exceed my high expectations. They are a remarkable group of young artists.

4th, 5th and 6th Grade Art

What a productive, creative and successful week we had in art! The students really focused on their work, made great progress and really enjoyed the final results of their efforts. The 5th and 6th grade students had a lesson on the use and care of utility knives and learned not only the safe way to use the tool, but how to take the knife apart and change the blade. I am not quite ready for the 4th grade students to use the knives, so they were content to cut their pieces with scissors. The 1 point perspective pieces and process were successful in teaching value, color theory, tool use and contrast.

Plus they look really great and the students are so excited to share them. I have hung the work in the large gallery space, try to stop in and see them if you are in the school.

                                   

     

 

7th and 8th Grade Art

We only have 3 students who have not completed their Scholastic Art pieces, so we began a new project this week. The art looks great, I will begin matting, mounting, photographing and entering the data for the entries soon. I will have a form for each student that wants to enter their piece that will need a parent signature. I am going to try to have everything ready for you to sign by conferences, I will keep you updated. 

We started a 3-dimensional cardboard sculpture project this week. I showed the students several examples of possibilities, and gave them a few guidelines to work with. I wanted to balance the intensity of the long term Scholastic project with a process that is more open ended and allows them extra creative freedom. It is great to see them experiment, mess up, start over and discover new ways of working. There is not much to show you yet, stay tuned!

The Ratner Montessori School Art Program

We had another productive and full week at school with several new projects beginning and focused work continuing in the longer term projects. I enjoy hearing the stories about all the art being created in the students homes and about all the parents and grandparents that are great artists! The younger students are so excited to tell me about the Dad that painting with them at home or the grandmother that has her own art studio. It makes my day rich when I hear that the students have art filled lives. Thank you all for the museum trips, art supplies, endless paper and art appreciation you give to your children at home.

A beautiful fall storm photograph by Janice Pohl

Kindergarten Art

We continued our study of watercolor paint this week. I introduced the students to the work of Georgia O'Keefe and presented several of her flower paintings. We discussed how she made a small flower feel monumental and how she used detail, value and color in her work. The students made a choice of which flower from the learning garden they wanted to observe and draw and set out to create their drawing. It is often difficult to get the students this age to draw larger than life, as they are use to scaling down the world in their artwork!  I encouraged them to slow down their drawings and add every single detail they observed. They mixed the colors for their painting using the three primary liquid watercolors. If they completed their first flower painting, they could get an apple or pear to draw and paint. Marked improvement was shown with the color mixing this past week.

1st, 2nd, 3rd Grade Art

We began our class this week with an in-school field trip to the front lobby to view the newspaper painting display. One of the core principles of our art curriculum is how to view and talk about art in an intelligent way. We began the discussion with the thought that we may not like or understand the art that we view. With this age group, much of the intent is to add the vocabulary of art and the skill to critique without hurting feelings. We practiced some of the language and talked about expectations for behavior in a gallery or museum setting. Each class went to the "gallery", which in this case was the school's front lobby, and had a short discussion with their partner about the work. This is a slow process to hopefully get the group ready for the yearly partnership with MOCA and subsequent field trips to the museum. 

We began our next project, a realistic drawing of flowers from the learning garden. Each student had an arrangement in a vase with fresh flowers to draw. We talked about scale, line and detail. I showed the class how to draw a table for the flower vase to sit on and how to take their time to draw what they observed. We will begin the watercolor work today.

I love having fresh flowers for the students to draw! The art room looks beautiful.