September/October 2022 Art Blog

Community Building

We have been working on establishing art room guidelines and building an inclusive community culture. We start every class with a greeting routine and a choral speaking and signing of our art classroom affirmation. Students love learning and practicing American Sign Language to support our greeting and affirmation. 

Bacich artists, TK through 4th grade, worked on a collaborative concentric circle art piece that was inspired by International Dot Day and the concentric circle painting by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. Panels of these collaborative works are on display in the Bacich art room and the front office. 

Sketchbooks

It is a Bacich art room tradition that in the beginning of a new school year students start out their visual arts journey by grounding themselves with a sketchbook activity. Throughout the school year, students will have the opportunity to use their sketchbook in a combination of sketching, note taking and personal journal writing. Students reflect upon and evaluate their own learning. This allows students to place reading and writing in a context that is functional and personally relevant. 

One of the key values of the Bacich art program is that we are all practicing artists. Besides being a means of practicing and recording, the sketchbook is a safe place for students to express their thoughts and ideas in writing and drawing that is not corrected by the teacher, providing freedom for individual expression.

Sketchbook Covers

TK-K 

We celebrated International Dot Day, which was inspired by the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. Students connected with the story of making their mark and decorated their sketchbooks with many different dot combinations. 

1st-2nd Grade

The Bacich Bear mascot inspired the 1st and 2nd grade students' sketchbook covers. In a guided drawing lesson, students learned to recognize and categorize lines, shapes and space while drawing their individualized cartoon-style art bear. 

3rd-4th Grade 

The art of upcycling is to reuse (discarded objects or materials) in such a way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original. 3rd and 4th grade students upcycled brown paper bags to make their sketchbooks. Students were introduced to the basics of bookbinding, the process of physically assembling a book from an ordered stack of recycled paper sheets folded together into sections. 4th grade students learned how to sew their journals with a saddle stitch book binding method. Students then designed their sketchbook covers with colorful concentric circle designs. 

Hispanic Heritage Month 

Amate Bark Painting

TK through 4th grade artists have been engrossed in the Amate Bark painting tradition which originates from San Pablito, a small mountain village in Mexico 🇲🇽 where this beautiful craft is still taught today. Students sketched Mexican and Mayan inspired designs, birds, floral motifs and village scenes. To simulate the process of this beautiful hand made amate paper, and to create a bark-like texture, students crumpled their upcycled brown paper bags and burnished the paper with flat, smooth rocks. Thank you KSPTA for funding the amazing paint pens to achieve the gorgeous vibrant, saturated colors on our bark paintings. The finished art pieces are stunning! 

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