P-2 ~ Author Studies in the Art Room

Foundation, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students have been exploring some wonderful books in Art this term, investigating the techniques used by authors/illustrators in their artworks and illustrations. There are so many wonderful authors and illustrators to choose from, but we focused particularly on books by Lois Ehlert and also Leo Lionni.  Our first project involved reading and admiring the book 'Snowballs' by Lois Ehlert.

We loved how Lois used a mix of painted papers and real life and natural objects in her collages - every page was full of texture! We also loved the little birds she made out of painted papers and thought they really stood out against the backdrop of the birch trees.

It was then our turn to make an artwork just like Lois Ehlert! First, we used small bits of cardboard and scrapers to scrape black paint onto white strips of paper to create our birch tree trunks. While they were drying, we worked on our painted papers for our bird. Students used black and white oil pastels to create patterns and lines on one side of their paper and then used watercolours to paint over the top and create a resist. Adding salt to the wet paints also created texture on our papers as the salt soaked up the salt.

Next lesson, we used a template to trace the shapes of our birds onto our painted papers - head, body, tail feather, wing and beak.

Once we cut out our bird shapes, we then assembled them onto our birch trees. The final touches were added with white paint dipped into a cotton filter - SNOW!!  Aren't they gorgeous!

We learned a lot about Lois when we read through 'The Scraps Book' - a book all about Lois and how she became an author and artist. Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to write books and her parents both encouraged her to make artworks out of scraps of material, wood, buttons, papers, etc,

Reading and sharing 'Lots of Spots' was so much fun! Lois has created the most amazing paper collages to illustrate this book.

 

We felt so inspired by her collages, that we delved into our box of specialty papers and started creating our own animals (with lots of spots of course!) The results amazed me!!

 

 

 

Leo Lionni was the next author we investigated and his book 'A Colour of his Own' was just the sweetest story. We spent some time talking about chameleons and how they change colour and then discussed how to draw a chameleon.

Some students were keen to draw a chameleon on their own, while others felt more comfortable using a template. Using dispersing paper for this project resulted in lots of 'oohs and aahs' from the students as they watched their paints spread over their papers.

A sprinkling of salt also created some interesting effects. Well done - your chameleons look adorable!

Grade 3/4 ~ Drawing Peacocks

Did you know that the national bird of India is the peacock? The Grade 3/4s spent some time in Art class looking at images of peacocks (as mosaics and sculptures at Indian temples and palaces). We were amazed by the beauty of their colours and shape.

As a class, we spent some time together drawing a peacock - as a guided drawing session - breaking it down into steps, with simple shapes and lines. Once we felt confident in our drawing skills, we then used a permanent marker or fineliner to draw our peacock and to add those gorgeous colours, we used oil pastels. It was lots of fun to experiment with blending the oil pastels (and a bit messy too!)

Here's what the students came up with - aren't they amazing!!!

Grade 5/6 ~ Code Red mixed media artworks

During Term 1, the Grade 5/6 students completed an integrated unit on 'Code Red', investigating a range of natural disasters and artists' impressions of these disasters. They explored the elements of line and shape to create their own mixed media artwork of a chosen natural disaster. Form, colour and texture were also explored when creating and modelling their artwork.

To begin, we shared the book called 'The Great Wave' and discussed Hokusai's famous wood block print (also linking in with the students' Asia Literacy topic of Japan).

We then discussed the many different types of natural disasters (tsunami, flood, bushfire, cyclone, avalanche, storm, volcanic eruption, hurricane etc) and we explored some artwork by a variety of artists, portraying natural disasters. In particular, we looked at some Indigenous artists and their interpretations of natural disasters ('Big Cyclone Story' by Mercy Fredericks and 'Bushfire Dreaming' by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa).

Students then chose a natural disaster to represent in a mixed media artwork and began sketching their ideas and experimenting with the variety of media available for this project (magiclay, sculpt-it, papier mache, modroc, paint).

Then it was time to build up their designs and give their artwork some form and texture. Magiclay proved to be a popular material, as did the modroc. The sculpt-it was quite heavy on the background card, but once dry, produced an interesting effect.

The final touches were added with paint and a sprinkling of other materials (tissue paper, cellophane, corrugated card, sand, foil etc).

As you can see, the finished artworks look so eye-catching and when you see them up close, you will notice the contrasting textures of the materials used in each one. Well done Grade 5/6 ~ you worked really hard on these!

P-2 ~ Wau Bulan: Malaysian moon kites

The students in Foundation, Grade 1 and Grade 2 are learning all about Malaysia as part of our Asia Literacy Program this year.

To complement their studies in class, we learned all about kites and kite making in Malaysia. In particular, we focused on the 'Wau Bulan' or Malaysian moon kite. I am sure if you ask one of the P-2 students why they are called moon kites, they will be able to tell you!

To create our own 'Wau Bulan', we cut out the intricate shape and pasted down a mix of beautifully patterned papers. We were very careful and tried to overlap the papers to create interesting patterns and effects.

Our finishing touches included decorating our kites with sequins, adding ribbon and stapling on crepe streamers. Some students were very clever at cutting and stapling their own streamers - quite a fiddly task! Here are some of the finished kites on display in the Art room. They look so eye catching as they spin around in the room.

Grade 3/4 ~ Festive Elephants of India

The Grade 3/4 students are learning all about India this year as part of our Asia Literacy Program at Marlborough. We have enjoyed exploring the vibrant colours, patterns, jewels and embellishments that adorn the elephant procession in the city of Jaipur, during their Elephant Festival.

Over a 3 week period, we created our own Festive Elephants of India. First, we began by painting some papers in greys and whites and adding texture by using a variety of tools (scrapers, skewers, bubble wrap etc). While the papers dried, we practised drawing elephants in our Art journals.

We then traced the outline of our elephants (some students preferred to work with a template) onto our painted paper and cut them out. We glued them onto coloured card and were then able to start decorating!

We used green hessian to make the elephants' rugs/blankets, carefully pulling out a few strands to make the blankets frayed on the bottom. Then we adorned our elephants with jewels, sequins, pom-poms and a variety of bling! Adding lines, patterns and textures with oil pastels also proved quite popular.

To add even more decoration to our artwork, we used patterned scissors to cut strips of coloured paper to glue down as a border around our elephants. Mounting our artwork on black card and drawing a simple patterned border with oil pastels created our final touches. Well done Grade 3/4 - your elephants look amazing! What a colourful display they make up in the office!

Foundation ~ Watercolour birds

Our Foundation students have settled in so well to the Art room and shown wonderful responsibility with art materials and tools. Well done!

We have had lots of fun experimenting with the art elements of line, shape and colour recently. We created these wonderful watercolour birds, using black oil pastels and water paints. We talked about shape as an element of Art and the different types of shapes we knew. To decorate the body of our birds, students chose one shape in particular. I think they look amazing and each one is so unique!