kinder colors

The kinders have been practicing a little color theory! They have been working with warm and cool colors here and here for example.

This is the last project in our color unit, a collage inspired by the question- what is your favorite color and why? The kinders LOVED the collage process but even more, I loved their responses to the question. We spent some time before we started, to close our eyes and visualize our favorite colors and then did a quick share. While they worked on their collages, I came around to record their thoughts. Their color responses evoke a memory, feeling, family, or nature- all of them lovely!

(I did get permission to share this secret with everyone!)

first grade tree portraits

The first grade artists have been sketching and observing many different kinds of tree branches and looking closely to see how those branches diverge. We have been enjoying our outside art time!

Students were then asked to create a self portrait with a twist. Imagine yourself as a tree! I was very much inspired by the lovely work over at Chesterbrook Academy Elementary.

There is something special about imagining yourself as someone or something else. It helps to build empathy and understanding. Feet become roots, arms become branches, and hair becomes a home to little nesting birds!

my hands are my heart

Our fourth grade artists watched an interview with Art21 artist Gabriel Orozco. We used his work My Hands Are My Heart as a starting point for an exploration of clay, process, and the connection of creating and caring. This fit in beautifully with our fourth grade theme, Artists Making a Difference!

Students were asked to only use their hands to create a heart (no tools allowed other than stamps for their name). Some hearts took the form of vessels, baseballs, mountains, or beloved pets. Some hearts wore their family names, some touched deeply with fingertips, and some hearts were perfectly smoothed. All of these hearts were a wonderful play in process and a great way for us to start our year of caring and creating.

garden loom

I brought out some scraps of yarn for our garden loom the other day during my recess duty. Usually our garden loom is filled with earthy colored twigs, sticks, long grasses, and garden cuttings from work days but I like the splash of bright color here too!

The garden loom is wonderful Multiple Intelligence tool. It fosters the use interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences, and of course the spatial, naturalist, bodily-kinesthetic, and logical-mathematical intelligences.

If you want to find out more about how to build your own garden loom check out Weaving a Life and The Earth Loom Foundation. Our garden loom started as a hallway conversation "wouldn't it be great if..." and our wonderful NCS parents made it happen!

welcome back!

Welcome back! We have just finished our first week here at New City School. I am looking forward to a wonderful year of art! You'll notice the new shelving in the middle of the room that was handmade by Bill,our expert craftsman and facilities manager:)Thank you Bill! This makes our art supplies so much more accessible.

I have a fifth grade advisory and we start and end each day together in the art room. We used washi tape to decorate birdhouses on our first day together.

And this little guy is our yarn ball sprite. He winds balls of yarn for our kiddos who love to finger knit during free time. He might need a little help now and then to keep up with demand;)

This is the start of a concept bank. Each 6th grade art time I will record our "post it note discussions" and deposit them here so we can refer back to our discoveries. My Art21 experience really has me thinking about my big questions and through lines. This year I want to make these connections more evident (rather than just using them as a curriculum organizer). Our theme in 6th grade asks the question: What is creativity? How can I use my creativity to benefit myself and others? We will be exploring what ways we can be creative, what hinders or promotes creativity, finding out if creativity is universal, and looking for ways we value (or don't value) creativity.

More to come soon! Best wishes for the new school year!