5.11.2011

kindergarten building a better world


Thank you to everyone who came to the art opening to support our kindergarten artists! There were lots of proud smiles, noshing on snacks, and compliments galore! This show represented months of art work from the kindergarten artists on the theme of Architecture: Building a Better World.

Each class has its own poster collection of architecture prints. Part of the proceeds from the sale of these keepsakes will be donated to ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY. This organization works to bring design, construction, and development services to communities in need. This is a wonderful opportunity for our kindergarten artists to use the power of art to help make a difference!




Here are some installation photos in case you aren't able to come visit the show before it closes on May 27th!






Here are some of their Beverly Buchanan inspired art. Beverly is an artist who is inspired by the rural architecture that she grew up around. Her shack inspired art is an homage to the ingenuity and creativity of these homes. Beverly uses bright color and pattern to imbue her paintings and sculptures with the same energy and strength that she finds in the architecture around her. Beverly inspired the kinderartists to use paint and oil pastels to create color and pattern to build their own amazing homes!




Photos of one of my favorite kindergarten projects- the bird nests. Animals are architects too! The kinderartists pretended to be mama and papa birds that needed to build a strong and safe nest for their eggs. We spent time outside in the nature walk area looking for good nest building materials. Each nest demonstrates ingenuity and turned out beautifully.









This artist is talking about the many different kinds of cityscapes in art. Joy’s kindergarten class played an art game using examples of cityscapes in art history. This is a fun way to introduce the kindergarten artists to art criticism. Each student had 5 tokens to place near their choices. They did a nice job of using their interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences as they made brave personal choices and discussed their choices with their peers.

Heart = their favorite piece of art
House = the city they would most want to live in
Happy face = art made them feel happy
Sad face = art made them feel sad
Cloud= art made them think differently about cities






These two little guys are looking at their geodesic dome inspired sculptures. We talked about the life of the architect Buckminster Fuller and the geodesic dome. We have a great example of a geodesic dome right here in Saint Louis at the Botanical Gardens! The kindergarten architects know that the triangle is a very strong shape and combined their logical-mathematical and spatial intelligences to make tetrahedron sculptures.




This young artist forgot to sign his name so he asked his mom for a pencil to fix that! At first I thought he was adding some last minute details. I know this is a long post so I'll post more on these sweet little snails next time.

8 comments:

Hope Hunter Knight said...

Congratulations on a job well done! Beautiful work and a great exhibit. My art show is tonight - very excited! It's so nice to see it all on display.

Contemporary Art Education said...

Really outstanding work. So exciting to see this kind of art education happening in the world!
Cindy

Vicki Smith said...

Absolutely fabulous. I love the wall of architecture. The black with the bright colors is very striking. You can tell that you allowed the children to make their own choices.

Unknown said...

WOw! I loveeee the pictures and the nests are fabulous. Your an awesome teacher. Love the domes too:) Can I say love anymore in this comment?

Karly Shelton said...

Hi! I am loving the way you display the artwork in the grid pattern, it looks soooo modern and clean as oppose to mounting on construction paper. What do you use to adhere the artwork to the walls? I have used glue dots but they are sometimes tricky to remove from the paper.

Shannah said...

Thanks all:)
Karly, I sent you an email response:)

Anonymous said...

Hi, I know this post was from so many years ago, but I just came across it via Pinterest. I love the work you get your students to create, especially the nests and the drawings with the black outlines/bright colors inside. For the drawing project, what was the assignment? The instructions? I'd love to see my students create something like that.

Thanks!!
Sarah

Shannah said...

Hello and thank you Sarah:)
We do a picture walk through the book Sky High for inspiration to start with. I cut up cardboard into various sizes for them to print the crinkle edge with Jazz Gloss paint (no drawing ahead of time, just stamping the lines). Next time they use chalk pastels to add color. I like using the gloss black paint for this because it keeps a nice sharp black instead of being covered up by the chalk. They choose to do a cityscape, building, or home, real or imagined.

Hope that helps! If you have any more questions feel free to send me an email:)