A New Year....and New Art Classes!

I'm so excited to be offering 3 art classes this year at my kids' school this year. I am again teaching "Under the Influence....of Art," but on two days instead of just one (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Because I have some repeat students, and just to keep it fresh, I am changing up some of the artists we learn about. Or, if we repeat some of the big artists, the projects might be switched up a bit. I have a new energy for this class. 

I'm also super excited for a new class that I will be teaching Thursdays during the day, "PreK Art Lunch" for those preschoolers that are in 1/2-day preschool. They will bring a sack lunch and eat while I read them a story. Then we'll work on a small craft project related to the story. I can't wait for our first story tomorrow.

The first day of "Under the Influence" went really well. We learned about Romare Bearden, and then the students made mixed media pictures containing collage, crayon and water color. We started simple, with their initials (or a letter of their choice—for some reason my son chose "W"), but the outcome looks quite complex.  I love the way the final artwork shows so much texture, just like Bearden's work. 

I'm planning on posting more of the same project after Thursday's class, and I am also planning on posting pictures from the new PreK Art Lunch class. I think most kids love seeing their artwork on the web (I know mine do!), and I hope it encourages them as well.

I Heart Art

Today was the last day of the Under the Influence of Art class this semester—and this year. In the past we have decorated cookies on the last day, with each cookie being influenced by a different artist. A star is Van Gogh. A flower is O'Keeffe. People for Haring...you get the idea. 

This time, my daughter had the idea of spelling out ART with the cookies. So, I baked a bunch of As, Rs and Ts. Then I added Is and hearts for "I love art."  The kids could decorate the I and the heart however they liked. They also got a flower-shaped cookie to decorate and eat during class. Each letter in "art" represents a different artist. Can you guess which is Picasso, Seurat and Monet?

Under the Influence-Week 2

We had another great week at “Under the Influence...of Art.” This week we learned about Vincent Van Gogh. The kids learned that “Starry Night” was his most famous work. We looked at his brush strokes and saw how effectively his swirls depicted the wind.

The students then created their own Starry Night. We used paints and finished off the pictures with some silver glitter (maybe Van Gogh would have been happier had he used glitter too!).

I’m sure you’ll agree that everyone did a fantastic job. : )