Doodle Boards

In the little nook off to the right as you enter the school we have put up "doodle boards." I cut framed doodle paper for students to draw whatever inspires them at the moment. This will be a evolving exhibit. Be sure to frequently check the doodle gallery to see what's on their minds.

The Louvre at the MIA

My husband and I visited the Louvre exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Thursday evening. We agreed that this is a wonderful exhibit that Minneapolis is very fortunate to have right here in our backyard. There were a handful of children there that evening enjoying the artwork as well. It was so inspiring to see little ones ranging from 4-7 years old engaged in a dialog about what they were seeing in the imagery or sculpture and overhearing their perspective of the work. It reminded me again to never underestimate the minds of young ones.

The sculpture in the collection is so impressive and breath taking that it caused me to wonder whether work of this magnitude will ever be created again. The passion for the subject and the craft must have been so deep to spend days, weeks and years to complete. This, of course, coupled with the lack of media distractions most likely helped artists focus on the execution of such masterpieces.

After thinking about the amount of time spent on some of the pieces in the exhibit I realized the importance in teaching our children to have patience. It is sometimes a challenge in elementary art to teach children that art is not a race. It can be a exciting process to watch them work on a project over a period of a week or more to see how it evolves for them and how involved they become in thinking about their work.

If you get the chance to see the exhibit at the MIA using the head-sets are a wonderful way to hear more of the explanations and stories about the work. It also allows you to become immersed in the moment of viewing.

Nature Art

I recently ran across Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. This is a fun fall book to inspire nature art. I read it with my almost three year old and then he and my husband went for a nature walk to collect leaves for our own leaf man. He came back with a bag full of leaves and sticks. He wanted to read the book again and then we sat down at the counter with a glue bottle and started to create! Not only is it a great piece of seasonal art to hang up but it has also inspired him to tell his own story about his leaf man or cat as he calls it!

Autumn Inspired Watercolor Mixing

We had so much fun this week experimenting in color mixing with watercolor paints. I read the book The Color Tree by Denise Bennett Minnerly to initiate our conversation about primary and secondary colors again. Next, students drew three trees across their page using black oil pastel. We talked about making branches that look like the letter 'y' and how to create texture on the bark of the tree by using different lines. Students then used primary colors to create leaves in the tree tops. After the primary color leaves were in place they used the wet-on-wet painting technique to create secondary colors by first wetting their paper with just water on their brush then adding two primary colors to the wet area. The result was a beautiful watercolor mix of secondary colors at the bottom of the tree where the painted leaves collided.
This is such a beautiful time of year even when it's a bit rainy (which makes for great rainy day art projects!). I hope you all get to enjoy the colors that nature is offering right now!

The first three weeks of art

To recap the last few weeks of school and what we have been working on I included images and some brief descriptions below.

We began this year by focusing on color. After reading The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown during our first week, we looked at Mondrian's artwork and discussed primary and secondary colors as well as horizontal and vertical lines.




Next I read Warthogs Paint - A Messy Color Book by Pamela Duncan Edwards. This is a fun rhyming book about color mixing. We worked with tempera paint to create color wheels. Starting with primary colors on the palette, students mixed secondary colors to complete the wheel. One class created a large wheel that you can see hanging in the hall!



Following the color wheel we looked at Kandinsky's Squares With Concentric Rings, and students worked with water color to create their own artwork. Each student started by creating one circle on their page with concentric circles within in it. We discussed primary and secondary colors again and focussed on brush work. We discussed how to achieve thinner lines by holding the brush lightly. We discussed how to achieve bright colors by rinsing the brush in between painting colors. Once their circle was completed, they used their imagination to turn it into something else (for example, a beach ball with the ocean in the background, the torso of a person, the wheel of a train, etc.).



There has been a wonderful curiosity with color mixing and the magic of creating secondary colors from just three primary colors. It is this curiosity that leads to thinking critically and learning creative problem solving. We will continue to experiment with color and feeding this curiosity!

First Art Rolls Post

Welcome to Art Rolls!

The purpose of Art Rolls is to provide a view into the art room for parents and to help inspire dialog at home about art and the many creative possibilities that it can provide.

Inspiration for the name Art Rolls came from my rolling cart of art supplies. And so, it seemed appropriate to title this blog Art Rolls. What is wonderful about this way of teaching is its incredibly dynamic nature! It leaves room for change at a moments notice and it meets the fast paced needs of elementary students.

Each class will begin with a look and discussion of a work of art. I will read a storybook to help initiate conversation about the content, and during the bulk of the class, we will explore many mediums through hands-on experiences. Throughout the course of the year I hope to help students develop their own voice through their work, to inspire expression and to encourage critical thinking skills.

I will be posting updates once a week. Follow us throughout the year and see where it takes us!