Third Grade Ink Monsters

 Third graders looked at a stop-animation video of the drawings of contemporary artist Stefan G. Boucher (www.dailymonster.com), who makes one drawing per day from ink splotches.  

Continuing with our unit on process-generated art, we discussed incorporating reflection the way we often observe clouds, thinking about what those forms resemble or lead us to imagine in them.

Students used drinking straws to blow around drops of India ink on cardstock and create their own splotches, then used fine-tip black and broad colored markers to bring out monsters and many creative scenes.  

First Grade Tissue Paper Fish

Together we read Leo Lionni’s book, Swimmy, about a fish who organizes his school of fish into a larger shape to scare away the large predator fish.  We discussed primary colors as students drew, then cut, their own fish shapes, and experimented with careful gluing.  This process led them to discover how tissue paper primary colors can mix into secondary colors when they become translucent with glue.  These are their colorful collages becoming a big class fish!

Kindergarten Abstract Line and Color Paintings

“A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.” - Paul Klee

Kindergarteners explored line and primary/secondary colors with these paintings in the vein of Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee.  Students used black oil pastel, “taking their line for a walk” several times from the edge of the frame, then using tempera paint to add color.  After the first paintings, students made more using all tempera.

2nd Grade Tape-Resist Tree Landscapes

Second graders looked at examples of New England and Hudson River School paintings from the 19th and early 20th centuries to discuss foreground, middleground, and background.  Using masking tape, students planted trees on their paper, then used watercolor to put in sky and earth, creating a horizon line.  After removing the tape, students used colored pencils to ground their trees with roots, detail the textures of the trunk, and add some woodland details.