1st Grade Mixed Media Collages

1st Grade students learned about the artist Irene Rice Pereira. She actually went by the name Rice because she didn’t want people to judge her artwork differently because she was a girl. Rice liked to create artwork that represented technology, so the 1st grade students created artwork with the same theme. We talked about how we use technology on a daily basis and what shapes you might see in the inside of a computer (squares and rectangles). We then cut those shapes out of tissue paper. After using a collage technique with the tissue paper, students then learned about printmaking and printed different rectangular textures onto their artwork. Don’t these collages look like the inside of a computer??

1st Grade Jim Dine Hearts

1st Grade Snow Landscapes

1st Grade students created realistic snowscapes for the winter season using paint. First, students were introduced to the landscapes of artists such as Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams. Students learned how to draw all different types of landscapes, as well as different types of foliage and backgrounds (mountains, plateaus, etc). Students first began by drawing mountains for the background on their blue construction paper. Then, they created hills for the middle ground, and then snow with trees and house for the foreground. On the first day, students painted the mountains and hills (30 min) and then the next day, students painted the white snow, trees, snowman, and house. To finalize their paintings, students then outlined the house and finished the snowman with black paint as well as sponge painted the snow on the mountains and trees. To create the snow effect, I mixed 2/3 white/silver paint and 1/3 water mix in an old spray bottle and then sprayed it onto their artwork.

1st Grade Dia De Los Muertos Skulls

In October, students learned about the Mexican celebration of Dia De Los Muertos. Skulls are a very important part of the celebration where the dead are remembered and their lives are celebrated. Students began the lesson by talking about their personal experiences with Dia De Los Muertos (many students had traveled to Mexico and experienced this day of remembrance). Then, students looked at various examples of skulls created by Modern Artists (the Mexican Fine Arts Museum in Chicago has a wonderful Dia De Los Muertos exhibit). Then, students were given a pre-cut skull tracer where they traced their skull on a piece of 9 x 12" construction paper. They used the caps of baby food to trace the eyes onto different pieces of colored construction paper. Then, they made the nose out of construction paper by creating a heart and then turning it upside down. For the mouth, students were shown how to fold the paper in half to create the design. Finally, students created teeth by cutting squares out of white scrap paper. After students were done construction the face of their skull, they used modern examples of skull designs to draw Dia De Los Muertos inspired designs on their skulls using colored pencils. Once their designs were approved, they added glitter and sequins to thier skulls. As the final step, students glued their skulls to a piece of bright construction paper and then added yarn around the outer edge as inspiration from Huichol Yarn Drawings.

1st Grade Mondrian Oil Pastels

The first grade students learned about the art and life of Piet Mondrian. They also learned about primary colors and how to use red, blue, and yellow to make secondary colors. Students discussed specific Mondrian prints and what they saw in each of his paintings (some of their responses were cities, birds, and towns). Students were given a 9" x 9" sheet of black construction paper and then instructed to create horizontal and vertical lines with pencils in a style similar to Mondrian. Then, students went over those lines using Elmer's Glue. Once the glue dried, students had to color in the boxes using only red, blue, and yellow oil pastels. They had to mix those colors to make secondary colors too.

Kindergarten Mattise Organic Shape Collages

"Polynesia" by Henri Matisse

Kindergarten students learned about the life of Henri Mattise by reading the book, Drawing with Scissors and looking at examples of his cut paper collages. Students specifically looked at his work "Polynesia" and found the geometric and organic shapes within the artwork. Using a piece of 12x18" and 9x12"construction paper (of different colors), students folded and cut the smaller piece into four rectangles. Then, they learned how to make a checker pattern and glued it down using Elmer's glue. Finally, students were given a sheet of white 12x18" construction paper, and folded it and cut out an organic shape border. After that, students used the remainder of the paper to cut out at least 8 organic shapes to put in the checker boxes.

Kindergarten Wall-E Worlds

Ms. Sortino’s kindergarten art classes created Wall-E Worlds out of GEOMETRIC SHAPES. Students learned how geometric shapes are shapes with names (i.e. squares, rectangles, circles). Then, students created their own robots out of geometric shapes and colored them in using construction paper crayons. Finally, students created a city out of geometric shapes and construction paper for their robots to live in.

How many geometric shapes can you find in each picture?