OUR SELFIE SHOW!

ART CLUB PAINTINGS!

Painting by Christina A.., 5th grade

We will be getting ready to hang the art show in Panther Hall Gallery as soon as the book fair is finished. Here is a sneak preview of our artwork for the show. These beautiful canvases were painted by students in grades 2-5 during our after school activity art club.

Please stop by Panther Hall next week to see our winter art show. These canvases as well as all of our fall artwork will be on display.

 Sophia B., 3rd grade

Ava A., 2nd grade

Ava K., 5th grade

Sammy L., 2nd grade

Gwendolen, K., 3rd grade

Elle B., 3rd grade

Caitlyn C., 3rd grade

Ryan H., 2nd grade

Lukas V., 2nd grade

Shia K., 5th grade

Marcella L., 3rd grade

Sean K., 3rd grade

Tyge F., 5th grade

Sabrina L., 3rd grade

PRE-KINDERGARTEN . . . Forest animals!

Forest by Reilly

We have been busy completing our fall forests. This project was a mix of many different materials and techniques. Pre-Kindergartners are becoming more and more confident as artists in Lower School!

The background started as a watercolor painting. We used a very large brush and lots of water to make the colors fill the page. The trees came next. Students drew a pattern of lines on their brown paper to make it look like bark. Then we practiced our scissor skills, cutting strips of the paper to make the many trees in the forest. The animals were drawn separately. Students learned how to draw an animal using basic shapes like a circle or an oval. We can tell what the animals are by the face, the ears and the special details in the drawings. Reilly drew a perfect owl and it is proudly perched on his brown tree! Finally, the leaves were cut out of colored foam and then glued down.

Here are a few more of our colorful forests to enjoy! To see all of our projects, please follow this link to our homepage of Artsonia...   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Forest by Benjamin

Forest by Annika

Forest by Vivienne

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

KINDERGARTEN... Our illustrated books are ready!

Our first books are all printed, folded and stapled together! We spent the Kindergarten art period today finishing up the books for everyone to read. We have our self-portraits on the cover, and inside, we tell a story about our favorite things. Here are a few pages from our books...

Elizabeth's best friends are Ashlyn and Allie.

Timmy's favorite animal is his dog, Pluto

Jack's favorite thing to eat is ice cream with sprinkles.

Allie's favorite animal is Liberty the Cat!

FIFTH GRADE . . . Presenting our sketches

Each week, 5th graders come into art class with drawings that they complete at home. Some of the assignments might ask for them to use their observational skills and draw objects from life, in pencil only and as realistic as possible. Other drawings can highlight their design skills and call for working in color and patterns. Drawing from our imagination is another option, as is drawing an animated sketch and trying our hands at cartoon style illustrations.

Last week, 5th grade artists celebrated the colors of the season by creating a pattern with leaves. As students came up to present their drawings to the class, they also presented an artist statement, giving us more information about their art and getting us more engaged in the presentation. Classmates then had the opportunity to offer a critique to the artist. We are all learning how to talk about art, use art vocabulary, and we are learning how to appreciate the artwork of others.

Here are four very different interpretations of this week's assignment. Please contribute to our conversation by adding your own comments at the bottom of this post. Our featured artists for this blog post would love to hear from you!

Grace created a pattern on the page by alternating different colors and shapes of leaves and forming a beautiful star-like design. Some thought it looked like a snowflake design too!

Ashley drew a full page scene. Her landscape shows a pattern in the repetition of the tall trees and with the fluttering leaves falling to the ground. A pattern within a pattern is also visible in the veins inside each leaf!

Michael has us focusing on a perfectly drawn leaf. The blending of light to dark green for his coloring is so well done. We can almost imagine the color changing as the season passes. His patterns are exhibited in the colors of the leaf, in the natural beauty of the veins, and in the small corner leaves on the page.

Tyge has a wonderful sketchy style when he draws and it works perfectly in a sketch like this one! We can sense that this is not just a forced arrangement of leaves, but a glimpse at a real pile of leaves. One gust of wind and the leaves could easily fall into another arrangement. His sketchy lines give us that sense of transience and movement.


What do you think about these sketches? How well have these artists represented this colorful and changing season? Please add your comments below!

FOURTH GRADE... Photoshopping our selfies!

Fourth graders discovered the magic of Adobe Photoshop in our general art class. Each student began with their image and learned the basic steps to crop, re-size, and adjust the brightness scale. Then they explored the artistic filters to create these amazing transformations. A favorite transformation occurs in the Liquify window with tools that slide pixels around on the screen, bloat or pucker areas of the image, and create swirls like in a Vincent van Gogh painting.

There are many photo editing programs and apps out there for people to use with their digital images, but the special effects cannot be controlled or customized. With Photoshop, our fourth graders learned how to create an original work of art out of a photograph, all on their own!

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

PRE-KINDERGARTEN . . . Tracing our hands and feet!

Artwork by Brooklyn

Artwork by Ryland

Artwork by Josiah

Artwork by Andrew

Pre-Kindergarten artists worked with many different materials for these portraits. We started out by tracing our hands onto big paper and coloring them in with colors and patterns we enjoy. Then we took off our shoes to trace them onto the paper too. The idea that we would actually trace our feet brought out many giggles in art!

Our faces were created out of a pad of multicultural face-shaped papers. We added eyes, noses and mouths and glued the faces at the top of the paper. To complete the portraits we glued down strips of colored paper to best match our own hair color.


 Making a portrait that represents who we are is a fun and creative way to get to know each other in class. We can't wait to share all of them with you at our art show next month! To see all of our work, please visit our home page on Artsonia.com and scroll down through the exhibits to the Pre-Kindergarten portraits.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

FIRST GRADE . . . A Modern Mona Lisa!

Portrait by Brooks

Portrait by Juily

Portrait by Mia G.

Portrait by Jonathan

As an introduction into the rich world of art history, first graders learned about the "Mona Lisa," painted by Leonardo da Vinci. To create our self-portraits, we drew our faces, shoulders and folded hands just like in the famous portrait by da Vinci, and colored them in with a color palette that best represents each of us.

In the "Mona Lisa," the subject of the painting is the portrait. The background is the area behind the subject, represented as a soft landscape that seems to be very far away.

To make the distinction between the subject and the background in our pictures, we created two separate works of art. The subject of our pictures is a portrait drawn with bright colors and fine details. The background was created as a landscape with watercolors in softer, more muted tones. Some students created a pattern with colors, just like with Sydney's beautiful background below. Tyler blended his colors together and this gave him a  lovely painterly appearance, as you might see in an impressionist landscape.

Subject by Sydney

Background by Sydney

Subject by Tyler

Background by Tyler

Our portraits were personalized to look just like us with hair and eye colors that best represent us. As Sydney did, some students wrote or drew something special on their shirt. Other students, such as Tyler, drew a favorite pet or toy in their arms, and this also helps to identify who they are. The portraits were then cut out of the paper they were drawn on. On the back of these portraits Styrofoam strips were added so that the portraits would look 3-D when we attached them to the backgrounds. This distance between the subject and the background gives our portraits a sense of perspective.

To see all of our Mona Lisa style portraits, visit our home page on Artsonia.com and scroll through the list of exhibits to first grade portraits.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

SECOND GRADE . . . What kind of Lego figure would you be?

All students in Lower School are creating a self-portrait in art class and second graders transformed themselves into Lego figures! Using the basic look of the mini figures in a Lego set, students personalized the figures to represent their personality or their appearance. For example, they carefully chose a color palette, selecting hair and eye colors to match how they look. Or perhaps they let us know who they were by the details in their clothing or the items they hold in their hands.

What kind of Lego figure would you be? An artist like Ava, or perhaps a soccer player like Alexander? Each drawing is as unique and special as the personalities that fill our class. To see all of our Lego self-portraits, follow this link to our home page of Artsonia.com and scroll down through our exhibits... http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

In the art room, our Lego box is used to create sculptures. Part of each period in art is designated for group instruction and project work. Another part of each period is free time and this is where students can explore their creativity independently. Building a three-dimensional design with these colorful blocks is always a sure way to inspire the creativity in all of us.

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839