from Mrs. Berkun

All students will bring home their artwork the last week of school.  We will wrap the work in large colored paper to carry.  Thank you for all of your support!!

 

Just for Grade 4

This year Fourth Grade students created:
A Ripley Bird Conservancy Painting:
Students learned about the Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservancy in Litchfield.  This project is an interdisciplinary art- science project.  The project focused on form, texture and color of the ducks.  Students used Ink and Watercolor to display accurate textures and colors.
Each student chose a duck from the Livingston Ripley website.  Using observation skills and basic shapes to develop their drawings students created the illusion of a 3D form on a 2D surface. They utilized line size, direction, and pattern to display the feeling of the texture.  Watercolor techniques and an understanding of color theory was applied on top of the ink drawing to display accurate colors of the bird.
 Students created a printed border in which the texture related to their ducks texture.  They chose colors to emphasize a feature of the duck or to create a contrast to the image.
 The artist of study was Albrecht Durer.  All students analyzed and critiqued his works in order to apply art concepts to their duck.  They also read a short article about his work and noted the characteristics of his work.  Students compared and contrasted their finished duck piece to Albrecht’s Rhinocerous print.
Native American Narrative Vessel:
The project was an interdisciplinary lesson that related to their native american social studies unit.  Students analyzed and critiqued the works of a contemporary and a traditional Navajo potter. They compared and contrasted the works of Margaret Taffoya and Tammy Garcia.  They noticed the symbols on the vessels were used to convey a story.  They also inferred the coil method of construction and the subtractive method for creating designs.
Students chose a story and designed symbols to reflect the meaning or message.  Their vessels were created using a brown clay body, glazed using native american colors which were applied to the negative space to emphasize the symbols.
Native American Cave Painting:
This project was a continuation of the Native American customs and artifacts.  Students learned about the designs that were used on animal skin and caves to convey a story.  They chose a warrior or a kokopelli (flute player) and sketched a design of their figure.  They used native american symbols to convey a story or song about the figure. 
Optical Art:
Sewel Sillman's, Victor Vasarley's, and Bridget Riley's optical illusion work lead to some great Op Art creations in the LIS art room. Use of line, measurements and compass work provided a fun math-art connection.
This study of line and pattern lead to amazing patterned 2D drawings that became the inspiration for  3D sculptures.
 

Just for Grade 5

This year Fifth Grade students created:
Realistic Flower Painting:
To begin the drawing process we determined an order of operations: 1.Select a line. 2. Follow that line with your eye while your hand follows it with a pencil. 3. Compare or check the line you have drawn with the line you see. To test our order of operations we completed a number of timed gesture drawings. Students had to draw an entire sunflower within specific timed increments. We concluded that our eyes tell our brain what it is seeing and our brain then tells our hand what to do.
In creating our gesture drawings, we shared things we observed about our sunflower For example, the length of the petals, how many lines make a stem, what type of shape would you use for the center of the sunflower, what type of shapes would you use for the petals and so on. By sharing our ideas we began to really see our sunflowers.  Eventually everyone created one untimed gesture drawing of a sunflower that exhibited all the things we learned together.
Students applied their color studies to their flower drawing.  They chose analogous colors that blended to create a tertiary color on the petals.  They also used the complimentary colors, green and red to color the stem of their flower and show dimension to the stem.  Students colored the negative space with a color and a tint.
Abstract Flower Painting:
We created abstract drawings of our sunflowers by redrawing or tracing our original drawing in different and overlapping positions. As a result we made an image based on the sunflower. Finally, we experimented with different coloring and blending techniques with color pastels to illustrate our artworks.
The artists of study for this project: Roy Lichtenstein and Vincent Van Gogh.  Students critiqued Van Gogh’s thick application of oil paint and visible brush strokes that display vivid color and utilized these techniques in their work.  They also critiqued Roy Lichtenstein’s Bull series to learn how to create an abstraction from a realistic form, similar to their flowers.
Students read a brief description about the artists and compared and contrasted their styles.  They also analyzed the artist of studies work and the similarities with their final abstract flower design. 
Poster Design:
Students created a poster design about Driving safety. They used observation skills to draw from photographic resources, technology skills in Photoshop or GIMP, and color theory.
Claes Oldenburg Food Sculpture:
Students studied the work of pop artist, Claes Oldenburg. Students chose a food of their choice that would fit their level of clay expertise and created a food sculpture.
Each sculpture required individual problem solving skills to render the clay into a 3D sculpture.