Art Exhibition Video

Here's a highlight video from the Art Exhibition in April:

Art Exhibition is Coming!

Link to Photo Slideshow running during the exhibition (13 min of photos!):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2guXxnkj28

Background Music :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPf1W5LfsEk 

Festival of Nations!

Hip hip hooray for celebrating our many nations at ASB today! 

Very Influential People

Very Influential People... Who are they? How are they influential? What difference can someone with influence make?  These are questions grade 2 has spent some time exploring and reflecting on in their unit of inquiry.  In art, we explored 4 very influential artists- ranging in nationality, materials/media, and contributions to the art world and in turn art history.  These artists are recognized and known for starting something new or seeing things in new ways. Henri Matisse is contributed with bring collage to the art world while Paul Klees use of mixed media and applying whimsical drawings through printmaking techniques layered on paintings was a unique approach to art making. Pablo Picasso is famous for saying " I don't paint things they way I see them, but the way I think them", and started the art movement of CubAndy Warhol created a style of art that captured and shared aspects of popular culture through his art such as food and iconic celebrities in Pop Art.  Grade 2 created pieces of art influenced by the contributions if these artists to the world of art. Check out some of their work, collage side by side to note the differences in approaches to creativity! 

We also used a fun tool too explore museums around the world to find out more about these artists and other influential artists called Google Art Project.  Check it out! You can virtually visit-and even walk through-many of the worlds great art collections.

Which artists influence you? Who inspires you and the way you express yourself? How can you have influence on others in your life (through art or other ways!)? 

A peak inside our busy art room

What we've been up to this week...

Grade 1: painting to music

Grade 2: exploring styles of influential artists

Grade 3: how cultures have used art as expression through time

Grade 4: collaborative project-based recycled art unit

Grade 5: linoleum printmaking

Art from Ordinary Objects

Last week a group of 10 creative KG-Grade 2 students explored the art of Andy Goldsworthy. He is a well known sculpture artist who used mainly natural elements and nature itself to create stunning and simple yet interesting artwork. We talked about the patterns we noticed (simple shapes, using the thing such as rocks or leaves repeated over and over again, sometimes adding color but usually keeping the natural color of the natural object).  

We wondered:

What would it be like to find one of his artworks in nature? surprising, awesome, funny, weird

How does this art make us feel?...and Why? calm, peaceful, curious, excited, happy... the environment and music also help us feel this way

How could we get or give that same effect using materials we found naturally around us at school? naturally found objects at school might be markers, pencils, crayons etc...

How would it feel to make a piece of art that is temporary, or will not last forever? sometimes just making art can make us happy, it's ok to break or remove a piece of artwork after we have shared it with others, not all art has to be perfect and in place forever

Where would we choose to build pieces like this to inspire people around us? in our home, in our private room/bedroom, at lunch, in school where lots of people will see it...

Using the most natural objects we can round up in school (without harming any plants or living things), we assembled designs on the ground using office supplies, rocks, sea shells, pencils, rubber bands, gems, and assorted wood blocks.  While these elements were not the same as those Andy Goldsworthy would use, they are easily found, simple and common, and can be used to create surprising and interesting designs. As a group they created an amazing collage of items that really wowed the people passing by. We also tried using ordinary objects in drawings and in cards we could give to other people to inspire and surprise them with creative beauty. What a fun day using our imaginations and putting our creativity on display!

 

This week in art!

What a busy week we've had in art! Enjoy your week long holiday and don't forget to seek out creativity everywhere you are! 

Patterns!!

A pattern in something that repeats itself.  In art it could be lines, shapes or colors for example. Grade 2 explored ordinary boring patterns this week and used one another's ideas to transform the. Into more creative, complex patterns by thinking outside the box and adding more lines or shapes or colors to make patterns within patterns.  We have patterns in our lives for our daily routines, healthy habits we use to keep our minds and bodies strong, and even what we see and wear! What patterns do you notice in your life? Can you create an interesting pattern today? 

Grade 2 cityscapes

Grade 2 has been busy painting colourful patterned wooden blocks to let our imaginations run wild. While Mrs. Garrett started the project with one plan in mind, the never ending creative input and ideas from students inspired us to go in another direction!  Many decided the blocks looked like a small city.... The blocks can be stacked and arranged to look like sky lines or city buildings, complete with added details. 

We ultimately inspired ourselves to paint our own cityscape pictures-starting with solid blocks of color in the background, adding painted details, the colourful chunk-o-crayon skies! We attempted to create one large city scape in each class by joining our paintings into one long line! Look where our imagination has brought us!!