Preschool artists discussed shapes and teeth. They first drew imaginary mouths then brushed them using paint and toothbrushes. The stories that came from this activity were amazing! Click the pictures and read about all of our different mouths.

Kinder artists are working on designing and making model chairs. What if you were to invent a new chair? What would it be used for?

How do we make meaning from what we see? This week, Grade 4 students started to explore photography and stop motion using IPads. They viewed the film The Little Imp by George Melies and discovered the magic of stop motion. With a partner, they concentrated on investigating what makes a good photograph for stop motion. They also tried to make something magically move using photography and the app, Stop Motion HD. We had short films with markers magically moving across tables , scissors cutting without hands and tape sliding down a wall!

Kindergarten and Grade One Artists had the opportunity to come and teach their parents about their art experiences. We had 4 stations:
Contour Line Portraits
Portrait Mood Paintings
Drawing from Observation: Portraits
Backgrounds and Landscapes
Parents were encouraged to ask questions about their child’s learning and decision making process. Students greatly enjoyed sharing their knowledge and experiences with their parents and everyone left with works of art. Students were able to choose any station then create a portrait of themselves or of someone in their family. They then created a background/landscape for their portrait. The results were meaningful and many students made more than one portrait. We were excited to see so many parents involved in their children’s learning. Thank you to all who could come and if you could not make it, please feel free to email and come one day after school!

We asked our Grade 4 Artists to think about the ‘creative process’ that an artist goes through to make meaningful art work. Students answered planning, researching, being inspired, trial and error, playing with material…and the list went on. We asked if there was a certain order to produce meaningful and well-crafted work and the students thought the order could be different for the individual artists. What creative process do you go through to make your art?

We used Mask Making to discover our personal creative process. We are in the middle of creating. Here is just a sample of a few questions that have been discussed in class:
What does the mask mean?
Nose/Eyes/Mouth: Open? Closed? Large? Small?
Does it hide our identity or show our true identity?
What is the mood of your mask?
Where do you use pattern?
How do I technically create what I envision?

Enjoy the pictures of the process thus far!

Grade one has been exploring print making. They have used both paint and ink to study the process of mono printing. They discussed color and moods and made these fabulous self-portrait mono prints. What do you think the person in the print would say to you? Do all portraits look the same? Why do artists make portraits?

Preschool artists played with shadows in art last semester and the pictures are too beautiful not to post! They used team work drawing each other’s shadows and stacking blocks to make new shadows. They investigated being close to the light source and far away. It was a huge success and inspired many conversations and ideas.

Kindergarten has studied color fields and Mark Rothko’s work. They transferred their knowledge about mood and color to create these beautiful self-portraits. They were expressing emotion and feeling through color. We had a lot of giggles and fun making our art. The students were very purposeful and could describe why they chose the colors that they did and what they like most about their work. The work will be displayed around campus so keep on the lookout for some bright and expressive self-portraits!

Focusing on using the elements of art, Grade 4 artists explored how artists generate ideas and build on their ideas to create unique works of art. Grade 4 artists wondered about inspiration and how artists are inspired. We began by listening to sound and creating patterns and designs that would represent the sound. We found, as artists, we can be inspired by things we see, hear, think and experience. Students were able to each design a pattern based on their personal inspiration and transfer that design to metal. They used repousse techniques and worked with metal to create the delightful pieces.

Preschool students explored a new way to paint! The true beauty of this art was the process. Our friends used a funnel to fill balloons with different materials (sparkles, sand, shells, beads), blew them up, then dipped them into paint and sent them over the railing down to paper that was in the ES courtyard. It gave us multiple things to discuss. Friends decided on a way to be safe and had a team work as the safety crew. We found out about gravity, if the balloons fell slowly or went down quickly. We experienced that some of our balloons would pop and we would make guesses based on previous experience if our balloon would pop and why. We also made a large scale collaborative abstract painting. Afterwards the activity was carried on in the preschool courtyard with playing with the balloons and the treasures found inside.