School-wide Mural

J.W. Killam Family Tree

Year two~ Each student traced his/her hand and selected one color to decorate the hand with symbols that represent themselves or a design.  Students used colored pencils, markers, and crayons.

To view year one and the making of the tree, click here.

Fifth Grade Head. :)

Fifth Grade Collaborative Sculpture

This mini unit began as an attempt to combine an introduction to bas-relief sculpture and conveying emotion through art.  Fifth Graders created these interesting faces using Model Magic.  The idea was to combine them creating a larger face showing the many emotions we all experience.  However, perhaps it was the instruction (start with the nose, push in the eyes, etc…), but MANY of the faces have a particular look that may have been better suited for a fall project…   In the end, the faces were added to the glass head (thanks for the inspiration, Mrs. Gallant) and the sculpture certainly begs for closer examination.  It makes me think of all the things spinning through our minds!  Enjoy!

Keith Haring dance Party

Fifth Grade

Keith Haring Inspired

 Dance Party!

Fifth Graders are learning about gesture drawing (quick sketches used to capture the movement or position of a figure), and what better way to practice this, than by examining the work of 80s iconic pop art/graffiti artist, Keith Haring?!  Students learned about the short life and work of Keith Haring and identified the common characteristics of his work.  Then it was on to the freeze Dance Party complete with the 80’s music of Bananarama!  Students practiced gesture drawings of classmates and then transformed those sketches into Haring-ish figures to be used in this collaborative “Dance Party” piece.  I love the fun result!

Check out Haring Kids for other great ideas!

 

Art in the Gym!

These silhouettes were a combined effort of several grade levels.  Second graders learned about analogous colors and painted loads of papers to use for the dots.  Fourth grade teams picked an action pose and traced a teammate on black roll paper to make the silhouettes.  Then whatever classes had a little time, had a mini lesson on mosaic art and color theory and began adding colored spots.  When finished, they wouldn’t fit through the laminator. I love them and did NOT want to see them tear in the gym in three weeks, so I cut them into laminator size bits, and ran them through.  Again, the amazing Mrs. Cresta to the rescue!  She pieced all the bodies back together (not an easy task) and got them all displayed in the gym.  What an impact!

The original inspiration for these came from Mrs. Peterson over at The Falcon Acadamy.  Thanks for sharing! 

The sports spheres were created by our fourth graders.  Click here for the details.

Collaborative MLK Grid Drawing- Fifth Grade

Fifth Graders at the J. W. Killam School learned about the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King and then worked together to create this stunning portrait.

 

Each student drew their own grid piece using a small version of their assigned grid cell as a reference.  Students needed to use a coordinate map and teamwork to make sure their drawings lined up with neighboring cells.  Once the pieces were drawn and cut out, students outlined their drawings with Sharpie and selected a color they felt represented themselves.

 

It was beautiful to watch the cooperation, encouragement, and excitement as students saw this collaborative work honoring Dr. King come to life. 

Killam Family Tree

J.W. Killam Family Tree

This is our Killam School Family Tree inspired by the work of Gustav Klimt.  Each student and staff member made a self-portrait to create the “leaves”  for the tree.  Students learned about facial proportions and were introduced to the Art Nuevo style and the work of Gustav Klimt.

My original plan was to have students create a new portrait each year and to save them so children would leave elementary school with a series of self-portraits from Kindergarten through fifth grade.  However, my bubble was burst when I heard numerous groans while introducing the assignment in September.  I am not one who believes every lesson needs be shiny, new and exciting at all times, but I really do want students to be enthusiastic about the brief time they have in the studio each week- and so, I am rethinking this plan.  But for now, our tree shows how we are each part of a bigger picture and together, we create a masterpiece!

The inspiration for this collaborative art came from a photo posted on The LearningExperience.  Thank you for sharing your beautiful mural and inspiring ours!

All School- Creation Station Option

I am trying to have some on-going community art projects for students to work on as time allows.  This ART collage is nearly finished.  We just need a few more ARTs to fill in the blanks and a clear coat.  Look for it soon outside room 1!

 

 

 

Community Looms- Weaving

 

My students LOVE weaving!  I picked up the smaller loom at a garage sale and keep it available for students who have a little extra time.   The larger loom was crafted from a flea market frame.  I did need to attach some corner brackets to the back to make it a bit sturdier, but it seems to be holding up just fine.  I added the warp to little eye screws.  The weft students are currently working with is actually old paint smocks cut into strips.  I am excited to see how our first big weaving comes out!

 

 

The Making of the Student Masterpiece Gallery

I wanted to transform our main school hallway into a Student Art Gallery, so here’s what I did: 

First I collected loads of frames in a variety of sizes to transform into mini bulletin boards.  Many were donated, and some were picked up at garage sales, flea markets- you name it- anywhere cheap! 

I spray painted all of them gold and cut pieces of foam board or cardboard to put in as the back.  Each backing piece was sprayed with adhesive and then I covered it with black fabric.  The edges on the back were folded over and secured with duct tape.  Lastly, I used a staple gun with long staples to secure the backing to the frame. 

To position the frames on the wall, I traced each frame on paper and attached the paper to the walls to see what they would look like together.  When I was happy with the arrangement, the awesome custodians at our school drilled the holes 1-2 inches below the top edge of the paper.  They needed some flexibility due to the brick wall and needing to drill into the mortar.

The final step was adding the wire hangers and adjusting each frame to hang at the correct level.  Thanks so much to Diane Myers for all her help getting those frames hung properly.  Lastly, I added Velcro dots to the lower corners of each frame to keep them straight.

Home Depot generously donated crown molding and the spray paint to trim all of the large bulletin boards.  I spray painted the molding gold and painted the bulletin boards black. The whole thing came together beautifully and I absolutely love having “a gallery” to showcase student work!

 

BEFORE

After

This sign is just before you head down the "gallery hall."  The design is by a talented fifth grader~!  Thanks, Eva.