7th and 8th Grade Art

Work continues on the wire quilt squares. Some students are really experimenting and trying interesting techniques and imagery with the wire medium. They have shown improvement in how to join the wire shapes together and have begun to be more comfortable creating the small compositions. I believe we will begin to "stitch" together all the squares next week to complete the project. I am hoping to end to school year with a Maker Space project building wooden spinning tops. I can't believe that we are that close to the end of the school year. This has been a great group of students to work with this year and they have cycled through many projects and processes. They keep me on my toes.

Can you see the manatee?

The Ratner Montessori School Art Program

Last week was a bit off balance for me as the 7th and 8th grade classes were on their class trip. I always miss the students when they are away from school, but an entire week without a large group is very different. I did have extra time in my schedule to display all the Gala horses in the front lobby and we have had so many positive comments about the work. I enjoy hearing the students explain their work to anyone who is standing near the display and they are all enjoying hearing your comments. I am also excited to say that the last of the ceramic work has been fired in the kiln and the work looks beautiful! I had to do a bit of creative problem solving as the top half of the kiln stopped working as I was completing the glaze firing, but I was able to use the bottom half of the kiln successfully. "The Little Kiln that Could" has served the clay program well for 9 years, but it is definitely time for an upgrade.  More on that at a later date....

Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarten class had two classes to explore all the various materials and techniques they have learned this year with our last project. They had the opportunity to use several materials including watercolor paint, oil pastels, colored pencils, glue, paper and markers. I am always impressed with the retention of information from the beginning of the school year and enjoyed watching them experiment with the combination of materials. The final pieces are full of color, beautiful mark making and energetic! They enjoyed creating "free form" as one student called it and wanted to have an extra class to continue working on their pieces. I appreciate the ability to adjust the class plans to the needs of the students and I know the students greatly benefit from the flexibility in their creative education. We will begin a sculpture unit this week that will be at least two weeks long.

1st, 2nd and 3rd Grade Art

We have had a busy and productive set of classes this past couple of weeks. The students created a material exploration piece that began with a simple grid design. I wanted to assess the amount of techniques and skills they have acquired this year and presented them with a fairly open ended project to check the development. They had several materials to work with including watercolor paint, oil pastel, colored pencil , graphite and collage materials. I wanted to see previous techniques used and was looking for a sense of exploration and experimentation. They, as usual, did not disappoint! They retained information from the beginning of the year, used the materials in an intelligent and creative way, taking care to not destroy the tools in the process. We actually extended the project by 2 classes because they were so excited with the project. The students were also able to finally see their finished clay pieces and I will display them on top of their lockers of a week or two so everyone else can enjoy their work. They did a fantastic job with their glazing and they are all looking forward to sharing their pieces. 

4th, 5th and 6th Grade Art

We began a sewing unit at the request of several students. We started with a simple weaving exercise, creating potholders on a hand loom. The students chose their color palette and created patterns with their work. Following the loom work, they sketched out several ideas for a creature they could construct with fabric. The shape needed to be fairly simple as we will be hand stitching all the work. They sketched the final design on a white canvas, learned how to thread a needle, tie a knot and how to sew a running stitch. We have several choices of fabric to piece together different patterns and elements on the creatures and the students seem to enjoy the work. They also had a chance to see their final glazed ceramic work and made note of any improvements they could make for the next clay project. I was very pleased with their attention to craftsmanship and form with their work. I will display the pieces upstairs in the black box displays. If you happen to be in the school, please come upstairs by the library to view the work.

                             

                              

7th and 8th Grade Art

The students have returned from their trip energized and ready to create. We took some time to see the glazed ceramic work and made note of any improvements that could occur with glazing, construction or general craftsmanship. I was so relieved to finish the glazing firing in the kiln and I am so proud of the work the students created. We began a new project this week constructing a wire "quilt". The students used a heavy 14 gauge aluminum wire to create a 5x5 inch frame. Various colored wire, beads or found objects were used to create a composition for the quilt square. Each student will make 4 squares and then we will wire them all together to create one piece. This work is great for fine motor skills, problem solving, color theory and composition.