David Hockney Painting Exhibit

I haven't seen it yet, but there is an exhibit of David Hockney's paintings done between 2006 and 2009 currently on view. From what I have read, the show at both PaceWildenstein gallery locations contains a number of new landscape paintings. I cannot wait to check it out. Please let me know if you see it! I will post a reaction soon!

David Hockney: Paintings 2006-2009
PACEWILDENSTEIN
32 East 57th Street
and
534 West 25th Street
Until December 24

Playing with COMPOSITION

First graders are learning about composition. We learned that composition means the placement or arrangement of things in a piece of art. I set up 6 composition stations and students spent the class creating a variety of compositions with different materials. We didn't save any compositions so here are the images of our work!







Some artists began to COLLABORATE:



And some compositions came off the table:

Next, we will create compositions for collograph printing.

Project Round-Up: Fifth Grade Mints

Fifth grade artists have been working on getting to know their subject. We have been practicing observational drawing and practicing to see our subject. We have then taken the same subjects and created paintings. For this project, our subject was a little mint.

Students first created three pencil drawings:
Blind Contour- looking only at the mint, not at the paper
Opposite Hand- using their non-dominant hand to draw
Contour- a line drawing with some shading

Once we had gotten to know our subject, we began to create a painting. We started by thinking about how we wanted our composition to look. We explored the work of Wayne Thiebaud and noticed how he creates simple compositions for his still life paintings. We used a neutral brown to create an underpainting. With the underpainting, we focused on value and composition. Next, we added acrylic paint. We used the three primary colors to create all of the shades that we worked over our underpainting. Some artists stuck with the realistic style and others began to add more colors and imaginitive touches. Here are some photos of each step:

Project Round-Up: Second Grade Moving Animals

Second graders recently completed a painting unit. We looked at the work of Keith Haring and noticed how he made his figures appear to be moving. We observed that he did this by the position of their bodies and by adding movement lines. One student noticed that these lines showed "the sound of the air moving." We then created our own piece of work showing an animal moving. We began by creating an outline. Next, we use the three primary colors and three neutrals to add color to our paintings. We mixed the acrylic paint on our paper using large and small brushes, depending on if we were painting a large area or small details. The work came out amazing! We are going to exhibit it in the main lobby during the month of November. Here are some sneak peaks:

Project Round-Up: Third Grade Ugly Dolls

There is an ugly doll craze in third grade! We decided to use it to learn about symmetry and asymmetry.

Third graders created paper "ugly creatures" whose bodies and features were symmetrical or asymmetrical. They learned how to create a symmetrical shape by folding a piece of paper before cutting and that this created an instant line of symmetry to work from.

Once their collaged creatures were finished, they created the place where their creature lives. We had a lot of fun making these and the results are very funny. Check them out on display in the third grade hallway.

Couldn't Resist

Being home sick today, I had some time to look at things on the internet. This has little to do with what is happening in our studio right now, but I can't resist posting it here so I don't lose it. Isn't it great inspiration for a dream room? Start drawing yours!

photo via Bird and Banner Blog via NYTimes

What a Success

Congrats to all 4th graders on their super successful art show. We had a ton of visitors and everyone was buzzing about it.
Check out the story about our show on Pardon Me For Asking a local blog! This blog post was also picked up by the NYTimes and listed in their Blogtalk section. Thanks Katia.
Congratulations artists and thanks to everyone who helped out!

This Weekend!!

This Saturday and Sunday:
Come support our fourth grade artists!

4Fives Garden Post!!

Good morning!

Here is an update on the 4Fives Garden!

Right now our garden is looking good.

A few weeks ago we planted cuttings of basil and mint and violets.  We are waiting for them to grow roots so that we can put them in the soil in the garden.

We also went on a relly cool trip last week to the Glass Garden in Manhattan.  The Glass Garden is a greenhouse and it is neat.  Ms. Kimball used to work there, and we were really lucky that she likes us enough to take us there. They have lots of plants there, but they also have animals too.  We saw a turtle, fish, birds, and a parrot.   The parrot talked! And when we sang “Happy Birthday” he danced.  It was really cool.  4Fivers (LOL!  They are 4Fivers!) and Superforesters Jackson and Jackie kept clapping and singing to the birds and they hung upside down and danced like crazy.

But we didn’t just do that at the greenhouse.  We also planted our own Chinese plants.  The lady gave us a plant that had roots, and then we put it in soil (not dirt).  We watered it and then labeled it so that we could take it back to school.  Then Bee put all of our plants on the bottom layer of the garden lab.  At first I thought this was a bad idea, but she told me that these plants need low-light, which I think means that they don’t need a lot of sunlight to live.  SO I guess that it wasn’t a bad idea.

The really good thing about our garden is that at the end of the school year, when our plants are all grown up, we can take them home, and well have our own garden. We can take care of it and we can all be happy.

Stay tuned for more cool information about our classroom garden!

Love,

Travis

Fun Field Trip

What some of you might not know about me is that before I was an art teacher, I was a horticultural therapist! I worked at NYU Medical Center. Here, in their amazing greenhouse, I would work with patients in the hospital on gardening projects to help them get better. Even though I have a different (and amazing) job now, I still love gardening.

Yesterday, the 4Fives and I took a trip to the Glass Garden where I used to work. We had an awesome time! PS 58/4Fives friend, mentor, and all around amazing person Jackson came with us. Here is a link to his blog post about the trip. Thanks SFJ! The 4Five students' post will come soon.

Enjoy the long weekend!
MK