Chocolate Art Coming soon!

5th graders will be making their own chocolate art using modeling clay, a food safe mold, and of course chocolate. Thank you for making with possible with your financial contribution. The supply order has been placed and we are eagerly awaiting its arrival. After spring break we will be busy working on projects for the Aztec Market. We will be working on chocolate art two days, April 26 and May 3. Please contact Miss Forrest if you are interested in helping or just visiting to learn about this fun project.

Blind Contour Line Portraits

We tried another technique to improve our observational drawing skills called blind contour line drawing. We drew a partner in class using one continuous line and were not able to look at our papers as we drew. We are adding color with oil pastels and a layer of watercolor on top to add extra dimension to the colors. Here are some in progress. More photos coming soon...

Press Mold Bowls

We created ceramic bowls using the press mold technique.

Creatures Adventure

We tried out some different techniques to create little creatures/monsters. We could use a straw to blow around a puddle of watercolor paint in the style of artist Stefan G. Bucher. The other inspiration was artist Bren Bataclan, who creates cute, simple characters.

Upside Down Drawing

Artists use the technique of drawing an object upside down to more accurate see and render the object. This technique is included in Betty Edward's book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. We copied a drawing of Igor Stravinsky by Pablo Picasso as an exercise to hone our observational drawing skills.

Picasso's Minimalist Drawings

We looked at several of Picasso's very simple drawings, often completed with only one line. We tried out this style of drawing for ourselves.

Perspective - 3D Boxes

We learned to draw three dimensional boxes using one-point linear perspective. Parallel lines appear to converge and disappear at the vanishing point. The 4th graders also created a color wheel out of the boxes.

Mandalas

A mandala is a piece of art that has radial symmetry. Several different cultures create mandalas, including Tibetan monks, who create them using colored sand.  Rose windows in churches are another example of a mandala. We traced circle templates and cut them out. Then we folded our paper 3 times to create 8 equal sections. We created designs inside them with sharpie markers. Whatever was added to one section, needed to be added to each of the sections, paying special attention to the size and placement of all of our lines and shapes. 

Jacob Lawrence Movement Collage

We learned about Harlem Renaissance artist Jacob Lawrence. We were inspired by his painting of olympic runners in our figures in motion collage. We had the option to cut or tear construction paper to create our collage. We spend a lot of time trying to create the effect of a person in an action pose. We spent several weeks on this projects and are very proud of the results!

Paper Weaving

We painted two papers with watercolor paints. Then we cut them up to weave them together. One paper, the warp, was cut into vertical strips 1/2 inch wide, connected only at the top of the paper. The other paper, the weft, were cut into horizontal pieces that we wove over and under the warp pieces. This was a very challenging project and took patience and determination.