Chihuly Inspired Glass Bowls
Posted on June 2, 2018
“Glass is the most magical of all materials. It transmits light in a special way.” —Dale Chihuly
5th graders studied American glass sculptor, Dale Chihuly. We watched a video showing him creating his glass work and pushing color saturated forms into large chandeliers, nested vessels that emulate sea creatures and large architectural installations.
Nordic Blue Macchia, Glass by Dale Chihuly, https://www.chihuly.com/shop/nordic-blue-macchia.
The students created their version of Dale Chihuly glass bowls by cutting a circle out of overhead transparency plastic and coloring it with permanent marker using pattern. Next I helped the students melt and shape their bowls by placing the transparency circle over a metal can and heating it with a hair dryer. The melted plastic metamorphosed into organic-shaped bowls.
Vincent’s Movement and Color
Posted on May 7, 2018
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” —Vincent van Gogh
4th graders studied Vincent van Gogh’s painting, Irises, and then used broad tipped markers to make their own version — implementing some of the artist’s techniques.
What makes a van Gogh?
Do the brushstrokes whirl and zigzag and bend?
Do you feel movement and see bold color?
Do you feel emotions when you study it?
Irises, oil on canvas, 1890, Vincent van Gogh (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Vincent van Gogh Foundation.)
Kindergarten Water Lilies
Posted on April 14, 2018
Claude Monet was the primary pioneer of Impressionism and the French painter is known for his distinctive style that captures the fleeting effects of light in his paintings. He preferred to to paint en plein air—or “outside”—in his beautiful garden full of Japanese influences that included a green bridge, weeping willow trees, seasonal flowers and most of all his pond with water lilies.
We started our art lesson by reading The Magical Garden of Claude Monet (Anholt’s Artist Books for Children Series) by Laurence Anholt. We then created ripples for our water by using a white crayon on our white paper. Like magic those lines appeared when we added our watercolor over top. In our next art class, after our paintings had dried the students created lily pads with green cupcake liners and lilies from tissue paper.
Water Lilies, oil on canvas, 1916 by Claude Monet
“The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.” —Claude Monet
Ben Lomond Roses
Posted on March 3, 2018
The beauty of Ben Lomond inspired this painting. In May the old rose garden is in full bloom at this historic site. Built in 1837, this house sits within five miles of the site of the First and Second Battles of Manassas. Around back, the 5,200 sq. foot garden is one of the largest public gardens devoted to old roses in U.S. and features approximately 160 separate cultivars & 200 individual rose shrubs. Just heaven for a rose lover!
Over the winter months, Historic Manassas, Inc. in partnership with the City of Manassas, holds a Banner Art Competition. This painting was selected as a banner artwork installed in Historic Downtown Manassas near the Manassas Museum. There are about 70 original pieces of art hanging from the downtown light poles!
Inspired by Jim Dine: Texture Hearts
Posted on February 15, 2018
Student artwork, shown above.
Jim Dine was born on June 16, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is an American painter and sculptor, whose artworks are considered Pop Art. He draws, paints and sculpts every day objects such as tools, clothing, hearts, and more recently images of Pinocchio. His colors are both very bright and expressive and he is most well known for his heart art! Hearts have been a part of Dine’s work since the mid-1960’s. Many of his paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures are of hearts.
Jim Dine was the inspiration for our heart-themed project. First we traced our hearts using a tracer and subdivided our paper into sections. Next we used texture plates and crayons to create areas of texture. Our last step was to paint over our texture with watercolor. These first-graders did an excellent job!
The Month of June #5 by Jim Dine
Woven Winter Portraits
Posted on January 20, 2018
2nd graders worked hard on these adorable winter self portraits. Whew! These took about 4 weeks to complete!
Our primary objective was practicing our weaving and then creating the woven hats. Then the students added the snowy background, self portraits and cotton ball texture.
White Roses
Posted on December 27, 2017
I have enjoyed getting back to the basics of drawing. It is fun challenge to capture these white petals and the illusion of space. When I don’t have time to paint—I have no excuses . . . I can pick up a pencil anytime!
White Roses
● SOLD (8 x 10 inches, pastel on paper)
3rd Grade Clay Leaves
Posted on November 3, 2017
Fall is in the air and in the art room! The third graders created these beautiful clay leaves.
Our first step was to knead the clay to remove any air bubbles. This was done by wedging the clay by using the palm of the hand to press the clay in, and lightly slamming it against the table (like kneading dough, if you are a baker!).
The next step was to roll out the clay to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Then the students pushed the plastic leaves into the clay to add texture and to use as a tracer to create the leaf shape. Once we had our leaves cut out, we wrote our names and teacher code on the back with a pencil and then placed the leaves to dry in a styrofoam bowl.
To finish them off students were allowed to select from a variety of glazes to add their choice of fall color.
Teaching Art
Posted on September 25, 2017
I am very excited to be the new art teacher at Signal Hill Elementary School! Our very first art project was a collaborative art project—each grade level was given a different color to create something “unique about them” on a hand for a bulletin board outside the art classroom. Through out the year I will be working with students in grades K-5, once a week for a 45-minute session.
My goal is to encourage students to experiment with new art media and techniques, use their imagination to stretch and explore their own unique ideas, develop craftsmanship and observe and understand the world of art.
The arts foster real-world skills that students and use in any career path such as multiple idea generation, thinking-outside-the-box and problem solving.
Learning from the Masters
Posted on August 17, 2017
I am constantly trying to improve and grow as an artist. Studying the Masters is a wonderful way for an artist to learn valuable techniques and much can be gained by analyzing the experts of pastel and seeing through their eyes the varied possibilities that this medium offers.
“There are two ways for a painter: the broad and easy one or the narrow and hard one.” —Mary Cassatt
According to the Artist Network (https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-mediums/pastel/pastel-masters/ by Naomi Ekperigin) much can be gleaned from studying Mary Cassatt, a master of pastel. According to Alan Flattmann, who was inducted into Pastel Society of America Hall of Fame in 2006, Mary Cassatt uses bold, linear pastel strokes to create solid and sensitive forms in her portraits. The subsequent build up of these beautiful layers creates vitality and convincing forms. On the top is my attempt of Mary Cassatt’s exquisite drawing, The Long Gloves, 1889. I can see errors in my proportions of the face and lack of her exquisite color in the face and neck, but it was a wonderful learning experience!
