January 2017
Greetings from the art room!
December really flew by. Below are some of the highlights for your enjoyment! If you’d like to see this
newsletter in all of its colorful glory, be sure to visit our school’s website.
Best,
Mr. A.
Kindergarten: Students in kindergarten
worked on our tracing and cutting skills.
We also used a glue and glitter
technique to create these beautiful
ornaments.
1st Grade: Students in first grade were introduced to
the fanciful works of the French artist, Henri
Rousseau (1844-1910). Mr. Rousseau was known for
his jungle scene paintings. Having never traveled to a
jungle, Mr. Rousseau visited zoos and botanical
gardens to get his inspiration.
2nd Grade: In second grade, we learned about
the work of the famous Spanish artist, Pablo
Picasso (1881-1973). Mr. Picasso is
considered by many art historians to be the
most influential artist of the 20th century. One
of his greatest contributions to art was his
invention of a style called Cubism. We then
looked at his two paintings both titled “Three
Musicians.” Full of inspiration, we then
created our own musical pop-up card with
musicians and instruments!
3rd Grade: Third Graders had a blast beginning our
famous ice cream cone project inspired by the work
of American artist, Claes Oldenburg (1929). For over
three decades, Mr. Oldenburg and his wife Coosje
van Bruggen (1942-2009) collaborated on large scale
public sculptures. Philadelphia is the only city in the
world to have three: Clothespin, 1976; Split Button,
1981; Paint Torch, 2011. We also have a fourth
Oldenburg sculpture at the Philadelphia Museum of
Art titled “Three-way Plug” made in 1970. You can
visit all four sculpture for free!
4th Grade: For our next project, we looked at
the career of the Canadian painter, Lawren
Harris (1885-1970). Mr. Harris was a founding
member of the Group of Seven. Beginning in
1920, the Group of Seven set out to create a
uniquely Canadian style of art. The artists in
the group mostly painted landscapes. Those
works tended to reflect the wild nature of the
Canadian outdoors. For our painting,
students learned how to mix their own tints
(color + white), shades (color + black) and
tones (color + black and white).
5th Grade: In fifth grade, we learned about the
techniques of chasing and repoussé. Chasing is a
technique where decorations or designs are
embossed on the front of a piece of metal. Repoussé
(or repoussage) is a technique of decorating metal
where the tooling is done on the reverse. As you can
see, the results are pretty awesome!
In Mrs. Wynne and Ms. Nardello’s class
students created a class winter mural. We
began by using texture brushes to create our
snow. We then each created a house and
person for our neighborhood!