Greetings! It’s been another busy week in the Art Room. The full day Pre-K has just finished up a cultural project making Hawaiian leis. At the beginning of this project they learned that different cultures often have different ways of greeting each other; handshakes, bowing, cheek kissing and the Hawaiian lei presentation. They made their leis from construction paper flowers and pasta “beads”.
The kindergarten class has just started a project based on the book Mouse Paint. This week they made three little mice out of Model Magic clay. Next week they will mix two primary colors to get the secondary colors needed to paint the mice. Once they are dry and have tails, whiskers, eyes and noses added they will be glued onto a cardboard painter’s palette. Expect cuteness!
First graders are learning how to mix tints (color + white) and shades (color+ black). They are using these color mixtures to paint the hair onto Dr Seuss’s Thing One in warm colors and Thing Two in cool colors.
Second graders finished up their zebra painting, which they made using a masking tape technique to create the stripes. They also started their Navajo Indian jewelry project by creating an impressed radial design on an air dry clay disk. When the disks are dry they will be painted silver and antiqued to make the patterns show up better and strung on a cord using silver and turquoise beads. They learned that turquoise is often called the sky stone since the early Native Americans believed the color came from the sky.
Grades three and four started a new project this week. They made pinch pots from Model Magic clay. Next week they will learn about the symbols and patterns Native Americans used to decorate their pottery before painting their pots in that style.
Fifth and Sixth graders just finished a very challenging drawing project. Their assignment was to draw textures from photographic references using lines and shading in black and white. Next week they will begin a new project involving recycled magazines and using a traditional basket making technique to create bowls in a style used by many cultures around the world.
Seventh graders began a new project this week. They are making Mexican tinwork frames. The designs on the frames are created by using nails and hammers to punch small holes in the tooling foil. When finished the center and edges will be folded back to create a smoother edge and the students will decide whether to color or antique them.
The eighth grade boys are doing an acrylic painting of a dog. They all learned about under painting and will be following up with a textured second layer and a final third layer for details. They are looking great even at the first stage of painting! We will also be discussing how to critique a piece of art.
There is always something new happening in our art classes and the work displayed in the stairwell and the downstairs bulletin board offers just a small peek into the wonderful work done by our students.
Submitted by Mrs. Nemergut
Meet Mrs. Nemergut Art
Linda Nemergut holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from Western Connecticut State University and a B.S. in Applied Arts from Charter Oak State College in Newington. She's taught watercolor painting at the Washington Art Association in Litchfield County, and has served as an instructor at Artspot in Brookfield. Mrs. Nemergut has exhibited her work throughout the state.
Meet Ms. Alicia Cadmus Music