The Amazing Melanie Hope Greenberg Visits Studio 220

For the past 3 weeks, author/illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg has been working with us at PS 58. I have worked with Melanie before and it is such a pleasure to have a local illustrator share her knowledge and enthusiasm with our kids. She first shared her process with all second graders in the library. She read her book and everyone got a copy of Mermaids on Parade!

The following two visits were in Studio 220 with Melanie! She worked with all second grade classes. She shared her books and some relief paintings. Students were then inspired to create their own paper pop up relief collages. The students used foam tape in layers to create the relief effect. The students had a blast! Many were inspired by her city theme and the way that she layered buildings. Here are some photos from the residency. I can't wait to work with her again.

Melanie shares A City Is.

Students working.


Students share their work with partners.

Some finished pieces:

Thanks to Melanie and our visiting author program!

First Grade Updates

First graders finished their clay pots ages ago, but I have not posted about them! Here are tons of photos of their finished pieces.

Now, we are working on mixed media pieces. We have studied artists who were inspired by their neighborhoods. We looked at The Block by Romare Bearden and I Live in Brooklyn by Mari Takabayashi. Mari even came and told us about how she makes her art! Now, we are working on pieces about our own neighborhoods. Here is a sneak peak of the studio in action:

AMAZING!

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November Newsletter!

Studio 220 Newsletter: November 2010

November is a busy month in the art studio! Students are getting started on their second units. Make sure to check out all of the exhibits in the halls during open school week. I hope to see many of you at conferences. I will be holding an open house in Studio 220 on the second floor. Please stop in and have a look around!

Here is a preview of what will be going on this month:

Kindergarten artists have explored how shapes can be used to “build” pictures with collage. In November, we will be moving with this idea into the medium of printmaking! Students will be creating their own stamps by etching into styrofoam. They will use these stamps to create images. The theme for this unit links what they are doing in science with Miss Marsh—a study of trees. In the studio, we will be taking the knowledge they have gained about the parts of trees and how they change and exploring this through art making. We will focus our art explorations on texture and shape.

First grade artists have become collage experts! They will continue to work with paper, but will be exploring how the material can move from two dimensions to three. We will be creating a number of paper sculptures that hang and stand on a base. Students will be encouraged to explore ideas of balance and structure while using the materials. We will experiment with how different types of actions (twist, bend, fold…) change the way that the material looks.

Second grade artists are going to be working on a unit inspired by the later work of Henri Matisse. We will be studying how later in his life he began “painting with paper.” Students will be working independently and collaboratively to create a number of cut paper collage pieces. We will explore how compositions can be played with and changed. We will explore ideas of organic/geometric shape, positive/negative space and symmetry/asymmetry. Students will also play with scale, making tiny collages and gigantic collages. It is sure to be a ton of fun.

Fourth graders are working on a painting unit. During the month, students will really play with the medium to see what it can do. We will be using acrylic paint to explore thick and thin application and strokes, as well as to reinforce what we know about color mixing. Students will be creating portraits of a family member. For inspiration and to see the different ways a portrait can be painted, students will study pieces by Dana Schutz, Alex Katz and Kim Scafuro.

Fifth graders have worked hard to create an illustrated character. In November, students will take their character and create a pop-up paper environment for it. They will study Andrea Dezso’s tunnel books to see how paper can be layered to create depth. Students will create their environment using a number of pop-up paper engineering techniques and will include a foreground, middle ground and background. I am really excited to see where they will take this!

Lastly, I want to sincerely thank everyone who donated materials to the studio through the Dick Blick Art Room Aid and materials and wipes donations. I am overwhelmed by your generosity! Thank you so much for all you do for our artists!

Character Development

Fifth graders have been working on creating an illustrated character. We studied artists Tim Burton and Sac Magique to explore how their characters have distinct personality traits that are shown through their physical features. Students brainstormed to create their own character. Next, they sketched and created a final contour drawing. Students will ink their work and color it using both traditional and digital media. Great work artists!

Kindergarten

Kindergarten artists have been learning about abstract compositions. Now, we have begun to explore "realistic" art. We read the book Mouse Shapes and explored how shapes can build pictures of real things. Here are some collages made by kindergarten artists:





Next, kindergarten artists looked at the work of Eric Carle. We noticed how he used shapes to create bugs. Artists used tearing to create shapes and used them to make their own collaged bugs. The work is up outside kindergarten classrooms.


This week, we will begin a printmaking unit. We will work with stamping and texture. Our theme will link with what they have been learning about with Miss Marsh in science: trees!!

Animal Collages

First grade artists are studying Charley Harper and thinking about how he uses simple shapes to "build" animals. He called his style "minimal realism." Students will soon be using the monoprints they created to make animal collages, but we are now practicing using construction paper. The students love Harper's work, because it is simple and surprising. Here are some examples of the first step of our animal collages. Next, we will create a habitat for the animal. We will then follow these same steps to create collages using our prints.

2nd Grade Moving Sketches

In the studio, students in second grade are learning about sketching and how it is an important part of the artistic process. Even though we have begun a painting unit, we are starting out by sketching to help us work out our ideas. Second graders looked at the work of Keith Haring and discovered that he uses movement lines and body position to show movement in a painting. Here are some sketches that we made to try out this technique:

Check out more sketches in the lobby and coming soon outside second grade classrooms!

Painted Paper Projects

Spring is the time for painted paper collage in Studio 220!

There are a few different projects happening, but here is a look at what Ms. Rippe's 2/3 class and third graders are working on!

Ms. Rippe's class has been thinking about texture and how you can create texture with color and shape on paper. They have been looking at the work of Brooklyn artist Kim Scafuro for inspiration and noticed that she uses painted paper to collage animals. Students created a ton of painted textures and colors and then used them to begin to make an animal. In the next few weeks, we will be creating a background for our creatures.

work by Kim Scafuro

collage beginnings!

I will post the final projects when they are finished.

Third graders are also working on painted paper collage. We are learned about color families and used brushes to create pieces of paper with various textures with colors from our chosen color family. The following week, we had some fun using bubbles to paint on paper. Next, we will take the paper we have created and create imaginary landscape collages!

bubble painting result and process

We got a ton of interesting textures to use in our collages. Check back for the results!

5th Grade Food Sculpture

Fifth graders are working on creating clay sculptures of food. We looked at the work of many artists who use food as their subject throughout art history. Some favorites included Cotan and Raul Guerrero . We are now working on creating our own sculptures of food out of clay. Each student is creating a plate, dish, cup, tray or other "holder" of their food and the food. Here are some beginings:

Maira Kalman

I'm so excited that the amazing Maira Kalman is visiting PS 58 tomorrow!! She is one of my favorite illustrators. Check out her work here!

Image VIA NY Times

Fourth Grade Animal Heads

Fourth graders are working on a papier mache sculpture project.  We were inspired by the work of artist AJ Fosik.  He uses wood to create really interesting relief pieces. 

 We are making animal heads out of recycled materials. 

Students chose an animal whose character traits resemble their own.

First, we sketched out a plan from the front and the side.  

Then we created a structure of recycled materials and masking tape.

Next, we are covering them with papier mache. 

Keep checking here for the next stage of this project!