Giraffes Can't Dance

I saw this art lesson on Deep Space Sparkle some time ago and knew I had to give it a try. (It is based on the book by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees.) I finally got my chance this month with my 2 groups of kindergarteners. They had so much fun with coming up with their giraffe's unique dancing pose. What made this lesson so workable with 5 year olds was the 2 part process. First we drew and painted our giraffes and put them up to dry. Next we painted our night time sky and grass. The giraffe was then cut out and glued onto background. This was a real favorite among the children.

Henri Matisse Meets Alexander Calder

My Mini Modern Artists have been through Impressionism, Cubism and Klee inspired Abstract-Primitivism. With only 3 more weeks to go in this art session, I have really agonized about which art movements and/or artists to visit in this highly edited journey through Modern Art with my 2nd and 3rd graders. I had initially intended to do a Matisse cut-out project based on his piece, "The Beasts of The Sea." But I was also playing around with an Alexander Calder mobile idea. I decided to combine the two in what I think is a really fun project.

First I went over a brief background of each artist. We discussed Matisse as one of the original founders of the Fauvist art movement. Years later an illness prevented him from standing at a canvas to paint. He then created his "painting with scissors" cut-outs while bed ridden or in a wheel chair. It is perhaps these collages created in the last years of his life, for which he is most widely recognized.

Next we discussed American artist Alexander Calder, "the sculptor who made sculpture move." Calder, with a degree in mechanical engineering, is widely considered to be the inventor of the mobile. After creating a number of toys with articulation in Paris, he went on to have his first show of this new art form. His friend, artist Marcel Duchamp was the first to dub these kinetic sculptures with the French term, "mobile." In addition to mobile and stabile scultptures, Calder created paintings, lithographs, jewelry and tapestry.

To create our mobiles with Matisee inspired cut-outs, the children first layed out pre-cut cardstock shapes(found in the scrapbooking section of craft stores) into their hanging layout design. Next we punched holes where these shapes would be connected using a standard hole puncher.With lots of examples of Matisse's wonderful cut-out work, the children cut out organic and geometric shapes to glue onto their base shapes. I reminded them to think about the play of color and shape combinations. Since this is a hanging mobile, thought must be given to both sides. Colored paper clips are then threaded through the holes joining the shapes in a hanging mobile composition. Lastly, I threaded a thin piece of wire through the top paper clip to act as their hook.

The children had a lot of fun doing this project and each mobile came out completely unique.

Paul Klee Inspired Abstract Fish

I got the original idea for this project from Union Hill Elementary in Grass Valley, CA via Artsonia. These fish were inspired by the work of abstract artist, Paul Klee. We learned that Klee was a Swiss-German artist who was inspired by Cubism, primitive art and children's paintings. He created over 8,000 works of art during his lifetime. In 1931 he began teaching art at an academy in Germany. He was run out by the Nazis who called his art (and all modern art) "degenerate."

After a direct line drawing lesson for the fish shape, the children created their own patterns and designs with permanent marker to give their fish unique personality. They were encouraged to create some primitive symbols that were very prevalent in many of Klee's paintings. The outline of the fish was gone over with a black crayon. Lastly they used watercolor, Klee's favorite medium to add color to their fish.

Rainbow Fish

My kindergarteners kicked off our children's book art class with their version of Rainbow Fish. This is a wonderful story about a fish who finds the true meaning of giving when he gives out his beautiful rainbow scales to others, keeping just one for himself. To create their own inspirations my 5 year olds followed a general direction for drawing the fish. I truly love to see the wide range of fish they create just as I tell them there exist in the sea. These drawings are finished in oil pastels. I encourage the children to press hard with their oil pastels as it makes the colors rich and beautiful. They can choose to add sand, sea weed, shells or whatever they would like to create an ocean atmosphere. Next they paint a watercolor wash of blues, greens and purples for their ocean. While the paint is wet they sprinkle salt "like fairy dust" across the ocean water. This creates a wonderful stippling effect as the salt absorbs the water. The kids loves this part! To make these Rainbow Fish complete, the children choose one scale to be glitterized with a squeeze of silver glitter glue. The first 3 fantastic pieces were done by my kindergarteners and the last by my 8 year old, Savannah.

3D Cubist Portraits

My Mini Modern Artists will be leaving behind the world of Impressionism and jumping in our time machine and speeding ahead about 30 years to focus on one of the most pivotal art movements of the early 20th century, Cubism. I have done a number of Cubist style art lessons in the past. I wanted to switch things up a bit this time. I will review that Cubist artists like Picasso wanted to take apart an object (or face) and put it together in a new way, often showing several angles all at once. After creating an oval face shape on poster board the children will divide the face with a profile line down the middle. They will create a hard edge, simple hair style. Next they will add features like eyes, mouth and eye brows. I will review how to create a side view of an eye and mouth. They will be encouraged to put these features on the face in a unique way. Using a ruler they will divide the face in a couple spots. When they are happy with their design they can go over it in permanent marker. Using markers and oil pastel they will add color, pattern and texture to their shapes. This face is then cut out and glued to a background of foam core that has been painted in a simple graphic way. Small pieces of foam core will elevate their face onto their background, creating a 3D effect.

Eric Carle Style Mallard Duck Collage

The wonderful book Eric Carle's Animals Animals is full of dozens of his fantastic collage art, from ant to yak. I had a hard time picking one of these animals to choose for my 2 groups of Kindergarteners. I finally decided to do a version of his mallard duck. The children will first work on the background by painting the water with wavy lines of blue and green. They will use the end of their brush to make squiggle shapes in the water. To create the colorful food at the bottom of the pond the will make dots of red, orange, yellow and purple. For the last background touch, a splattering of blue watercolor at the top. To create the duck, paint brown construction paper with brown, black and orange, again using the back of the paintbrush to create his trademark squiggles. The green head was created by painting a small piece of black construction paper. The beak, feet and sun were done by adding smearing streaks in yellow and orange to yellow construction paper. After these papers are dry they will cut out simple shapes on their own or use templates to create the body, wing, head, beak and feet. They can decide whether they would like their duck paddling through the water or diving down for some food.

Starry Night Inspirations

These Starry Night inspirations were done with tempera paint and oil pastel