Rousseau Animals

I am absolutely in love with these Grade 1 paintings! As our last unit of the school year, we focused on art history under the theme of Where We Are in Place and Time by inquiring into the central idea of understanding others inspires us.

The students were introduced to Henri Rousseau by watching a Mati and Dada video about the artist. We also read the book The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel and Amanda Hall.

They then brainstormed about animals they were interested in and chose one for their final artwork. In their sketchbooks, the students listed their chosen animal and the animal's habitat. They thought about the best lines and colors that could represent their animal's habitat in an abstract way in order to plan their background.

The background was then created with oil pastels and water colors based on their sketchbook plan. Their animal was drawn large on a separate paper and filled in with water color as well. I had a lot of scrap painted paper that had been saved through out the year, and this was used to collage extra details into their background like grass, seaweed, or flowers. Myself and the students were so impressed with their final results, I couldn't be a happier art teacher!

Contemporary Art

Grade 4 students inquired into Contemporary Art this year and we had a blast learning together while exploring new and exciting art forms like Photography, Video Art, and Land Art.

Here was the layout of the unit:
Transdisciplinary Theme: Where We Are In Place And Time
Central Idea: Technology creates new possibilities.
Lines of Inquiry & Key Concepts: Contemporary art includes many different art forms. (Change) Experimenting with new ideas and technologies. (Perspective)

To begin, we watched a short video from SmartTalk comparing the differences between Modern and Contemporary Art. This lead to a great discussion on how technology has influenced art over time and has changed how artists create. 

To begin this unit, students focused on photography while learning about the rule of thirds in order to create a balanced composition. They also experimented with a variety of iPad apps like MegaPhoto to create an interesting image.

Grade 4 students also experimented with video art and how to create a non-narrative art film with a specific mood or theme using iMovie.

Grade 4 students were also inspired by land artists like Andy Goldsworthy and practiced creating patterns with natural materials and capturing their work with photography and stop motion animation.

Relocation Collages

This collage unit was linked to Grade 2 students homeroom UOI under the theme of Where We Are In Place and Time. The students were investigating personal migrations or relocations based on the reasons why people migrate and the challenges, benefits, and feelings those types of reasons may cause.

In art classes, Grade 2 students learned about the artist Jacob Lawrence and his Great Migration Series. We discussed the artist's use of color and shape and how those choices can create a specific mood or feeling. The students then used their personal migration story to develop a design for a future art work while planning out their shapes and colors. Teaching at an international school where students come from many different countries lead to some interesting student discussions involving their personal journeys!

 

After the students had planned out their design from their story, they created their own painted paper through a variety of mark making techniques to use for these beautiful final collages.