Fauvism

My art students' Fauvism paintings look amazing!!

Students spent one class period learning about Henri Matisse and the Fauvism art movement of the early 1900's. Les Fauves is French for wild beasts. Matisse's and his colleagues' works were deemed wild beasts by an art critic that did not understand their expressive use of color. To find out more about Fauvism go to http://www.sanderhome.com/Fauves/.

A to J

K to Z

Teacher Artwork

We have been painting the last 2-3 weeks and learning about different types of paint. I decided to use left-over paint to create a non-objective artwork. One student said it looked like bananas. I think they look like porcupines. What do you see?

Kristi Bernstein
Porcupines
2008
Acrylic and tempera on paper

Art History Week One

Every Wednesday from now until February, we will have an art history lesson. We will learn five new paintings (artist, title, time period and category) every week until all forty paintings have been learned.

This week we learned the following paintings:

Angelico,The Madonna of Humility, Renaissance, History & Legend

Memling, Portrait of an Old Woman, Renaissance, Portrait

Raphael, Bindo Altoviti, Renaissance, Portrait

Bellini, Saint Jerome Reading, Renaissance, History &Legend

Tintoretto, The Adoration of the Shepherds, Renaissance, History & Legend

Art Criticism

Student spent the past week Nov. 17-21 learning the FOUR steps of art criticism.

STEP 1: DESCRIBING - Size, medium, subject, and describing each element of art

STEP 2: ANALYZING - Noting how the art principles are used to organize the elements of art

STEP 3: INTERPRETING - Determining and explaining the meaning, mood or idea of the work

STEP 4: JUDGING - Making a decision about the work's success and giving reasons for that decision based on one or more of the aesthetic views.

AESTHETIC VIEWS - Subject: Is the subject realistic or not?
Composition: How well did the artist use the principles
and elements of art?
Content: Does the work have a clear message, feeling or
idea?

Principles of Art

Students spent a week learning about the Principles of Art, so we could then learn about Art Criticism. In order to critique artworks, students must have all the correct vocabulary first.

Principles of Art
1. Balance - Formal (symmetrical), Informal (asymmetrical) and Radial
2. Emphasis - Making an element or object stand out
3. Harmony - similar elements working together to create a pleasing appearance
4. Variety - combining elements with slight changes to increase interest
5. Movement - the look and feel of action and guides the viewer's eye throughout the work
6. Pattern - two-dimensional effect created by repeating colors, shapes and/or textures
7. Proportion - how parts relate to the whole
8. Rhythm - the repetition of an element to make a work seem active

Countour Drawings from Magazines

Students spent an entire week learning how to draw magazine images based on their CONTOURS. The CONTOUR is the outline.

Featured here is 7th grader McKenna K.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOP CONTOUR DRAWINGS COMPLETED BY 6TH, 7TH AND 8TH GRADERS!

Two-Point Perspective Street Scene

Students have finished the PERSPECTIVE unit. There were so many great drawings, I had to display all of them! Featured above is 6th grader Tyler D.

6th Grade Two-Point Perspective Drawings

7th Grade Two-Point Perspective Drawings

8th Grade Two-Point Perspective Drawings

8th Grade Street Scenes in One-Point Perspective

Featured here is Jonah S.'s interpretation of a street scene using ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE. Click here to view ALL the 8th grade street scenes.

7th Grade Street Scenes in One-Point Perspective

Featured here is Sarah S.'s interpretation of a ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE street scene. Click here to view ALL 7th grade street scenes.

6th Grade Street Scenes in One-Point Perspective

Featured here is Jeremey J.'s interpretation of a street scene using ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE. Click here to view ALL the 6th grade street scenes.

Perspective

Students have spent the last few weeks learning how to draw using ONE-POINT PERSPECTIVE. Featured above is 6th grader Cassandra R. Click here to view a slideshow of all the SUPER STAR drawings!

Value & Shading

Last week students learned four main types of SHADING TECHNIQUES. The four techniques are BLENDING, STIPPLING, HATCHING, and CROSSHATCHING.

Featured above is Ronnie C.'s organic drawing that uses all four shading techniques to create value. CLICK HERE TO SEE OTHERS!

* ~CoLoR~ *

We are continuing to learn the 7 Elements of Art. Last week's focus was COLOR! We learned how to make each secondary and intermediate color on the color wheel by using only PRIMARY HUES (red, yellow, and blue). The week was ended by drawing outdoor scenes and coloring them with ANALOGOUS (uh-nal-uh-gus)color schemes.

Eighth grader Alliyah K. drew this awesome outdoor scene using colors ANALOGOUS to yellow!!

2nd Week of School

During the second week of school, students began learning about the 7 Elements of Art: Line, Shape, Space, Value, Texture, Form, and Color. We learned about line types and line qualities by creating drawings of familiar buildings and used a check-list to make sure they had the minimum requirements for the assignment. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ART ALL-STARS FROM THIS ASSIGNMENT!

Near the end of the week, we began talking about GEOMETRIC SHAPES such as circles, squares, triangles. Students were then asked to create an artwork based on GEOMETRIC SHAPES using either COOL COLORS or WARM COLORS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ART ALL-STARS FROM THIS ASSIGNMENT!

Both assignments turned out great!

First Day of School

Students were asked to spend 25-30 minutes creating three-dimensional sculptures out of 1" strips. Students were also asked to give their sculpture a title! Here is Dylan and Randy from 8th period with their sculpture Leaning Tower of Pizza.
CLICK HERE to see other photos from the first day of school!

Course Outline

Class rules, consequences and procedures.

SEPTEMBER 2nd - Sketchbook and pencils due

SEPTEMBER 8th - All other art supplies are due

SUPPLY LIST 2008-2009

Package of #2 Pencils
Pens
Erasers
Pencil box/zipper pouch (to keep in class)
9x12 Sketchbook (Spiral Bound is best)
Watercolor paint set (8 or 16 colors)
Set of map pencils (8 or 12 colors)
1 package of 2 Elmer’s Washable School Glue Sticks