first grade faux bois

Each student was given a small wooden tree ring in pine, birch, cherry, honey locust, mulberry, or elm. They carefully observed the patterns of the tree rings and then created their own tree ring designs. The results ranged from beautifully abstract to carefully detailed copies of the original.





The students got to keep their tree rings and loved being able to hold the history of an entire tree in the palm of their hands!









We used a variety of techniques in colored pencil, collage, and watercolor.

second grade fireworks

We had a lovely time at our neighborhood 4th of July celebration last night and it reminded me of a fireworks inspired project from our second grade artists earlier in the year.



We took a look at the art of Cai Guo-Qiang, a contemporary artist from China. His signature art is based on “explosion events” that use gun powder as a drawing tool. The second graders observed that he is interested in things that are both beautiful and ugly/dangerous at the same time.



Cai is the artist that choreographed the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony fireworks show. His art inspired the second grade artists to make their own fireworks using the design elements of line and color. They made a mark of their choice and then repeated it concentrically while overlapping designs. I always enjoy watching them approach this algorithm in their own unique way. Enjoy the fireworks!