Seascapes

One of the standards that we teach in the state of Georgia requires us to teach a Georgia artist to all students every year. It was different at first but now that we are in the 2nd year of our Georgia Performance Standards for Visual Arts I think I am beginning to really enjoy finding new artists to teach to my students!

In 3rd grade art we were beginning our unit on depth which includes foreground, middleground, background, and horizon line. I chose a Georgia artist whose work I really love! His name is Paul K. Hill and he lives and paints in Georgia. The last couple of years he has been doing a series of seascape paintings while traveling with a group of other artists. They are called the Ossabaw Artists' Collective and I think the work they are doing is very interesting.  My students were inspired by Hill's seascapes to create their own

Dale Chihuly - 3rd Grade Sculptures

Fun! Fun! Fun! That is my take away from the Dale Chihuly sculpture lesson I just finished with my 3rd graders. They loved studying his work and using it as the inspiration for their own sculptures. We looked at Chihuly's work and after our initial discussion on the differences between form and shape we watched a video of Dale Chihuly making a piece of art from his Macchia series. It was great for the students to see first hand how a piece of blown glass art is made.



Students then planned their piece of sculpture using colors and spontaneous drawing the way Chihuly does.

When students were done planning they transferred their designs to white coffee filters using washable markers. Macchia means spotted or stained in Italian and that was the basis of the inspiration for Chihuly and my students. When their coffee filter designs were complete they used paint bottles to form their free form sculptures.

When they had their sculptures in the form they wanted we sprayed them with spray starch and left them to dry!

They were then mounted on some matt board scraps in order to be displayed.

I think they are stunning and my little artists are so proud of their work! Want a fun sponge activity using technology for your students? Go here!

Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam!

Did you know that artist Andy Warhol and his Mom had hundreds of cats in their lifetime? That is a lot of cats! Did you also know that all of his cats were named "Sam" except one? What did he name that one cat?
See if you can find the name here while you explore Warhol's life and work. If you figure it out be sure to let us know by leaving a comment!

The above 3rd grade drawing is the beginng of our pattern lesson inspired by Warhol's cat illustrations. Be sure to look for the finished projects the next time you are in the building. Our 3rd grade pattern pets are fabulous!

Kara Walker

Third graders are studying artist Kara Walker in art class right now. They are telling stories with their art using only silhouettes!





Hard at work the student's are carefully cutting out their images!

Vincent van Gogh

The second and third graders are studying the artist Vincent van Gogh in the art room right now. They love hearing the life story of this very interesting and world famous artist. Did you know that van Gogh never sold a single painting while he was alive? Now his paitnings sell for hundreds of millions of dollars! He painted many self-portraits and not until recently did we know what he really looked like. Go here to see a recently found photograph that they believe is Vincent van Gogh! The Metropolitan Museum of Art also has a fun interactive website about him - check it out here.

How Do I Get Graded?

Hello Parents:
I am Jennifer Heyser, your child's art teacher at Woodland. I would like to explain to you how your child is graded in art. Children will receive a subject grade and a conduct grade in art four times a year.

Art Education in Fulton County is based on an approach known as Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE). It is important to understand we do not grade children's artwork, rather, we grade art learning. Discipline-based art education draws its contents from four areas of instruction:
1) Art Production (making art)
2) Art History (exploring artistic heritage of many cultures)
3) Art Criticism (analyzing the qualities and features of art)
4) Aesthetics (thinking about art and making well-reasoned judgements about art)

Evaluating progress in art education is complex. Evaluating artistic growth in artistic expression, art knowledge, skills mastered, and attitudes enriched, as well as conduct and social behavior in the art class, can provide a profile of your child's total progress in art and help me guide him/her to further growth. A variety of ways are used to assess progress at the elementary level, such as quizzes, demonstration, discussion, sketchbooks, and my own observations.

It is important to keep in mind that it is not your child's artwork that is being graded, but your child's progress in art learning. If you have any questions about our art education program, please do not hesitate to contact me at school. Thank you! We are going to have an excellent school year!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to the art room for another exciting year!