Cutting with Scissors

Kindergarteners are developing cutting skills and assembling cut paper collages. "This is me wearing a crown." by Nyah.

Golden Pioneer

Here is a golden pioneer created at the collage center by a third grader. Matt collected many gold goodies to make his creation.

The Twits

A second grade class is reading The Twits by Roald Dahl. I was not familiar with the story but Michael told me it's about a couple that are very ugly, dirty, mean and HAIRY. He was motivated to make his version of The Twits.

Volcano in progress

Paper Sculpture Fun

A group of second grade boys are collaborating on this volcano. Some are making the lava, others are drawing dinosaurs and cutting them out and some are working on the background.

Another wrestling belt

Wrestling belts

Two fifth grade boys made wrestling belts that their favorite wrestler wears for winning the championship. The middle of the belt spins so they used paper fasteners to make it move. The gold paper is sticker paper that a parent donated to the art class and the plastic letters were another donation. Sometimes we get some cool stuff!

Grey wolf

Jose (grade 4) is planning to add a body to this wolf he is making with the cardboard. The nose is a separate piece to make it look 3-dimensional.

Cardboard bird made by a fifth grader.

Fourth grader Jamie works on his guy named "Joe."

First grade cardboard guitar

Cardboard Creations

Years ago one of my students gave me a book called Secret Garden:Photographers of the Imagination by Andre Villers. I forgot all about the book until I came across it when I was packing up my room. He is a photographer that made abstract cardboard people painted in bright colors. I showed these to my students to inspire them to use pieces of cardboard in a new way. (It seems that everyone wants 5 pieces to make a house.)Instead of using paint (paint center is not open yet!) they could get a similar effect with oil pastels. I love the fluorescent colors. First grader Gia made this cute doll.

Matchbox Car

Alex (grade 1) is still working on this matchbox car.

Dogs at Night

"I saw the star paper and glued that to my paper and then drew the dogs. The two puppies are playing and the two big dogs are looking at the sky."-Hayley (grade 2)

Starry Inspirations

Some star wallpaper samples have inspired two artists in different ways at the collage center.

Ocean Scene Collage by Sarah, grade 3

The Collage Center opens

Last year when the collage center opened, I was disappointed in some of the art that was being made. Students were simply taking the paper and gluing it to another piece without much thought. This year I showed them a wonderful book of cut paper collages done by fourth grade students (Animalogies) as well as an Eric Carle book to get them to see what can be done with careful thought and effort. I am much happier with the results.
This is a Sea Turtle collage by Kyle, grade 1

Toys are okay in art class!

I encourage students to bring in small toys from home to draw. Some students have tiny Star Wars action figures and they are making ships and rooms for them using paper sculpture. Shaun (grade 4) carefully used pencils to make a detailed drawing of his transformer-like toy. (I forgot the name of it!)

The 2-D and 3-D Copperhead snake

Zachary (grade 1)is a snake enthusiast and drew a copperhead snake in the grass on the first day of art class. The next class was paper sculpture so he made the same picture but in 3-D. He told me he has a book on snakes at home and said, "there is a picture of a copperhead snake lying in the grass and it is just a beautiful, beautiful picture so I wanted to amake one like it."

The Palm Tree in oil pastel

"I got my idea to do this because my aunt and uncle went to the Bahamas to get married without even telling anyone!"-Karina, grade 3

Toys for Still Life

I showed James (grade 3) how to draw this dinosaur using simple shapes and he used the texture sheets and crayons to color it in. The next class he wanted to use the paper fasteners to make its legs move after watching me demonstrate it during a paper sculpture lesson.

Spiderman and Dr. Octopus

Noel's marker drawing of his two favorite characters.

Superheroes are still a passion for some students.

Lucas and Noel are two first graders that asked if they could make bag puppets on the first day of art class. These two boys were making puppets on a weekly basis last year in kindergarten. The only center available for them was drawing so these were the results.

Second page of the Amazon Rainforest

Amazon Rainforest

Some artists draw what they know. John (grade 5) said he reads about history when he" is bored" so that is why he decided to draw and write about the History of the Amazon Rainforest. He's a smart student and I am not surprised that he chose to do this.

"Me and my Mom are picking apples and oranges." (first grade student)

Drawing center opens

Thais (grade 5) used colored pencils to draw this bird on a branch. She is an ELL student who is progressing nicely with her language and art skills.

Starting the year with choice

This is my second year of choice based art and so far so good! There are lots of changes for the students and myself. I am sharing a room with the music teacher at one school and I had to move my art room to a different room at my other school. It's still a challenge trying to plan out where all the cenetrs will be when I open them all up. So far I have opened up drawing, painting and collage. My greatest concern is storage for artwork in progress as well as art for the exhibit in the spring. The students are excited to be making art again and many have asked when the sculpture center will be open. I plan to open it this week but will put limitations on the size of their finished work. There is just no room to store it. Here are some photos from the three centers that are available. The kids are already doing wonderful work and I know it is because they have had a year of choice already.