Self Portraits

School-wide the first project of the year is always self portraits. The students also create self portraits at the end of the year to see how they have grown in art and in their bodies. I have updated our Artsonia page with the self portraits. This year we were inspired by Frida Kahlo, so you might see some animals on the shoulder or interesting backgrounds.

Donation and Huichol Yarn Painting

My wonderful mother sent me a care package with the vinyl sticker backed tiles I needed for my students to create Huichol inspired yarn paintings. She also purchased yarn from Laura of Tinkerhouse on Etsy and had it shipped to me. Here are two photos of the variety of yarn that was sent. We began preliminary research on the Huichol yarn paintings and sketches today. I will post an update when they are close to complete.

Piet Mondrian and Lines

One of the first projects I do with 2nd/3rd grade is studying line directions, primary colors and Piet Mondrian. The kids love it when I dress in primary colors and don my Piet Mondrian belt. We throw in a little math and proper ruler usage to create straight lines. The verbal directions are simple, but no two project ever turn out the same: three horizontal lines, three vertical lines, three lines bold sharpie, four lines thin sharpie, two rectangles of each primary color and sign in the bottom right corner.
I have updated our Artsonia with the kids' work.

Additionally, I read the kids The Dot by Peter Reynolds and had them create Piet Mondrian dots for International Dot Day.

Reddit Gifts for Teachers

Reddit Gifts for Teachers 2015

 

The wonderful and amazing Katherine S. Rogers sent our students a class pack of oil pastels, a 12 pack of kid scissors and Vilros Arduino Starter Kit. We are so thankful for this gift and look forward to all the amazing artwork and robots we plan to make with these materials.

Zen Pencils and Frida Kahlo

All last week, we have studied the life and artwork of Frida Kahlo, specifically her self portraits. Zen Pencils has a fantastic comic about Frida and self acceptance:
http://zenpencils.com/comic/frida/

Image Credit: Zen Pencils

Hero Club and The Redwood Coast Humane Society

Every year, The Redwood Coast Humane Society puts out its summer newsletter in our local newspaper, The Independent Coast Observer and this one contained an article featuring our PCCS students. Last school year, our theme was Heroes, so I started a Hero Club. The purpose was to teach students how to be everyday heroes and give them opportunities to be heroes in their local and global community. One of the hero acts we performed was painting the Humane Society's fence in a rainbow with acrylic paint. This is just one way the Pacific Community Charter School uses art to bring people together. We hope to continue the Hero Club this school year and work with the Humane Society again.

World Art Drop Day

Here is the tiny tree frog drawing I created in colored pencil that I plan on leaving at the Post Office. 

If you are the finder/keeper of this piece, please comment below.