3rd Grade Costumed Portraits

Since the 3rd graders are studying New England farm and family life of 1800s and reading Farmer Boy, we looked at some common outfits that folks would have worn.  Students drew portraits of each other's faces, then drew the rest of their sitters' in 1800s costumes of mutual agreement, and painted them using watercolors.  Some are dressed for a trip to town, others, for working on their farms.  Here they are in progress; look out for these gracing our hallways soon!

2nd Grade Owl Printmaking

Second-graders applied their classroom study of raptors to the art room for this project.   Using books and photographs depicting owls, students made sketches of owls, then transferred their favorite sketch to foam printmaking blocks.  Several students made multiple prints of their owl in different colors, and were able to observe the effects of varying amounts of ink as well as the different colors on the clarity of their images.  

5th grade Endangered Species Oil Pastels

Fifth-graders used images of endangered species to work on transposition.  They each drew a grid on their photograph, then used those divisions to help break down their drawing process and create a more realistic likeness, using oil pastels on black paper.  Students also worked on using the qualities of their materials (oil pastels can create nice distinct lines) to show the texture of each creature’s fur, feathers, or skin.

1st Grade Flag Project

In honor of election day, first graders looked at images of Jasper Johns's painting, Flag, and created their own flags, working together in two groups of three.

8th Grade Book Paper Sculptures

Eighth graders looked at various paper artists like Brian Dettmer, Jacqueline Rush Lee, Guy Laramee, and Nicholas Jones, then planned their own sculptures using X-acto knives and glue.  Students were encouraged to make connections with the text, subject, and form of the books to enhance their compositions.

Kindergarten's Lascaux, TGS

Kindergarteners learned about the earliest known cave drawings in Lascaux, France (which, scientists believe, were made by female artists) and looked at the colors, symbols, and animals represented in these drawings.  Students created their own cave-like drawing surface by crumpling brown craft paper until it was soft and wrinkled, then drew some of the symbols and animals they observed on the walls of the cave in Lascaux using white, black, ochre, and brown pastels.   

7th Grade Colored Pencil Vegetables

Seventh-graders discussed the color wheel, focusing on analogous and complementary colors, and created complementary color scales.  We talked about color mixing, and the use of complementary colors to enrich a shadow or highlight.  After several sketches, they made colored pencil drawings of fruit and vegetable still-lives, focusing on details of light and form.  Students worked hard on their observation skills for this project, with beautiful results.  These are hanging inside the art room, come visit and check them out!