If Picasso Went on Vacation

 We have established that I am an elementary art teacher.  I really haven't done much in regard to making my own art. I've done crafts, lots of sewing and special requests. But, I'm NOT getting any younger ........ so I have recently decided to put my art out there in the universe.

Last summer on the Art Teacher Facebook page an art teacher, E. J. Gibbons put out a notice that he needed some more art for his 4th book in the "If Picasso" series.  This latest one titled If Picasso Went on Vacation. Since it was the summer and I was (and still am) recovering from back surgery, I decided to give it a try.

 

We decided I should focus on emulating George Braque and what he would see if went to Zambia to visit Victoria Falls. So I researched his work to get a feel for his style and sense of color.

 Researched images and videos of Victoria Falls. Did lots of thumbnail sketches. Which ironically, my son who decided to return to school to study art, asked me about. Guess he was checking with me, as to whether people really do that. Well I DID!

 

I went as far as printing out two separate photographs, cutting them apart and putting them back together all mixed up.  Because my understanding of cubism, which was developed by both Pablo Picasso and George Braque, is that the artist views his subject from a variety of angles and includes them all.

 Then I played around a bit to decide if I could actually do this.

 

I enlarged one of my sketches, transferred it to canvas.

 And started to paint.........

 

 And paint.........

 

 When it was completely finished I needed to turn my photo into 300dpi's. I called my son, the art student and thankfully he has Photoshop and was able to convert it for me.  Converting it created better resolution for being printed in the book.

In early November E. J. sent out a proof page for me to review.

And around the holidays he sent this out. This screen shot is actually part of a slide show and I waited for my painting to view to snap the photo.

This experience was just SO exciting for me! Today my copies of the book arrived and I can't wait to share it with my students tomorrow!! 

Thank you E. J. Gibbons for this opportunity! 

And thank you Peter Depp for your help getting the photo converted.

And NOW for a very limited, early bird SPECIAL offer click here  to purchase YOUR copy!

Thanks for Reading!

Heading to New York City!

I have driven myself crazy trying to figure out which sub plans to leave this week as I attend the NAEA conference in New York City. Here I posted some sub plans I have left in the past when I have been out.

Since we just started learning about abstract art (because of that awesome cubist painting I did for the book If Picasso Went on Vacation) I thought this lesson plan would work for the 2nd-5th grade students. The Unique Drawing Experience, I found it in a sub folder that one of our district art teachers put together. However, after an internet search I believe it may have come from Lesson Planet.

 

The Noisy Paint Box is a perfect book to go with this lesson. It's a story about the artist Kandinsky and how his abstract art is a result of the colors and sounds surrounding him that inspires his paintings.

For kindergarten and first grade I left this lesson. I originally found this lesson here. Thank you Mrs. Haake at Apex Elementary. And if you check out my post on sub plans you will see I have used it before.

   

It's about a flamingo and how what they eat affects what color they are. I have students put a border around the the paper to practice with a ruler and to have a place to draw what Sylvie ate to make her the color she is. Then they follow step by step drawing instructions to create Sylvie.

Gotta get ready for my flight up to Long Island to spend the night with my sister and her family before heading into New York City.

Please introduce yourself to me if you see me at the conference! I love being with other art teachers, after all we have the best conferences ever!!

Thanks for reading!!

Happy Trees!

The last two weeks before the "Winter Break" aka Christmas Vacation were spent making happy trees with my students in 2nd-5th grade. I know many teachers out there don't want to get into the whole holiday scene and many of you are not even allowed to. However, we embrace it at my school. We have a Santa who brings hats, scarves and mittens to our students in k-2nd grade. Which are provided by a local community of retired adults who have adopted our school.  And a Santa who comes to have hot chocolate and cookies with the children. 

Since my 4th and 5th graders were already experienced at making pop up cards which you can read about in this post.  I thought we would do these Christmas trees which I found here by Robert Sabuda.

 

 Print out the pattern on card stock. Score the broken lines (I used a pointed stick).

 

 Fold on the middle line. Cut on the heavy solid line.

And then pop through to the other side.

 

 

Decorate inside. Use double stick tape to attach to the outside of the card, which should also be card stock.

 

 

Use some interesting lettering to decorate the outside of the card. Ways to connect this to the curriculum: designing greeting cards as a career, learning about different fonts and typography, using paper to create 3D art, and developing self expression.

My 2nd and 3rd graders also did trees and I used the book: If Picasso Had a Christmas Tree  in the photo below to inspire them.

The book has trees created in the style of a wide variety of artists done by art teachers. I put postcards up on the board of artwork done by the actual artists that were emulated in the book. Children were to match the trees in the book to the postcards on the board. It was a blast! It always amazes me when I try this type of activity and the students have so much fun.

To tie this into the curriculum we reviewed lines and patterns and then 2nd graders were taught about warm and cool colors.

 

 

3rd graders were taught about complementary colors.

   

And for any early finishers I had this amusing Roll a Snowman sheet for them that I found here.

 I had some dice on hand from when I had a sub do this Lego activity.

Below are a couple of cute snowman made by my little ones.

 

What were all of you doing last week with your students? I would love to hear about it!

 Have a wonderful holiday break and thanks for reading!!

Art Inspires Fashion

I have a fascination with postcards. Not just any postcards, they must be Art Postcards. The ones that you can purchase at an Art Museum. The ones that are photographs of the art at that museum or on loan to that museum. I have been collecting postcards for YEARS! However, I have finally, during the last few years, figured out how to use them with my students in art.

In Art Centers for Extended Learning-students choose an art postcard, then using a work sheet, they answer questions and draw a small copy of the art. This activity helps students to make connections to different artists and their styles.

In Curating with Postcards-students explore different art careers and the responsibilities of a curator in an art museum as they use postcards to create their own exhibit. AND apparently because I shared this activity last summer at a Summer Institute at Penn State-I'm gonna be quoted in a textbook!!

In Happy Trees-I reference the book If Picasso Had a Christmas Tree, where students matched Art Postcards to the art in the book. This was a great activity for students to learn to recognize the style of different artists.

Soooo last summer on a trip to New York City, while in The Costume Institute at The Met, I came across this beautiful gown. It was part of an exhibit titled China: Through the Looking Glass.

It made me think of this: The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai.

Which eventually made me remember this: by Cassie Stephens  click on her name to read her blog and be prepared to be blown away by her talent and dedication to the field of art.

AND a new lesson was Born? Discovered? Created? After messaging Cassie Stephens, who by the way is the art teacher's ROCK STAR of art teachers, I put together a few slides showing off the incredible fashions she creates to inspire her students as they learn from her about different artists.

featured in Nashville Arts Magazine, Nov 2014

 

There were so many different directions to go in with this lesson. However, I love incorporating our school mascot into our art when ever I can. Soooooooo after sharing several photos of Cassie and her wonderful fashions I showed students some postcards and directed them as to what they would be doing. They could cover the whole shape of the lion or put the lion in a body suit. I did this with 2nd and 3rd grades. Would be a good lesson to leave for a sub.
My samples-

  

I thought they should do some planning first and use the sheet with the four lions traced out.  I insisted 3 out of the 4 needed to be art inspired from the postcards and one could be their own art.

On the back they should take notes as to the title and artist's name. And when they decided which one they liked the best they could do an enlarged version. It's a fun activity and introduces students to different kinds of art and how art inspires more art!

 

 

 

Now I vaguely remember taking more photos. Ones with students working on this and of more finished art. I'm sorry, no clue what happened to them.

Moving along........ I feel terrible that my blogging has slowed down. I'm still on medical leave, the surgery was a SUCCESS and I will eventually mend AND NOT want to sleep ALL day because I left the house the day before for a few hours. It is what it is.

My original goal was to blog 3 times a week.
My realistic goal was to blog ONCE a week.
My medical leave goal is to blog when I'm not sleeping, and can think clearly for more then 30 minutes at a time. Hopefully things will get back to normal in time for summer vacation................

Thanks for reading!!!!