A Room 4 Art - Website for Art Classes with Miss K. at Arnold Mireles Academy, Chicago Public Schools

- 2nd to 3rd Grade Gallery -

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Second Grade - All About TREES

We began by making a small, simple sketchbook, then used it to do some drawings of trees, outdoors. We picked a favorite to enlarge on gray paper using a China Marking Pencil [which makes very dark lines - no eraser!].

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• « If absent, students used photos instead of sketching outdoors.
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Then we learned a new process: Monoprinting. Looking at their drawings, students painted into a marked-off area of the tabletop, then drew into it. Then, they pressed another sheet of paper on top, transferring the paint onto it.

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Chalks were used to add UNreal colors - and we learned the difference between Warm and Cool colors.

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Second Grade - Rousseau Rainforests

We learned about the French artist, Henri Rousseau - who never went to an actual jungle, but painted many pictures of them! We began our own by making sketches from rainforest resources.

These were used to make a large drawing on light blue paper, which we painted first with Tints and Shades of green and brown.

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We added additional colors, then built a frame for them - decorated with colláge and drawing.

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Second Grade - Stamp Printing & Weaving

Next, we talked about types of printing we’ve done before, and how it enables one to create the same image over and over again. We made our own stamps using modeling clay and objects pressed into it to create a pattern/texture.

Once our printed papers were dry, we reviewed warm and cool colors and used chalks or crayons to ‘jazz-up’ our prints. Half of this page was cut into 1" strips and used with a solid color to weave into a simple cardboard loom.

The looms were made by using a ruler to draw horizontal lines across 9" x 12" tagboard, about 1" apart - plus 2 vertical lines at the sides. By folding this in half, then cutting on the lines [stopping at the vertical ones], the looms were complete.

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• Everyone turned their weaving into a wall hanging [seen here - checking the balance] and/or a book cover.
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Second Grade - Imaginary Creatures

Part One - Game played using folded papers and seperate artists doing each half. [After a brief discussion about what imaginary. means and listing ideas for creatures.

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Part Two - Voting one creatures as the game winner, Miss K. enlarged it, then groups took turns doing the color work. It was then cut-out and stuffed with paper to make a sculpture.

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Part Three - Sketching ideas for our own imaginary creatures, practicing favorites with modeling clay, then forming a final one with air-dry clay with paintwork added.

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Second Grade - Sumi-E Style Paintwork

We learned about and practiced 2 brushstrokes - the "bone" and "leaf". When used together, they look a lot like bamboo branches.

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We are using our favorite paintings to make a simple fan - including a "chop" for our signature.

Third Grade - Bookcovers : "Tar Beach"

I began this lesson by reading the book, "Tar Beach", which was written by American artist, Faith Ringgold. Using thin cardboard, newsprint papers and yarn, we made a simple notebook with a blank cover. We discussed where we’d fly to, if we could and practiced drawing ourselves flying and a landscape of our destination.

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Here are some of our covers in progress...every artist chose what media to use for colors - colored pencils, chalks, markers, etc. & our next step = adding fabric pieces! As you can see, we are also working on adding some narration about our images.

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Third Grade - Surreal Landscapes

We next furthered our experience in making landscapes by drawing a large environment on 12" x 18" paper. A horizon line, specific place details and showing simple depth / perspective were the goals.

I then introduced the class to the Surreal style of art, and we viewed examples by several artists, noting the ‘tricks’ used to turn reality into non-reality:

• Floating - Objects or people floating off of the ground.
• Changing Size - Making something very tiny or gigantic.
• Odd Combinations - Mixing together things that normally would never be so!

Then we looked through magazines for photos to carefully cut out and add to our landscapes - using the same tricks. Now, we are starting to paint them with watercolors...

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We learned about 4 watercolor techniques and tried to use them all:

• Washes - Are thin colors made using lots of water.
• Opaque - Thick paint made with little water - not ‘see-through’.
• Wet-on-Wet - Normally you let one area dry before painting another, but with this, the colors are allowed to bleed/blend together.
• Drybrush - Just like it sounds; letting the color wear out, leaving a rough, scratchy texture.

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• The final step was outlining important parts of the picture using colored pencils or markers.
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Third Grade - Game Designs

Now, several groups of students are planning and creating games. Rules will be written and each will have a chance to play and evaluate each other’s results!

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Cross-Categorical Class: Primary - Brush Strokes

Like the 1st grade classes, we started the year by reviewing and using lines and shapes. We played the "Mirrored Lines" game w/ partners, and then learned that painted lines are called brushstrokes - we later colored these using chalks:

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Cross-Categorical Class: Primary - Portrait Colláges

After charting the shapes we knew, everyone cut shapes from papers and sorted them by type. We viewed artworks by American artist, Romare Bearden and created a picture of a person using magazine photos and our shapes. A simple background was added, later:

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Cross-Categorical Class: Primary - Primary Colors + Symmetry

Next, everyone made a "folded" painting using red, yellow and blue tempera paint with water added. These were cut into an insect shape and details added with papers, markers, etc. [The final step was to use beads and wires for eyes and antennae.]

We are nearly finished with making a place for our insects to live!

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• We’ve also created a large "garden" to place them in... pics coming soon!
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Cross-Categorical Class: Primary - Color Colláge

We discussed our favorite colors, then collected magazine photos that featured them. These were cut-out and glued to a background - as well as actual items in our color, too. Everyone discussed with Miss K. *why* they liked their color and she added a line of text.

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Cross-Categorical Class: Primary - T-Shirt Designs

Next, we reviewed how art can be *usable*, as well - by planning and creating our own Tee designs using fabric crayons and ironing them onto shirts. [Some chose to use computer resources if they needed help in creating the image.]

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• « We used the windows as a lightbox for tracing - and all text had to be backwards!
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Cross-Categorical Class: Primary - Landscape Mural

After reviewing that landscapes are pictures of places outside, everyone drew one and we voted for our favorite. Miss K. enlarged it onto roll paper and each table took turns adding the paint colors to it. While waiting, everyone drew items you would see in that place - here, a city. [We will be selecting some to cut-out and add to the painted mural.]

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Cross-Categorical Class: Primary - Self-Portraits + Paper Marbling

We next moved to another subject in art - ourselves! After using mirrors and working together to complete drawings, watercolors were used for the color and we used the techniques of: washes [lots of water], resist [with wax crayon], and wet-on-wet [letting colors ‘bleed into’ one another.

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To finish-off the project, we did one of my favorite things: marbling paper! Marble is a stone that has a lot of thin lines or veins running through it. With this technique, colors on paper look as if they are made of very thin lines running together. Water was thickened with something like seaweed powder and acrylic paints were thinned with water. By floating drops of paint on top of the water and "combing" the colors to swirl them together, when you lay paper over it, the color is transferred onto it.

Each artist did 5 sheets, then chose 3 for Miss K. to cut into strips to use as a frame for our Self-Portraits.

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