FIRST GRADE . . . As whimsical as a Miro

Sculpture by Hannah

Joan Miró

First graders were introduced to the artwork of Joan Miró, a Spanish artist best known for his whimsical paintings. We learned how he was inspired by the colors and movements of the circus and we talked about how he showed that through his artwork.

When Joan Miró was a young art student, he became frustrated when he tried to draw objects realistically. One of his art teachers saw that Miró had a good understanding of color but had a hard time copying shapes. The art teacher blindfolded him so that Miró could better understand the forms of an object by feeling it with his fingers before trying to draw it.

We tried that in our classroom, using brown paper bags to hide our objects. Putting our hands inside the bag, we felt the objects with our fingers and then drew what we felt. We let our fingers see for us! Everyone was so surprised and impressed with their "touch only" drawings and we all had a hard time believing that this was the work of first grade artists!

Our Miro project continued with a 3-D animal sculpture in the whimsical style of this famous artist. Using cut paper and scraps of other materials, we built our colorful animals with silly shapes, swirly lines and fun compositions. Here are some more examples of our animals in art...

Sculpture by As'ad

Sculpture by Timmy

Sculpture by Phillip

Sculpture by Gigi

Pre-Kindergarten . . . Bunnies popping up all over!

Bunny by Odin

Art in Pre-Kindergarten is all about experimenting with the materials and becoming more comfortable with the tools. Our bunny project gave us many different opportunities to discover how much fun art can be! We practiced our drawing skills as we drew very big bunnies on big paper. We outlined our bunnies in black and then colored them any way we wanted. The background landscapes were done on separate paper and painted. We drew a ground line and perhaps a sun in the sky. Again, we were able to choose any colors of paint to fill in our ground and sky. We even learned how to wash our brushes as we changed colors too!

Here are a few more examples of our big bunnies popping up in our landscapes. To see all of our bunny scenes, follow this link to the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.
http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Bunny By Zaid

Bunny by Mariella

Bunny By Sharnagat

Bunny by Kaitlyn

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

GRAPHIC ARTS . . . In the bag!

Illustrated bag by Gabrielle M., 5th grade Graphic Arts

Graphic art students created an illusion for a shopping bag, designing both the front of their bag and the handle. They had a choice for their image, to use a photograph, an illustration, or a completely different material. In the example above, Gabrielle sketched an illustration of a girl on a swing. As a graphic artist, Gabrielle put a good deal of thought into her design and her artwork, adding subtle colors to enhance her drawing. She also used real rope for the handle, extending it down to the swing and making it look like the knots at the base are actually holding up the seat!

Below are more examples of our bags.

SECOND GRADE . . . A Ranney School scene

Drawing by Mia G.

Second graders created landscapes of Ranney School. Can you recognize some of the buildings in Mia's illustration? Using creative choices for her colors, she drew the Commons, the Little White House (the art building) and the Clock Tower! Children are playing in the scene and it is a bright, sunny day.

Inspired by the artwork of Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), we saw how the amazing details of Rockwell's scenes help capture our interest and tell us a story about life in 20th century America. The image below is a street scene of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the town where he lived. Norman Rockwell not only included the buildings on Main Street in Stockbridge, but he filled his painting with people and cars passing by to give us a feeling of life in the town. We can also tell it takes place during December by the Christmas decorations on the buildings, the bare trees outside, and the snow on the ground.

To create our landscapes, we looked carefully at the architectural details of the buildings on our campus. For the most part, the buildings all start off as a rectangle and many of them have a triangular roof just over the front door. Adding special details, such as the windows, the columns, a flag, a winter tree, a sign, and kids playing outside, help to tell our story of Ranney School. Here are some more wonderful examples of our landscapes! To see all of our work, follow this link to our exhibit page on artsonia.com.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Drawing by Tyler

Drawing by Brooke

Drawing by Claire

Drawing by Jonathan

Drawing by Sydney

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 . . . Crazy Hat Day!

Drawing by Andrew

Crazy Hat Day?
The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that!

To celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2 and 'Crazy Hat Day', Kindergarten artists drew a picture of a very familiar friend of theirs . . . a cat in a tall, striped hat! "The Cat in the Hat" is one of 44 books illustrated and written by Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991), better known to all of us as the beloved Dr. Seuss.

In our drawings, we drew the famous cat wearing his tall hat and juggling objects as he balances on a ball. Here are more examples of our illustration. To see all of our cats, follow this link to our home page at artsonia.com...   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Drawing by Annika

Drawing by Asha

Drawing by Reilly

Drawing by Harley

ART CLUB . . . Paper Mache animals!

Side view of dog by Savanna S., 3rd grade

Front view of dog by Savanna S., 3rd grade

Our after school art club this session worked with materials to make 3 dimensional art! Beginning with photos of an animal each student selected on the computer with views from the front, the sides and the back, we created our animal forms with bundles of newspaper and masking tape.

After we were happy with the head, body, legs, ears and any other special detail of the animal, we covered them with plaster strips.

This was a messy but fun step! Small plaster strips were dunked in containers of warm water and wrapped around the animals. We worked in pairs for part of this step to make it easier to hold the animals still while wrapping them.

After the plaster dried, we had fun painting the animals. The bright paints really give our sculptures a bold and colorful personality!

Here are more pictures of our finished animal sculptures! To see them all and different views of each one, follow this link to our home page of artsonia.com   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Sculpture by Alexa H., 2nd grade

Sculpture by Ava A., 3rd grade

Sculpture by Lyla G., 2nd grade

Sculpture by Caitlyn C., 4th grade

Sculpture by Lukas V., 3rd grade

Sculpture by Ryan H., 3rd grade

Sculpture by Rory H., 2nd grade

THE KINDERGARTEN ARTIST WHO PAINTED A BLUE POLAR BEAR

Congratulations to our Kindergarten artists! Our latest audiobook was published by iTunes to the iBookstore. "The Kindergarten Artist Who Painted a Blue Polar Bear" is available for you to download into your iBooks app on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac computer. Each page features a painting based on the style of Eric Carle's illustration, along with a short story written and read aloud by our student artists.

Here is how the book is listed in iTunes...
Enjoy the creativity of our young artists at Ranney School!!

Description

This audiobook was created by the Kindergarten artists at Ranney School, Tinton Falls, NJ. The illustrations were inspired by the book, “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse,” by Eric Carle. The stories and audio are all presented by the student artists.

View in iTunes

• Free
• Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
• Category: Education
• Published: Mar 01, 2017
• Publisher: Ranney School
• Seller: Barbara Levine
• Print Length: 33 Pages
• Language: English
• Requirements: This book was designed for an iOS device and some features may not work as intended with a mouse or trackpad. To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 3 or later and iOS 5.0 or later.

BEGINNERS . . . Penguins in the snow!

Penguin by Arjun

It might be a mild winter in New Jersey, but our penguins are enjoying a snowy day. Beginners practiced many art skills with this project. They used scissors to cut out their black penguin bodies and penguin feet. The snow in the background was made with their fingerprints and white paint. The furry penguin fur was made by gluing down soft, white cotton balls. To top it all off, they practiced writing their names in the sky!

Here are a few more adorable penguins to enjoy. Follow this link to our home page of artsonia to see all of our Beginner projects.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Penguin by David

Penguin by Emerson

Penguin by GiGi

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