Peacocks

Here are some hilarious peacocks from my 1st graders. Peacocks are one of my favorite animals and I had a blast seeing how different they all turned out!

We used coffee filters and markers for our tie dye feathers.  And they really loved using some of my stamps from home to add designs in the background. I have gold and silver metallic paint left over from last year's Olympic medals that we put to good use with our fancy birds.

Aelita Andre (Abstract Expressionism)

I thought it would be fun for my first graders to see a famous artist who is close to their age.  They were amazed to see someone so young create large abstract art.  They really went crazy over how messy she gets while she's painting, I think that was one of their favorite parts!

First I showed them photos of "Abstract Expressionism" artwork.  We discussed what they see, what they think it means, etc.   They learn that abstract expressionism usually has no specific recognizable subject, but it's still trying to convey emotion.  

Then I show them the paintings that their project will be based on.  They still don't know who created the artwork.  They guess how old the artist is; where they live; what they used to make the piece; and how large they think is it? 

First we watched the "Secret Universe" video of her creating her paintings.

Then we go online to explore her website: http://www.aelitaandre.com/

Here is a link to some additional videos.

Here is some information we discussed:

-Born January 9, 2007 (they always want to know her birthday)

-She's from Australia

-She begin painting at 9 months old

-Her work was publicly displayed by age 2

-Her first solo exhibit was in New York at age 4

*She is an abstract expressionist artist*

Now they finally get to learn about what they will be doing for their project.  They will have to work collaboratively as a class to make one final piece of art.  We created our artwork on donated foam board that was 4'x6', and made holes at the top to tie rope so they could hang. They could choose any of the materials and use them however they want to, but they must think about adding "to" the art and not just completely covering over it.

We spent the entire next class period creating our collaborative piece.  They grabbed an art shirt and sat in a circle around the foam board (leaving space to walk around it).  We briefly discussed how they could fill up the background space and then layer details on top of it.

I laid out a variety of objects/supplies for them to use:

-Paint

-Brushes

-Foam brushes

-Rollers

-Squirt bottles with paint

-Hand soap bottles with paint

-Spray bottles with paint

-Yarn

-String

-Ribbon

-Feathers

-Bubble Wrap

-Bingo chips

-Playing Cards

-Scissors

-Forks

-Buttons

-Pipe Cleaners

-Rope

-Beads

I would pick five students at a time to pick their item and add/use it however they wanted on the piece.  I kept going around and around the circle only letting five students work on it at a time (for about a minute).  The other students would watch and discuss ways to change it, or just laugh every time paint would squirt all over the place. They started by painting the bottom, added thicker layers by squirting it on the top and then push the three dimensional pieces into the thick paint. 

We made five total pieces; one for each first grade class.  It took a day or two to completely dry; but the foam board is so thick that you can easily move them to another location.  One was displayed at the Mall Art Show and the others were hung in the school hallways.  They were a huge hit! People thought that the fifth graders had created these, which made my first graders pretty proud!

Wayne Thiebaud Cupcakes

To start off the school year I wanted to do something fun with my first graders.  I saw a post on Artolazzi and loved it! It was based on American artist Wayne Thiebaud and his delicious deserts, yum!

I started by showing my students some of his paintings, which made all of us very hungry.  

I also showed them a slideshow Wayne Thiebaud video.  We talked about "Pattern" and ways they could show different patterns in their large cupcakes.  

Steps:
First we painted paper for our icing
(and had to add sprinkles because everyone loves sprinkles!)  

Next we cut the cupcake bottoms and painted patterns on them.  

After everything was dry we got to tear our icing paper.  They really got a kick out of tearing up their art.

The hardest (and last) step was gluing the paper back together in a shape resembling icing.  It was definitely a little challenging, especially since I made them use every bit of their torn scraps.  And who could forget a cherry on the top!  

Check out our delicious pattern treats below:

Clay Birds

I can't remember where I came across this clay bird idea.  But I couldn't resist the opportunity to try it in my 1st grade classes.  

We started out by talking about what shapes to use for each part of the bird.

Body=Half circle

Head=Circle

Beak=Triangle

Wing=Half Circle

Students then drew 3 practice drawings using the shapes we talked about.
We discussed how they needed plan holes for where the feet, top wire, and tail would go.

After our designs were finished I did a clay demo.  I reminded them to scratch and attach their pieces, smooth the edges, and not to punch the holes too close to the edge.

The next week we made our clay birds! Which they had a blast creating!  We used stencils to help them cut out the body and head shape. I was really proud that they all remembered to scratch and attach.

Once our birds flew out of the kiln, we were ready to paint them. I had a variety of tempera colors, and even some new neon colors we tried out. It took an entire class period to paint these.  Some even needed extra time the next class to finish up.  They are always so amazed by how fast the paint dries on our clay.

The next class we started decorating our colorful birds.  We used half a pipe cleaner for each bird leg. I showed them how to twist it so they'd have bird toes.  They had a variety of objects on their table to create the tail.  Pipe cleaners, yarn, feathers, ribbon, beads, and paper.  Some of my little ones even made hats for their birds.

I had to help put the wire on the top of the birds.  I had bronze, silver, or gold to choose from. They were each able to add beads to their wire before I tied them on there.  

I was really pleased with our final product! Each bird seems to have their own personality.  The bottom two remind me of 1920's flappers. Very cute!