Monochromatic Self-Portraits

International Academy students created these self-portraits as their first complete project of the new school year. We began by taking selfies in class. Students then drew out a 1/2 inch grid over top of the photo. Next, we drew out a 1 and 1/2 inch grid on a 12' x 18' paper. Students then transferred the information from the photo to the paper keeping the portrait to scale and perfectly dimensional. Once complete, the students used oil pastels in one color to fill in the portrait. Oil pastels are great to blend and create different values to give the portrait more dimension. The final step was to paint in the background and add some splatter for fun. The students also learned about American artist Chuck Close who is famous for this style of portraiture.

Making Art with Shapes

Students in PreKinder and Kinder began the school year creating these artworks with shapes! Students leaned about many different shapes from the story When a Line Bends... A Shape Begins.
Students were then given some precut shapes and created many different things with them. We created suns, houses, rockets, flowers, balloons and much more. Students added and embellished these designs with crayons. Last, we cut squares and added a pattern around the border. This is a great project for the beginning of the year and introduces students to the wonderful world of shapes around them.

Watercolor Peacocks

Students in the 4th through 6th grade Montessori classes made these peacocks as the final art project for the 2013-2014 school year. We did a simple watercolor painting on the first day- dividing the page up with different types of lines in crayon and then painting each shape a different color. During the second class, students drew out a simple bird shape in sharpie. The paintings were cut up into feather shapes and layered out to create a peacock. Students could draw or use cut-outs on the body for a wing or head feathers as well. This is a great lesson for layering and the art principle of repetition. I wanted to keep a simple white background and bird to really emphasize the feathers and make them stand out.