Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Sunny Emojis!


A quick lesson for second grade to practice cutting and gluing!  

Directions:

The kids made a sunshine like one of their favorite emojis!
They cut construction paper and glued the pieces of their sunshine together!

L😛😑K!









Throwing it back to "Walking on Sunshine!"


1965

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Wayne Thiebaud's Cupcakes

What all do you know about Wayne Thiebaud? Here are a few fun facts:

1. Born in Arizona, he was first inspired by comic strips and cartoons. 
2. He is known for his broad treatment of light, shadow, thick paint, and bright colors. 
3. He was most interested in Williem De Kooning and Franz Kling.
4. He painted sandwiches, gumball machines, jukeboxes, toys, cafeteria-type foods, and cakes and pies.
5. He worked as an animator for a Walt Disney company when he was young. 

 We have blogged on this last quarter:
http://www.phillipscollection.org/research/american_art/bios/thiebaud-bio.htm

Born in Arizona in 1920, Wayne Thiebaud’s interest in art was inspired initially by cartoons and comic strips such as George Herrman’s Krazy Kat. The teenage Thiebaud established himself as a cartoonist, working for a brief time as an animator for the Walt Disney studios and drawing a regular comic strip during a World War II stint in the Air Force. He also worked as a poster designer and commercial artist in both California and New York before deciding to become a painter. Thiebaud’s formal art training was provided under the GI Bill at San José State College and the California State College in Sacramento. Thiebaud received a teaching appointment at Sacramento Junior College in 1951, while still in graduate school, and has since enjoyed a long and distinguished teaching career.

In 1956, Thiebaud moved to New York, where he was in the midst of the Abstract Expressionist movement. He was particularly interested in work by Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, but fashioned his own approach to art, adapting the thick pigments used by the abstract expressionists to his own subjects and style. Having returned to California, by the early 1960s Thiebaud’s best-known works, colloquial paintings of food and consumer goods, had emerged in mature form. Depictions of everyday items in American life—sandwiches, gumball machines, jukeboxes, toys, cafeteria-type foods, and cakes and pies—reflect a turn toward representational painting. These deadpan still life subjects are set against light backgrounds, often white, with the objects rendered in lush, shiny oil paints. The thick, insistent textures and the playful colors 

Thiebaud uses for his commonplace objects and their enframing shadows challenge our perceptions of art subjects and meaning. They are still life paintings, but with a difference. Although his works are often classified as part of the American pop art movement, Thiebaud also painted portraits, but even these retained his signature broad treatment of light and shadow, thick paint, and bright Kool-Aid colors.

In 1972, Thiebaud settled permanently in San Francisco and added paintings of the landscape and city views to his subject matter. Using the unique geography of the Bay Area for inspiration, Thiebaud’s landscapes are dramatic representations distinguished by forms plunging at breathtaking angles into or across space and rendered in bold patterns of color. Thiebaud has continued to paint still-life as well, and with affinities to the work of many artists held in The Phillips Collection, for example Chardin, Hopper, Morandi, and Diebenkorn; his still-life paintings reflect the continuity and visual connections between past and present that guided Duncan Phillips’s vision for the collection

















Monday, February 26, 2018

Fishbowl Fun!

The kids love clay and FISHBOWLS!  As you can see, some of these fishbowls have some serious fish.  Fun project for third grade!

Directions:

Week 1:  The kids looked at Henri Matisse's Goldfish Bowl painting.  We talked a little about Matisse's life and work.  Also, we reviewed slip and scoring clay.  Then, the kids drew their plan for their fishbowl.


Week 2-I had pre-cut 2 patterns for the fish bowls.  I had pre-sliced slabs of clay.  The kids looked at their drawings from the previous week.  They designed their fishbowls with the clay.  They used straws, plastic forks, plastic knives, and skewers to build their fishbowls.

Week 3-I had let the clay dry and fired the fishbowls.  They painted the fishbowls with acrylic paint. 








From Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here," you will find the line "We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl."
I thought that song was quite fitting for this particular post.
Enjoy! 

1965

Friday, February 23, 2018

5th Grade - Sunprints

Mrs. Byrd in 5th grade ventured out and had her students try their hands at this lesson....Sunprints. I thought it was pretty cool. I went back to take pictures. Have you ever done this with your classes? I have but it has been years. It was an introduction to a photography unit I did when I was teaching middle school in Atlanta. I had a full blown dark room and this was a great introductory lesson on positive and negative shapes. I love walking down the hallways of Maclay. We have so many art integrated lessons on campus and I love to do shout outs to them!
How do you use this:
Make photographic type prints using just sun and water. Sunprint paper goes through a unique chemical change when exposed to light. Try this fun experiment and watch an image emerge before your very eyes!









Everybody loves a little sunshine and light in art or while you are outside hanging out!

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Here's Henry!


Who is Henry?   
Henry is an American artist who has been described as "Seattle's most prolific muralist."  He has painted over 180 murals and sold over 2,000 canvases.  For a complete bio, Click HERE!

How did I hear about Henry?
One of my dear students, Laney Blair, discovered Henry on a trip to Seattle.  She said that we just had to do some of his awesome art.  So, that is just what the kids did.

 For more information, Click HERE for Ryan Henry Ward website.

Here is a great time lapse video with Henry doing a mural.  



For Henry's YouTube Channel, Click HERE!

Directions:


The project was done with 7th grade.


We looked into Henry and learned about his artwork.
The students picked a "Henry" piece and tried to make it their own.  I encouraged them to put their own twist on his work.  Some of the kids got this, others did not.

Have a L👀K:


















One of the 7th graders loves this song. 
Have a listen.


1965