Look what has hatched in the art room! 

Lower elementary art students have been learning about life cycles in their classrooms and this prompted our current art project.  Large eggs were created out of paper mache.   Students learned an inexpensive and natural way to make paper mache.  They may want to create this recipe at home.   It is a simple recipe of equal parts of flour and water.  I usually start with 1 cup flour and 1 cup water.  Mix to get a paste like consistency and add water if too thick and flour if too watery.  The students enjoyed mixing the recipe and getting it just right.  So fun and so messy!  Take a look at the process.

The following week they created either a snake or a caterpillar hatching out of their egg.  This has been a great lesson for students to practice patience while working on a 3 dimensional  art project that took many weeks.  They are excited about completing their final art piece.  Be on the look out for these marvelous creatures!

Students have also worked on scenery for their upcoming program about life cycles.  Here is a sneak peek of one of their pieces.

Andrew and David working on the cauldron.

Art and music classes have been working together to prepare for the upcoming winter concerts on December 3 and 10.

Upper and Lower Elementary students have been using their art time to create stage props for the concerts.  Huge boxes have been transformed into many interesting things.  A favorite of the boys has been a large cauldron made from chicken wire, newspaper and lots of tape.  We made homemade paper mache' and had a messy good time creating the cauldron.

A collective display of winter.Lower elementary students have been creating winter scenes to add to this large piece of art that will be displayed at the winter concerts.

Lower elementary students have been creating winter scenes to add to this large piece of art that will be displayed at the winter concerts.

Other happenings in the Montessori art room include printmaking with leaves. Lower elementary students used leaves to create beautiful prints.  They also painted the negative space with watercolors. In combination with their study of European culture and music, Lower El students were also introduced to the work of artist and architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. He was from Austria and his artwork  had a childlike, playful style. Take a look at the students' work that was inspired by Hundertwasser.

I look forward to seeing you at the winter concerts where you will see all of this fabulous artwork created by our talented Montessori art and music students.

Be inspired!

Katherine Gwynn

Sarah is working on a snowy house.

The snowy house is done!

Komei is drawing a cardinal for the winter scene.

Albert Smelzer's cardinal.

Lower elementary students working on a large apple

Leaf print with watercolor.

Griffin displaying his leaf print.

Inspired by Hundertwasser

Fun houses and trees inspired by Hundertwasser.

Collaborating with colleagues speaks of community and shows our students that we support each others work.  Lower elementary art students have been  helping our librarian Erin Carmola with her reading challenge called Reading is a Piece of Cake. Students are helping to promote the reading challenge by creating pieces of cake in art class.  These will be displayed on the bulletin board outside the library.  The element of art we are studying in October is line.  Look for a variety of lines used in these delectable looking pieces of cake. Notice how each artist uniquely expresses their interpretation of a piece of cake.

Reading is a Piece of Cake

Three -dimensional line work

Collaborating with Upper Elementary Teachers

5th level upper elementary students are studying about Rome and we have been making mosaics in art.  This has been a valuable learning experience.  Students have learned that art is a process that evolves over time. They have used problem solving skills when realizing their design was too detailed for the mosaic pieces to work in their image.  Reworking the design became a natural part of this learning process.  This process has been grueling at times but upper elementary students are very proud of their finished pieces!

Mosaics Designed By Upper Elementary Students

Grouting is the next step in this mosaic.

All this fabulous art work will be coming home at the end of this first trimester.

Art and music will be working together to create scenery and costumes for upcoming winter concerts. Students love when their classes overlap and there is continuity in their day.  It is such a blessing to work with such talented colleagues and to come alongside such eager learners.

The art room has been bustling with creativity!  The work space has been improved by repurposing old doors into art tables.  The doors came from the lower elementary renovation.  The adjustable legs make the height just right for both elementary and middle school students. Upper elementary students have also been involved in repurposing old books into sketchbooks.  The old books were given to us by Erin, our librarian, who also loves collaging.  It has been fun collaborating with her on this project.   Students enjoyed using mixed media to create very interesting covers.

Upper elementary repurposed sketchbook.

Lower elementary students began the year creating their own interpretation of trees.  They were given the choice of creating a realistic or an unrealistic tree.  It is no surprise that the trees were mostly whimsical and unrealistic.  Students used oil pastels and watercolors to create their trees.  We talked about how all artists see the world differently and that there is not one way to create a tree.  It was great to see the variety in their art work and they were pleased with their final  pieces.

Lower elementary oil pastel and watercolored trees.

I enjoyed dressing up as Vincent Van Gogh and visiting some primary classes.  Children enjoyed  creating their own sunflower paintings. They also experimented with oil pastel and watercolor and learned how watercolor does not stick to oil pastel.

Van Gogh sharing with very attentive primary students.

Casa art has been fun and students have enjoyed making wearable art from repurposed jewelry pieces, painting using textured art tools, drawing with soft pastels and printmaking. Each week offers different art choices for artists to explore.

Working on their sketchbooks.