May Art Blog 2019

Transitional Kindergarten: Texture Clay Turtles

TK Students had the opportunity to create three-dimensional turtles out of air-dry clay. To create an interesting texture for the turtle's shell, students stepped on a clay ball to imprint the texture of the sole of their shoes. Students viewed and compared the variety of textures every one's shoe had left behind. Practicing rolling coils for the turtle's legs, head and tail was yet another clay molding technique students used. After the clay had dried, students painted their turtles in vibrant colors using liquid water colors. A coat of clear varnish finished the turtles with a nice shine. 

Kindergarten: STEAM The Cranky Machine

This is Kindergarten Arts/Science integration at its best. Students learned about a variety of push and pull forces. Once students had grasped the basic concept of forces they were ready to build their  “cranky", a little machine with a crank, an axle and a piston animating one part of two artistic forms. 

Students persevered through the technical steps of engineering a crank and piston and loved the artistic challenge in creating two forms telling a story with one moving and one still part. Kindergarten students went full STEAM ahead into this hands on learning experience. 

What an amazing learning opportunity for students and teachers!

1st GRADE: Arts Integration and STEAM: Exploration of Sound: What is Sound?

This 1st grade unit of Arts Integration and STEAM support the Next Generation Science Standards of "Sound".  Arts integration is an important part of the transition to the Common Core Standard. Bacich school as formed a STEAM team where homeroom teachers, math/science coach, maker teacher and the art teacher meet to design  projects to inspire student to think differently about core subjects such as, math, science, through project based learning. This supports deeper learning and thinking by connecting the core subject to an art form while maintaining the integrity of both the core subject and the artistic process. 

The STEAM team in collaboration with the 1st grade team guided 1st grade students through a variety of hands-on science and math experiments. Students have been learning that sound comes from vibrations.  They have also learned about pitch and volume. Students practiced math and engineering skills together with Mrs. Yang and Mr. Bessonette to measure and cut the wood for the keys for their class community xylophones. Students were super excited to cut the wood with box saws!  It was amazing! Once the wooden keys were prepared, the children worked with Mrs. Libby in the art room to build, personalize and decorated their xylophones in an artistic, aesthetically pleasing ways.These were perfect instruments to demonstrate and explore vibrations, pitch and volume. Furthermore, students grasp the concept that long objects/materials make low sounds, whereas short materials produce high sounds. Each 1st grade class created one community xylophone for their homeroom and two to be permanently installed in the Bacich school garden.

2nd GRADE:
Kandinsky Abstract Art: Painting Music Fast and Slow

One of the first modern abstract artists, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), who was also an accomplished musician, hoped people would ‘hear’ his art, rather then appreciate it solely with their eyes.

In this project, students were introduce to Kandinsky’s concept of painting not what the artist saw, but what he or she heard and felt. While listening to the rhythms of both fast and slow music, students were encouraged to mix new colors, overlap shapes and designs. They closed their eyes and let their brushes and pens move freely to capture the music they heard.

3rd GRADE:  Kinetic Sculpture inspired by Calder

Third grade students created sculptures made out of wood and wire. Constructing a kinetic sculpture was a study in balance and engineering, making a connection to the third grade science curriculum “balance and motion”, as well as an introduction to the American sculptor and artist, Alexander Calder, 

Born into a family of artists, Calder created his first sculpture at age four. In his career, Calder created many sculptures, mobiles and stabiles, paintings, jewelry and significant toys. A fascination with the circus led to a toy circus made from wire, string, rubber and found objects, which in turn evolved into wire sculptures, and kinetic art. Calder’s keen eye for balance in his sculptures both large and small, ultimately resulted in the first “mobiles”. His first public commission was a pair of mobiles in the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1937.

4th  GRADE:      Soft Sculptures

Soft sculpture is a type of sculpture made using cloth, foam, rubber, plastic, paper, fibers and similar material that are supple and not rigid. They can also be made out of natural materials if combined to make a none rigid object. Soft sculpture art is very popular in Japan with artists like Yayoi Kusama boosting the heritage of this new and innovative medium for interior design. Popularized in the 1960s by artists such as Claes Oldenburg with his props and objects Oldenburg created for performances. 

Fourth grade students sketched ideas for their own, original soft sculpture "aka stuffies". Students practiced to revise their sketches to make a sewing pattern. Some students made asymmetrical designs, some folded their papers in half to make their designs symmetrical. Students added a 1/4 inch seam allowance to their patterns to allow enough space for stitching. 

Students were introduce to sewing 101: needle threading, knot tying, the basics of stitching: running stitch, whip stitch, blanket stitch, and sew on a button. Based on their sewing skill levels students chose a stitch to fit their skills. Students gently pushed acrylic fiberfill into their soft sculptures. Students appliquéd faces and other features and sewed on buttons for eyes. 

We are a "maker culture"! Students enjoyed this visual arts/maker project, the process from creating a pattern to the finished piece. It was engaging to boys and girls alike because persistence was required to solve problems as they occurred. Students helped each other, which made this a nice teamwork project.