In the Art Room: Artists with Heart!

Last week, we were out of school for seven consecutive days in a row with snow. It was heaven, lemme tell you. We finally ended up going back to school on a Friday after a 2 hour delay. If your school is like mine, when we have a delay, we specials folks get an alternative schedule...which basically means that whatever you'd planned on doing, just go right ahead, open that window and throw it right out. Knowing that, and knowing that I didn't wanna spend my shortened Friday running around like a mad woman trying to locate projects, sort supplies and remember where we'd left off, I decided to do a fun one-day project with all of my classes. That's when I got the idea for a crash course on four artists who use hearts in their art!

I did this lesson in about 30-40 minutes. My classes are 30 minutes in length...but this did run a pinch long. The classroom teachers don't usually mind if I keep their kids a little longer...which only works for me if I don't have another class standing outside my door. Thankfully on this day, it worked out. 

And we cranked out these beauties in that short amount of time! I created a keynote of each artist. I did a quickie intro, shortie demo and then set my timer and said, "okay, you have five minutes!" We NEVER do art class like this...but the kids really seemed to love the challenge. They took to calling it "speed art" or an "art game". I need to come up with a name for it. I really love this idea of a crash course in learning about artists! 

For a wrap up, we've been doing this standing-on-our-chairs thing (hey, if Ron Clark can do it...). At the end of art class, the kids stood on their chairs, looked around the room, admired each other's artwork, got super loud and then I rang my chime and we cleaned up. 

In the video, you'll see what supplies we use and how I have them organized. I love chalk pastels, oil pastels and a new kid-fave: paint sticks!

The kids had not used paint sticks yet and they were huge fans. Several companies now make these. Mine are from Sargent. They go on slick and wet like paint but dry instantly. So fun!

Now we have some fast, fun and colorful art for the halls!

I stayed after school on Friday and started to matte an frame the work. I'm trying to get a little ahead for our big art show that we do in May. I'm always in a mad dash to frame in the spring...so I thought that I'd take one class a week to sort, prep and frame. We'll see if I can keep that routine up. I know I'll be happy that I did come springtime!

I have a TON of love-y dove-y lessons on this blog, you can find them put all together in one blog post here. 

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In the Art Room: Romero Britto Inspired Selfies by Fourth

Hey, kids! I'm just back from a FABULOUS conference in Texas that was seriously a whirlwind of fun. I'll be certain to share that experience with you soon but before I do, I thought I'd let you in on how that Romero Britto-inspired selfie project went down. In a word(s): colorfully amazing! 

I've been sharing with you a ton of self portrait projects of late as that's what I'm sending away to be framed for our Artome art show. In case you missed, check out the Royal First Grade Self-Portraits, Second Grade Super Hero Selfies and the Third Grader's Sandra Silbertzweig Portraits. 

I wanted my fourth graders to learn how to draw a face with correct proportions but with a playful and colorful twist that reflects their personality and interests. And that's how I settled on this Romero Britto-inspired lesson. Complete video'ed lesson here: 

 By the way, I update my videos multiple times weekly...if you wanna stay up to date, subscribe here. 

The video provides a quick introduction to Britto and his work, just enough to give them a taste for how colorful and pattern-y his work is. 

The kids really respond well to learning about contemporary artists and pop art seems to be their fave. 

This project took us 3 one hour classes to complete. The students used 9" X 12" sheets of drawing paper as that is what the Artome framing format allows. On our first day, we watched the first third of the video. We drew our faces along with the video, traced over our final drawings in Sharpie (I gave the kids plenty of time to return to their seats with mirrors and alter their drawings to their liking) and used lines to break up the background. Here's what we had after day one:

The following art class, we watched the middle portion of the video where I chat about pattern. I really wanted the kids to create patterns that reflected their interests. I did provide idea sheets of simple patterns like the ones Britto uses. After 30 minutes, we watched the final portion of the video and had just enough time to explore color. Here are the results after the second day:

By the third day, we'd watched all of the video and knew what we had to do to complete our masterpiece. I really thought this would be a two-day project...but with all of the details the kids created, it lasted a pinch longer. 

 We used both colored pencils and Prismacolor Art Stix (a class favorite for their vibrancy) to color. Art Stix are like the lead of colored pencils in oil pastel from. They are richer in color than your average colored pencil. I talk about them somewhere in this clip:

Sorry, not sure when, but I know they are in this clip somewhere!

 The kids and I both were really pleased with their hard work. So often, older kids struggle with self-portraits as they want them to look "just right". Doing a self-portrait in a guided drawing format really relieved stress and insured that all selfies looked fabulous. 

You know that the 10 year old crowd can sometimes be tough to please...but this one was a crowd-pleaser. 

Even my students who sometimes struggle with fine motor skills or sticking with projects for long periods of time shined in this lesson.

You know they feel good about themselves with the "too cool for school" fourthies give you hugs at the end of art class. 

 My favorite comment: I never knew I could draw like this!

I'm shipping all of these out to Artome tomorrow and our art show is at the start of December. I'll be certain to let you know how that goes. This will be our first Artome show...I'm really excited!

Y'all know we do a HUGE end of the year art show where everything that every kid has made is hung up. I'm super stoked that for this show, I don't have to hang a thing!

I hope y'all have a fabulous week leading up to Turkey Day! I'll be in and out on this here blog with lots to share...so, during your break from stuffing runs, be sure to drop on by. 

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In the Art Room: Romero Britto Inspired Self Portraits

If you follow me here, then you already know that all my kids are currently creating self-portraits for our upcoming winter art show with Artome. I shared what my third graders are up to here (Y'ALL. THEY ARE TURNING OUT SO AMAZING). My second graders are making a variation of this Super Hero Selfie project that I did with my fourth grade last year...I'll be certain to share those with you soon. My firsties are becoming royal with these Royal Self Portraits while kindergarten is doing a variation of Ain't Gonna Paint No More selfies. Because the Artome frames fit 9" X 12" artwork and I usually have my kids work twice that size, I've had to really rethink and adjust some of these projects. I'll be sure to share them with you in the near future. To get the ball rolling, I thought I'd share with you this videoed Romero Britto lesson and the fourth graders' results. 

In case you don't know, Romero Britto is a Brazilian neo-pop artist who lives in Miami. I have shared his colorful work with my students when we did this project:

My fourth grade kids are so great at creating colorful designs and patterns that I thought this project would be perfect for them. 

 But I had to give 'em a little inspo first...

Before diving in to the video:

Here's what we cranked out the first day!

They did a bang up job and were pretty stinkin' proud. I teach doubled up fourth grade classes (meaning there are about 35 kids in the room). After doing the first portion of the video independently at our seats, we returned to the floor with clipboards, our papers and pencils to do a guided drawing together. I really liked having them watch the video as there were less interruptions. I did pause it every now and then to reexplain or allow the kids to catch up.

Once we were finished drawing on the floor together, the kids had mirrors at their seats. I told them that the guided drawing was a kind of template for them that they should alter and change once at their seats. I encouraged them to really study their faces, freckles, glasses and details and add them to their selfies. Once completed in pencil, they traced over their lines in Sharpie.

I really thought the kids would get further along than this...but they were so into drawing their likeness that I didn't want to rush them ahead. Next up, I'll provide them with some pattern idea sheets for them to draw their designs before adding color. 

I really can't wait to see how these turn out!

I have noticed that teaching self portrait drawing to older kids is pretty tough. Not cuz they can't handle it but because they are so hard on themselves! So I really REALLY discourage any erasing until they are back at their seats. I tell them that it is "just practice" and that they are learning something new...and to go easy on themselves. Only when they return to their seats are they allowed to change and erase...but I don't allow them to get another piece of paper. When I had a students say, "I don't like mine," I asked, "what do you not like?" When she replied with an "everything!" I told her to pick one thing she liked the least and we worked on that. Then we picked the next thing and we worked on that. Within five minutes, she was much happier with her drawing. It's a process with this age group. You gotta do what works without letting them throw in the towel. 

Next up, we'll add patterns of things that interest us (I used paint splatters and music notes in mine to give them some ideas) as well as color. 

I'll be sure to share our progress! Until then, feel free to use this video and lesson in your art teacherin' world. I'd love to see what your kids create! Shoot me an email if you do. 

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