a kindergarten art exhibition
The new Utah Core has raised standards for students. Kindergarten is no exception. Kindergarteners are now expected to write their names correctly starting with a capital first followed by lower case (they usually just write in all UPPERCASE). It is believed that this skill will help students recognize the same pattern in reading and writing, accelerating their abilities to read and write. This art project is an attempt to help solidify this ability to write names correctly. In addition, students were introduced to Pop Art, a genre of art that began in the 1960’s influenced by commercialism. Students looked for items in grocery ads that started with the same letter as their first name. These became a reference for drawing, coloring and painting their Pop artwork. They replaced the product name with their name.
crayon and watercolor on paper
Naomi - Nutella
Pomai - Pizza
Nigel - Nature Valley Granola Bars
Artworks Assemble!
a first grade art exhibition
Texture is an exciting and revealing concept to explore. This project started with looking at artworks with various textures. This allowed us to imagine what it would feel like to touch the artwork and then translate that into words like smooth, bumpy, rough, or spiky. This was followed by practicing drawing textures in our sketchbooks. Our explorations continued with an activity called texture rubbings where we used crayons to transfer texture onto paper. For these final artworks, we created Assemblage artworks similar to artists like Louise Nevelson and Robert Rauschenberg. First, we glued various objects like beads, buttons, paper, and straws onto a piece of cardboard. Then we painted the whole artwork one solid color, unifying all the textures.
mixed media and acrylic paint on cardboard
My Rainbow Panorama
a first grade art exhibition
Color Theory is fundamental for every artist. An introduction to color theory for first graders consists of learning how to mix the Primary Colors of Red, Yellow and Blue to get the Secondary Colors of Orange, Green, and Violet. Although we don’t talk about the Tertiary colors, first graders often experiences these in the simple experimentation of mixing colors. Combining Yellow and Red makes Orange. But adding a lot of red can result in a Red-Orange. Vica-Versa adding a little Red results in a Yellow-Orange. We talked about this idea and we chose how much Red to add to our Yellows resulting in a wide spectrum of Oranges. The same went for Green and Violet. To include the primary colors we learned about tints and shades or making colors lighter and darker with white and black. This resulted in hundreds of different colors creating a full color spectrum that transitions smoothly from one color to the next. Each swatch of color was sewn together in order to create this fun and fantastic collaborative artwork.
paper, tempera paint, thread, fishing line
Permanently hung from the ceiling of the cafeteria.
Community:
people, places and nature
a second grade art exhibition
The second grade students learn about their local community and geography. We defined a community as people, places and nature. First we looked at artist who make artwork about people, places, and/or nature. Then we talked about how we could make an artwork about the community/the People, Places and Nature of Edgemont. From all the ideas in the three second grade classes, it was decided that for Nature we would explore the school grounds and collect items of nature. For People we used the iPads to take photos of our favorite people in the school community. Lastly, we created drawings of our favorite Places in the school. Each class in the second grade decided how to exhibit or display these pieces. One group created a collage. Another posted their pieces where they belonged meaning if they drew a picture of the library they put their drawing in the library. The next class made a landscape. The last took all their pieces and made a book.
paper, photos, colored pencils, nature
Light Painting
a second grade art exhibition
Lines are one of the basic building blocks for creating art. Drawing involves creating lines with various qualities: thick and thin, curvy and straight, horizontal and vertical, clean and messy. After seeing how lines are used to create all different types of art (including sculptures), we practiced using a ruler to draw straight lines as well as freehanding curved lines. We transitioned from our formal study of lines into an intuitive study of lines. Drawing or painting lines in the air with a light, we captured these artworks using an app on the iPads. We turned the overhead lights off and using our arms and bodies as a type of performance or dance, we created these stunning works.
digital image/projection
The Moon
a third grade art exhibition
Students love to learn about the world around them. But even more, they love to learn about the worlds above them. The first step from earth was made by Neil Armstrong. Following in his footsteps, students also begin with the moon in learning about the beyond. Look above you and admire the many moons created by these students. Taking what they knew from their studies and being inspired by the moons of Jupiter, these third graders created these marvelous moons full of life, color and imagination.
Pacon plast'r craft and acrylic paint
Selfies
a fourth grade art exhibition
Have you ever held out your phone or camera to take a picture of yourself? Then you have taken a “Selfie.” You have also created a self portrait. A self portrait is a picture of yourself created by you. Artists have always created self portraits via drawing, painting, sculpture or photography. In 4th grade, we learned accurate facial proportion: the correct size and location of facial features. Photos were taken of each student which we used as a reference to draw ourselves. Then we thought about ideas for how to represent ourselves in an artwork. These ideas led us in many different directions including drawing, painting, sculpture and even an animated GIF. Look at the diverse ways we have represented ourselves.
mixed media
I have Ambyliopia. I can’t see too well through one of my eyes. TRY MY LIFE OUT.
My Partner, 2014
I named my artwork My Partner because my dog is my partner and I love him.
I did this because I like movies and drawings.
Vessels
a fourth grade art exhibition
The main focus of the fourth grade curriculum is the state of Utah and everything about it. This includes the ancient inhabitants of the area now known as Utah. Scholars have learned much about this people by finding remnants from the culture, particularly artifacts made out of ceramics. We started this project by researching the ceramic artwork made by the five tribes of Utah. Then we learned/reviewed various ceramic techniques. Using our research for inspiration, we shaped the clay into various shapes and size. After firing them in the kiln we painted our ceramic pieces with acrylic paint.
fired beemix and acrylic paint
Internet Explorers
a fifth grade art exhibition
The fifth grade social studies is about the United States. The study begins with the explorers like Christopher Columbus who helped to discover new places like the American continent. Taking on the role of Marco Polo and Lewis and Clark, we explored the school grounds. Like the explorers of old who would document their findings with maps and drawings, we too documented our findings. Instead of paper maps and drawings, we used Google maps and photography/iPadography. We chose two of our favorite photos and pinned them onto this custom Google map in the exact location that we took the photos. We invite you to take on the role of explorer yourself as you discover or rediscover Edgemont Elementary School.
Click the photo below to interact with the Internet Explorers Map:
Art Matters
a fifth grade art exhibition
Matter is one of the fifth grade science standards. Matter is anything that takes up space including solid, liquid, gas or plasma. For this project we combined the roles of scientist and artist. First we looked at artist who are thinking about or using solids, liquids, gases, plasma, or a combination of two or three. Then we did research to learn more about the properties of matter. The artists and research served as informed inspiration for our artworks. Many of us chose to focus on one state of matter while others chose to explore the transition from one state of matter to another. Many of us wanted to see the process of the physical changes like from a solid to a liquid. This created a problem in that there would not be an actual object to put in the art show. We had to decide what the final artwork would be. Would it be the actual object? Or would it be a documentation of the process via photography or video? This opened a new definition of art beyond that of the object and into the process of creation.
mixed media, video projection
I had a balloon and I filled it with water and colors and then I froze it. Then when I took it out, it accidentally broke. Then I suggested to melt it with paper towels. When it was finished it came out colorful and I named it Colored Paper Towels.
I had three projectors going in this art show. For this exhibit, I built a hanging stand for the projector and laptop.
Masks
A sixth grade art exhibition
Sixth grade social science revolves around ancient civilizations like Egypt, Greece and Rome as well as Medieval times. Each had their own style of artwork. A common artform from these civilizations was mask making. Mostly for rituals, these masks give us an interesting perspective into culture. In art class we began by looking at the role of masks throughout history as well as today. We looked at functional masks used in sports and the medical field. We looked at popular culture masks from superheroes and science fiction. Then we discussed why masks exist and the symbolism behind masks. From the examples and discussions, the students created a mask that represented their idea of why masks have and do exist. Mimicking the death masks of ancient Egypt, students took molds of their faces with plaster. These were shaped and painted with various imagery to represent their ideas.
Pacon plast'r craft, acrylic paint, mixed media
I got the idea for my mask from someone very special to me. Her name was Julie and just recently she passed away. Each letter of her name means something. J, the blue, is the the color of the ocean and one of the last things we did together. U, a color she used to paint nails. L, she was always bright and smiling. I, while she was in the hospital we came and gave her a bean plant and on the bean it said, “I love you.” E, a love color and I know she loves me. On the back I wrote, “The last words she would say to me would be ‘I love you’ and I would say, ‘I love you too.’”
Why would I call this mask “My Absurd Mind”, because of the way I think and what was going on in my mind at the time. The first thing I decided on was an hour glass. While looking at the mask I knew I had to do something on this empty space, but there just wasn’t enough time. Thinking of time the thought of an hourglass drew near in my mind. I then painted the lips black for the sad times I have gone through. The base color also is black accompanied by red, representing pain and hurt that I gave gone through. My first idea that I had sketched out was a masquerade mask but the normal look just wasn’t enough for this amazing mask I was trying to accomplish. So I kept the idea of a fan and glued a sparkling orange fan on. The rest is random and insane. Just how my mind is. I love to picture every item and relate it to one of the everyday thoughts that I have the privilege to have. This is my absurd mind.
This project was just prior to Thanksgiving and part of our Guerilla Gratitude project. This student had this idea and came after school to work on it.
