5th Grade Snowflakes

Some folks finished early and had some time at the end of class, so a few 5th graders made some very intricate snowflakes for decorations at the Winter Concert.  Check out those details!

5th Grade Op-Art Paintings

Fifth graders looked at the work of Victor Vasarely, often called the father of Op-Art, as well as some other well know optical illusions as inspiration for their work.  They chose complementary colors to create high-contrast images, and practiced some fine-tuned detail painting in this project.  Keep an eye out for their finished work in the hallways!

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.

5th Grade Driftwood Horse Sculptures

Inspired by the larger-than-life-size sculptures of horses from metal and wood by Deborah Butterfield, fifth graders created smaller horse sculptures from small pieces of driftwood joined with hot glue to create forms and, in some cases, little vignettes.  It was fun to see the many different ways students approached this assignment to conceive and create these forms, and what details each student highlighted in their sculptures.

5th Grade Naturalist Drawings

Fifth graders are reading My Side of the Mountain by naturalist Jean Craighead George, so we have been working on sensitive line and contour line through observational drawings.  We looked at examples of historical and contemporary naturalist drawings in class and students first made contour line drawings from life in the garden of plants of their choosing with careful fidelity the forms observed.   Next, they closely examined helicopter seed pods, some from several views, and made sensitive line drawings which they then painted in watercolor.

5th graders - Observational Drawing of Garden Trowels

This week fifth graders have been working on observing form and light on garden trowel, using contour and sensitive line along with directional line shading.  Here are some students at work today:

And their finished drawings of multiple views: