Butterflies Flutter By

This is the first classroom project we have completed for the annual Dealey PTA Silent Auction! Mrs.Gilbert's 4-6 class painted some watercolor blends that were later punched out into butterfly shapes and attached onto this 18"x24"canvas. Hopefully this stunning piece will bring in big money for our school!

Murakami Murals

Takashi Murakami is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art. He coined the term superflat, which describes both the aesthetic characteristics of the Japanese artistic tradition and the nature of post-war Japanese culture and society.

The International Academy art students studied Murakami as part of our unit exploring Japanese Art. We looked at some of his designs fro Louis Vuitton, his videos for Kanye West, and his vast collection of deformed Manga characters. Each Academy class took a different Murakami print and divided it up into a large scale mural. This is a great collaborative project because students need to work together to make sure each piece lines up and all the colors match.

Abstract Winter Trees

We began by making a tissue paper collage with cool colors and a little magenta thrown in. The next week we used blue and violet (cool colors again) to create a patterened and moving night sky. We finished by cutting the tissue collage into tree shapes and glueing those on top of our paintings. We added simple snowflakes in the sky and some gold branches too. The strong color harmony is complimented by the placement of the shapes, creating a great use of perspective in the artworks!

Watercolor Giraffes!

Giraffes are my absolute favorite animal, so every year I have to pull in at least one giraffe project. This was inspired by a photograph I came across recently. I began with a step-by-step drawing of the giraffe starting with the nose. Once the drawing was complete, students outlined everything with either a black or brown crayon. We later used watercolor paint and attached some leaves for a little 3D effect. This was definitely a standout project that was a success for every student!

Matisse Flowers

Students discovered the various artworks of Henri Matisse and completed these still-lifes in his style. We began by doing some crayon rubbings of various Matisse style cut-out pieces. We then created a vase and several pop-up flowers, a subject seen very often in the artwork of Matisse.

Egyptian Symmetry

The first step in this lesson is to read about the art of Egypt and really examine the different characteristics and their use of symbols. I have the students draw out a design on a small sheet of paper, giving them the option of being realistic or more abstract. These designs are then transferred onto a larger paper four times creating a symmetrically balanced composition. I had the students color in the symbols and figures with marker, then the background was filled in with gold paint. We then created a border around the entire composition using styrofoam stamps of a heiroglyphic.

African Sunsets

The 1st through 3rd grade classes recently completed this amazing silhouette project. We began with a lesson on color blending. We looked at the color wheel and discussed how colors could be blended if they are next to each other on the color wheel. We looked at a picture of a sunset and noticed the gradual color shift from yellow to orange to red. The students then painted using watercolors and tried to mimic this gradual color shift.

During the second class, students choose an animal to include in their drawing. Some of their options were zebras, giraffes, elephants and monkeys. We drew the animal over top of the painting and then painted the animal, ground and a tree in black. This gives the painting a great silhouette that really feels like the sun is setting in the background. I read the African folktale Anansi the Spider and told the students to focus on the pictures and designs in the story. We then created a similar design along one edge of the painting.

On the final day, we began by using a marker to clean up the edges of the black paint. Because the silhouette is so important, all the edges need to be very clear and smooth. We then created a native African figure and included it in the painting. We looked at some images from Masai natives and took note of the way they dressed, the types of jewelry they wore and their hair.

The final product is both visually stunning and a great introduction into the land of Africa!