Surrealism: October's Featured Art Movement

In October students looked at Surrealism as the monthly Art History movement.  Students were shown artwork by Paul Klee, Henri Matisse and Salvidor Dali to get an understanding of what Surrealism was all about.  Dreams and dreamlike imagery filled their artwork.  Strange, unusual and unexplainable are words used to describe the things happening in Surrealists artwork.  Our students used words like cool, weird and wow to describe what they saw in the art.  We first set out to do a Paul Klee inspired piece.  Paul Klee loved color and filled his artwork with a lot of color.  Our students first created their background by overlapping tissue paper and watery glue to create a stained glass look.

Once they were set out and dry students had a choice of multiple media to draw a Surrealistic scene on top of their paper.

Some students chose to draw a creature like Sierra and Kerys.

Others, like Jaycee, drew a scene with objects in strange placements, such as fish in the grass or heart shaped clouds. 

Addison and Jolea drew portraits as Paul Klee did, using his artwork as their example.

The kids did a great job and tried their best to work with the materials.  It was a good lesson in trying to make your product look good even when the material is hard to work with.  I was very proud of their awesome attitudes.  All the students did great!

Andy Warhol: Print it up!!

The later part of September we finished up our Pop Art unit by talking about Andy Warhol.  Warhol, along with many other Pop artists used repetition in many of his works.  We talked about Andy and his many prints and then set out to make a few prints of our own.  Students worked with styrofoam and carved designs they created.  Some went to food items like Warhol while others went for their favorite sport or geographical location.

Example of planned drawing and styrofoam plate, gouged out and ready for printing.

Students rolled ink on a smooth surface with a rubber brayer.

Then they rolled the brayer over their printing plate in order to fully coat it for printing.

 

The paper was placed on top of the printing plate to transfer the image after putting a small amount of pressure and rubbing in a circular motion.

Students pulled four separate prints and organized them on their background page.

DJ's Cupcakes

Paige's Hamburger 

Gabby's Sundae

Pop Art prints were really fun and students were super excited to try a new method with new materials. Students are currently working with Surrealism as the monthly art history movement.  We are looking forward to seeing what dreamy images the kids come up with this month!

Pop Art! Romero Britto Inspired....

The begining of September has gone off with a bang and we are learning about Pop Art.  The two featured artists this month are Romero Britto and Andy Warhol.  We started with Romero Britto and his amazing color and pattern filled artwork.  Students were to create an image, break up the negative space with lines (that created shapes) and fill each shape with a pattern.  They had a great time getting started and seeing Britto's work.

Students created their lines in pencil and then went over them with Sharpie for definition.  Patterns were then added with crayon.  

Once all the patterns were added we went back with Crayola markers and bordered each section.  Then it was time to add the water!  It was a wax resist situation with the crayon and water, which is basically the concept that wax and water don't mix.  The crayon repels the water so you end up with two color rich areas with the crayon and color added with marker.  As the water was added to the outlined marker the color bled out and created a value rich piece.  

This is one of my favorite techniques to use with Crayola markers.  Add in crayons and the process of wax resist and it makes for a very fun project.  The kids really enjoyed seeing the crayon "push away" the color from the markers and water.  The images below are a sampling of our students this semester.  They really are color rich and have a Britto inspired feel.  

New Instructor: Jody Summers

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  My husband Stephen and I moved to the Orange Grove area in November of 2012, when he was called to Camp Zephyr as their Food and Retail Manager.  With a one year old (Leigh) and a Kindergartner, (Anna) it was my desire to begin my career as a stay at home mom.  I had worked for 10 years in the public school classroom, teaching high school students Art.  I worked with almost every media but spent a large amount of time teaching Beginning art, Drawing and Ceramics.  My main connection to the high school art world has been, and continues to be, my involvement with a state level Texas Art Educators Association art competition called V.A.S.E. (Visual Art Scholastic Event).  This will be my sixth year as Regional Director for the South Texas Region. 

The last five years of my teaching career were spent in Rockport, Texas.  As a small artist’s colony, Rockport had many opportunities to serve outside of school in the art community, many of which I have continued serving.  I just completed my third summer teaching “ArtLink, Art Camp for Kids and Teens” to second and third grade students at the Rockport Center for the Arts.  I also volunteer and chair the kid’s tent at the Rockport Art Festival.   I love art. More importantly, I love Art Education.  I have had a hard time letting it go to stay at home full time.  I am so thankful that Toni has given me the opportunity to teach your students, in order that I might do what I truly love and raise my children at the same time.  Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with or if you ever have any questions.  I am looking forward to the year ahead!

Jody Summers