Art at Herod

5th Grade Oil Pastel Owls

2010-12-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

I have loved watching my 5th graders study and draw these amazing owls. They drew from a photograph, part of our "drawing from observation" unit. I don't usually do drawing from photos, and I would have rather been at the zoo drawing, but this is the next best thing!

We started with a pre-pencil drawing on white paper, just a warm up.

They then drew their owl on black paper with white chalk.

I showed them how to blend colors and overlap light and darks.

I encouraged them (bribed?) to please fill in ALL of their background. Realistic or fantasy.

They were constantly reminded to look at the photographs for details.

They were also free to add in creative touches and make the bird and background their own.

Some looked to warm and cool colors for their inspiration.

Others imagined what could be in the picture with the owl.

Every child's was special.

Each of them had their own personality.

I loved how they showed a change in value with the oil pastels.

Some students kept the owl's colors realistic, what they saw in the photograph.

Some artists expanded on what they saw in the photograph.

We are making clay owls next! Can't wait!

Yummy Cupcakes!

2010-12-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

3rd Graders had a lot of fun studying the art of

pop artists Wayne Thiebaud and Andy Warhol!

They made these DELICIOUS ceramic cupcakes boxes!

They made two pinch pots. The one for the bottom was formed in a silicone baking cup, and then taken out to dry. That is how we got the grooved texture.

Here they are all glazed and ready to be fired.

Out of the kiln and ready to go home. Trying to match up the tops and bottoms is tricky.
The kids HAVE to have a name on both the top and bottom.

It's our first clay project for the year and many of the kids forgot how important it is to put enough glaze on! They will remember for the next project.

I love this one with the candle!

3rd Grade Name Line Designs

2010-12-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

I found this great lesson at http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2009/07/line-drawing-part-iii-name-designs/.

My students LOVED it! It fit right into our study of LINES. I love how each child was creative with it. They had a lot of options, which you know kids love!

Art outside the classroom!!

2010-10-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

The weather these past few weeks in Houston has been absolutely beautiful, unseasonably cool, low humidity, just fabulous. It was perfect timing for our observational drawings in 5th grade, and our Monet studies in 2nd. I decided to have the 5th graders out front in the courtyard of our school, drawing the perspective that they liked. It was sentimental to me, because I knew they would be the last 5th grade class to be in our old building. Come January, we will be moving next door into our brand new state of the art school!!!! These are just a few shots of the kids at work. More pictures to come of the AMAZING drawings that they created. They loved being outside, drawing from observation, it was a great lesson.

The Big Blue Wall Continued!

2010-05-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

Each grade continues to come out and put a little bit of color onto the wall. It's coming along! 1st Grade painted last week and here's a snapshot of my time with them.

they look so cute in the big smocks

so close to the construction, and it's loud too!

concentrating so hard!

a butterfly taking shape....

and another.....

such a beautiful mess!

Fine Arts Night at Herod...a Fine Evening!

2010-05-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

We tried something new at Herod this year-

We had a Fine Arts Fest!
We used a company called Fine Arts Fairs. They bring these really cool display racks. That was the initial main attraction, due to a lack of display space!

Our guitar classes played too!

A happy artist with his family!

Lots of hob- nobbing...the Herod art scene!

Kindergarten's project was inspired by the book, Rainbow Fish.

2nd Graders created oil pastel owls.

3rd Grade created delicious mixed media desserts inspired

by artist Wayne Thiebaud!

4th Grade's inspiration was Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

1st Graders painted flowers and hands

inspired by Pablo Picasso....

5th Grade's Ceramic Owls were on display.

The 5th Graders really did an amazing job!

The kids really got a kick out of seeing their art work framed.

Next year's Art Fest will be even more amazing!

The Big Blue Wall Mural

2010-04-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

As Herod's new building is being built, the construction crew gave us a pretty dull old wall to look at. They were very kind to coat it with a pale shade of blue, a perfect background to our painted garden! The ultimate goal is that every child paints something for our "garden" mural. 2nd Graders were the first to paint. After talking about flowers, looking at parts of a flower, various kinds of flowers,etc, they began. Here are the 2nd graders and their flowers. More to come!

2010-02-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

While 3rd grade was busy making clay snowmen, 2nd graders were busy learning all about PENGUINS! After drawing penguins, they created their own little clay penguin. More pictures to come.

3rd Grade Snowmen

2010-02-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

This being the coldest winter in AGES, it's appropriate that 3rd graders created ceramic snowmen! (snow people, to be correct). It's an easy ease into ceramics after a year off. First, we looked at photos of real snowmen, (since we have no snow here). We then practiced rolling balls, harder for some than you would think.Kids learned the skill of "scoring", joining two pieces of clay. Then the real fun began as they added creative details to their little snow-people.

Kindergarten and 1st Grade Clay Texture Medallions

2009-12-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

I wanted to begin our first clay adventure with an activity that would assure success in every student while also introducing the kids to the nature of clay. We didn't have any ceramics last year so both the 1st and Kinders were clueless about clay! We talked about where clay came from, a little history of making things with clay, and of course we did a lot of playing. Finally we made something "to keep". I gave them a small piece of clay and told them to roll a ball. Believe it or not but that can be a challenge for some! Then I showed them how to gently step on the ball of clay. What happened? Well, to their surprise, they found a very cool design. The shoe tread is very unique on each child's show and it makes the most interesting texture designs in the clay. We made a hole with a straw so we could make it into a necklace. The following week students learned about "glaze" and painted their fired piece. Here is just an sampling of the finished product. Such simplicity. Such beauty!

Got Clay?

2009-12-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

Clay is back in action at Herod! Some of you may know the ill fate of our brand new kiln last year. Hurricane Ike dropped a tree right on top of the shed that housed our kiln! The PTO had generously bought our kiln and built our shed. It practically took an act of God to get the electricity and all but we got it going.....for one year. Well, I am proud to tell you that our new improved, BIGGER kiln is back in action at Herod.

Inaugural Posting!

2009-12-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I must admit that I have been talking the talk for a while now about making a Herod Art Blog, and now the talk finally has a walk! I am an art ed blog addict and I guess turnabout is fair game. Plus I am beyond excited to show you (if anyone reads this!) what is going on in our art room. Besides mayhem, fun and learning, there is quite a lot of impressive art too! So join me on our art journey and my blog adventure. I hope you enjoy!