Soul-Sole Pendants

Kindergarten made some lovely gifts for Christmas. We talked about words that sound the same but are spelled and mean something different. They knew that their soul is something inside of them and a sole is part of your shoe. We used both of our souls/soles to create these pendants. We but out souls into painting them. And used the soles of our shoes to create the designs. After carefully stepping on a ball of clay we added some pretty beads and waited for them to dry. We even made handmade wrapping paper to wrap them up for Christmas!

One Fish Two Fish

Kindergarten learned their primary colors by creating some adorable artwork inspired by Dr. Seuss, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish! They are so whimsical just like one of my favorite authors drawings. I certainly can use some more Dr. Seuss in my classroom.
 

1Point Perspective Dream Rooms

7th grade got a little HGTV in the artroom earlier this year. They designed and drew their dream rooms in 1 point perspective. It was not a easy task but I think they did a wonderful job! Though some obviously added more than others. Which room would you want to live in?

Haunted House Prints

These were made in October, but never got around to posting the pictures. But I absolutely adore these little house prints. 1st grade took a look at Victorian homes with their peaks, round windows and towers. They immediately thought they looked like haunted houses and lucky for them, the pictures progressed to some spooky looking ones.

Using chalk pastel, students created a colorful background of either warm or cool colors. I had them lighted spray them with water and blend with a tissue. We then added a bit more chalk onto our papers. While a clear coat of fixative dried, we moved onto our haunted houses. They were carved into foam, cut out and them printed. I love the detail they added, and even the little ghosts peaking out of windows on some of them.
 

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year! It's 2013 already!?! I still can't believe it....this year sure is flying by! Regardless if I still can't remember to write 2013 instead of 2012 on my papers, This year is bringing a great deal of new projects for St. Leo's students! Paper mache, screen printing and lots more is planned and I just can't wait! Here's just a few pictures of the wonderful recycled ornaments 2nd grade made before break! The decorated the school's Christmas tree so beautifully! They are a great way to use those Christmas cards collected year to year! Make some of your own using the tutorial from Conundrum (this uses 8 pieces) or Maker Mama (uses a lot more pieces).

Prehistoric Cave Discovered at St. Leo's

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving a cave was discovered in the art room!  It had ancient prehistoric cave paintings on the ceiling!  Kindergarten and Pre-K, toured the Lascaux caves in France. (take tour here)  We found lots of bulls and deer written on the cave walls in charcoal and red clay.  We then drew our own creatures on the artroom cave walls.  I'll be posting some of our cave art in the next week or two!  

Geometric vs. Organic

It's Geometric vs. Organic Shapes here in 1st grade! Well discovering these different categories of shapes we learned about two different artists. Piet Mondrian and Henri Matisse. We discovered that Mondrian loved using the Primary colors: Red, Blue and Yellow, while Matisse used both Primary and Secondary colors! Mondrian used geometric shapes while Matisse used organic! However, both loved listening to jazz music while creating their artwork. In fact, Mondrian named one of his paintings Broadway Boogie Woogie! So of course we had to listen to some boogie woogie and jazz while creating ours!