Scientific Sketches November 27, 2012

3rd-5th graders have been creating scientific sketches in Drawing Lab.  In the scientific sketches, students had to draw an object larger than life size, write notes, and draw a magnified section.  Available objects were crystals, shells, gourds, pinecones, rocks, and cacti.  The students learned 4 pen and ink techniques to add value to their drawing: hatching, cross hatching, stippling, and scribbling.  They had to include all 4 techniques in their drawing, as well as 3 values.  Here are some finished scientific sketches:

 

 

Anansi sightings November 19, 2012

The first graders just finished up a weaving project.  Looking at the Kente cloth weavings from Ghana, students know their paper needed texture if it was going to look like woven fabric.  With texture plates, crayons, and watercolors, they produced weaving strips that looked like cloth.   Because Kente cloth is such an iconic symbol of African culture, we read tales of Anansi the spider, who is a hero in Ashanti culture.  After weaving their own Kente- inspired paper, students created their own Anansi for the weaving.

   

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom November 15, 2012

What 5 year old doesn’t love the book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom?!  With the JK class, I read that, along with The Alphabet Tree.  The students created multimedia trees of their own.  First, they painted with watercolors for the background.  Second, they used tempera paint to paint the trunk and branches.  Third, they cut out leaves for the tree.  And finally, they painted the alphabet onto the tree.

This project was a great way for the JK students to be introduced to the most common materials in the Art Studio, as well as routines of washing hands and cleaning up.

Here they are at work, painting the alphabet.

 

Leaf Choice Drawings November 14, 2012

In Drawing Lab, the 3rd-5th graders were given a choice of how they’d like to draw leaves.  Choice #1: Write a description of the leaf and create a large, detailed drawing of it.  Choice #2: Draw 6 small sketches with sharpie…no erasing.  Choice #3: Draw 3 blind contour images of the leaf.

The students loved the freedom of having a choice of method, and as a result, the pride in their work was quite obvious.

Here are a couple drawings from a 5th grade class (sorry, I didn’t get any photos of #3):

 

 

BU Gallery Class November 13, 2012

Over the weekend, 5 Morse students attended a free art studio class, hosted by Boston University’s art education students.  They invited several area schools to attend this workshop, held in three BU art galleries.  Lucky for us, BU is right across the river from us!

In one group, students viewed the abstract paintings of Joe Geigan, and created mixed media collages.

In a second group, students viewed the installation art of Vlatka Horvat, and created found object ‘shelters’.

Here’s the work from our Morse attendees:

  

 

  

Greek sgraffito November 6, 2012

The second graders are learning about ancient Greece in their social studies class.  In Art, they created stories about Olympians, Gods, and Goddesses on amphoras.  Amphoras are 2 handled ceramic vases used by the Greeks.  The ancient Greeks used a technique called sgraffito to draw the images on the vases.  Sgraffito means to scratch…the top color is scratched off to reveal a different color clay underneath.

The 2nd graders practiced theirs sgraffito skills twice.  First, they used scratch paper, revealing gold/silver underneath the black layer.  Second, they used clay, scratching through a layer of red glaze to reveal the white clay underneath.

  

  

The Amazing World of Blue November 2, 2012

The 4th graders in Ms. Grilli’s class are almost done with their book, which they’ve titled The Amazing World of Blue.  Each page has been written with one line descriptions of certain shades of blue.  Then one line was chosen to be the illustration for the page.  Inspired by the work of Eric Carle, the students are using homemade paper and collage as the medium for the images.  Here are some of the finished pages (minus typed out words).