student references in the art room

i find the most bestest organization ideas on pinterest - i've used many and have a zillion on my pinterest board - teach art -for elements and principles. found these great examples here:

one of my mantras in class is "use your resources!" so what i will say as a prompt is something like "where in the room can you find an example of_____ or a definition of_______ ". great support and habit foryoung artists to access for themselves information around the room.

 when studying any style or artist i will put examples up - for landscapes or still life or abstract - you get the idea - as artists it is great to have a starting point - any example - in pointalism or fauvism or cubism - seeing the art helps us create the style!

 yes i painted a color wheel - at the beginning of the year i did a huge color theory series - and i found my young artists had difficulty with warm and cool - complimentary etc.

i labeled the colors 1,2,3 - primary, secondary, tertiary. and guess what? 1+1 = 2 ) primary + primary = secondary - cool huh!

we also use it for sorting games for the littles and my older artists reference the table wheel often! do it and see! or better yet - have the kiddos do it!  

after we study an artists - i put the artists on the artist wall - and organize information by a picture - birth/death - iconic examples and then supportive literacy format by listing facts with 'main idea' and 'details' labels. works like a charm and artists reference this whenever i am referencing a style or artist.

kinder pop art portraits

what a oh-so-fun project this was!

our amazing pre-k / kinder teacher had taken great pics of her class to make silhouette pieces out of black paper for president's day.

she had the pics left - i made black and white copies and brought pastels to class.

together we looked at many pictures of pop art - warhol portraits and photoshop examples of people with fun colors.

what we did:

1) we looked at each black and white photo and discussed where a big area of color could be drawn.
2) then we had an art talk about 'normal' colors for things and 'crazy' colors like skin color and hair color. it was a blast to hear them draw from prior experience and point out 'oompa-loompas' and 'grinch'!

3) after picking face and hair color - we picked background colors - it had to be a complimentary color (previous lesson) and blend it in without diluting (good word) the color

this is my favorite kinder lesson so far!

what's your superpower?

what's your superpower?
my theme for the year is 'you are unique, valuable and the best art ever!'
to kick this off i did this lesson at the beginning of the year with the whole school! it took waaaay to long - 3 classes for some but the results were spectacular!
what we did:
1) we started a conversation about superpowers. i started with me and it went something like this...
i know my superpowers because they are something i love to do - like art - something someone else like a friend, teacher, mom or sister has told me about me - funny, kind, good at math.

2) we had to do it BIG and 'fill the space' - challenging because often kiddos want to make everything tiiiinyyy....so we practiced filling a 5X7 with a head and torso shapes.

3) artists were only allowed primaries black and white - i use tempera cakes and the kids dug it! we practiced blending all kinds of colors and of course skin colors were the most challenging!

 4) while we waited between drying times it was important to have one of our 'art talks' which is to discuss and storm our brains for superpowers - REAL ones - not what we want but what we already are. That conversation was absolutely worth the extra time...such kind and funny exchanges.

 5) then we got out the sharpies - always a favorite - and wrote the out on white thick paper copying from our storm list.

 6) and when they were finished...oh my! so much color - so much joy - and superpowers!

do you have superpowers? tell me!