CONGRATULATIONS CHANTAL...

Congratulations to Chantal M. in Mrs. Congemi's class for winning a very special art contest with her landscape! Out of thousands of images uploaded from schools all over the country, Chantal's tropical forest was chosen this week by Artsonia as a finalist. She went onto win the contest for her age group with over 900 votes! This is a national recognition for Ranney School and a very special honor for Chantal. She will receive a plaque and a gift certificate as her award later this month.


Artsonia.com, is an online art museum for students that Ranney School participates in. With this site, I can upload photos of artwork created in my class and build a personal portfolio for every art student in Lower School. All of my art students have a portfolio on Artsonia and are eligible for opportunities just like this one, but not all families have registered to the site. If you still have not set up a personal account for Artsonia, please email me at blevine@ranneyschool.org with your request and I will forward your login information and pass code. It is free to join and registration allows everyone in your family to share in the pride of your child's creativity.

GRAPHIC ARTS . . . Is it real or is it an illusion?

Graphic artists have their photographic illusions up in the gallery for our art exhibition. These prints have been noticed by everyone and are receiving rave reviews! Congratulations to all of our creative photographers and designers!!

This project began as a lesson on how to use a digital camera. We walked around the school and took pictures of scenes we wanted to manipulate on the computer. By adding a funny or ironic illustration, we were able to transform the scene visually and give it a new interpretation. Once the photos were uploaded to the computers and we selected one to manipulate, we drew a picture with traditional tools: a graphite pencil and paper. Then a photo was taken of the artist's hand holding the drawing. On Photoshop, working with layers and a few advanced tools, such as the lasso tool, free transformation, and the blur tool, our graphic artists merged the two images together. The final photograph should look like we were simply holding a drawing up in front of a scene and somehow it magically lined up! The illusion, though, was done on the computer with the magic of Adobe Photoshop.

To see all of our graphic art illusions for 4th and 5th grade artists, join us for our Parent's Day art exhibition in Panther Hall gallery during the month of May. Also be sure to check out the exhibition on Artsonia.com by following this link...
http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Ethan
5th grade graphic arts

Artwork by Matthew
5th grade graphic arts

Artwork by Thomas
4th grade graphic arts

Artwork by Jake
5th grade graphic arts

LOWER SCHOOL . . . Parents' Day Exhibit!

Join us for our Ranney Lower School spring art exhibit highlighting the creativity of our Lower School artists, grades Kindergarten through 5th grade and Graphic Arts. Exhibit will be on display in Panther Hall gallery during the month of May. We look forward to seeing you there!

FIRST GRADE . . . Happy Parents' Day!

First graders learned about drawing figures in art. We created each part of the body using shapes and practiced this technique as many times as we have people in our families. We learned how to make our family members taller or shorter in relationship to each other and we discovered how easy it is to create hair and clothing for everyone! The final scene shows us all together along with any pets or special members of the family.

Artwork by Henry

Artwork by Marley

 To see all of our family portraits, click on this link for Artsonia.com and scroll down to see our 1st grade exhibit. Happy Parents' Day everyone!
http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Courtney

Artwork by Cole

Artwork by Desmond

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

THIRD GRADE . . . Tropical Forest with Monkeys

Third graders learned about the primitive artwork of painter, Henri Rousseau (1844-1910). Although Rousseau never left Paris during his lifetime, and never actually saw a real jungle, he was best known for his paintings of jungles and tropical forests. Inspired by the plants in the botanical gardens and animals in the Paris zoo, he created many imaginary painted jungles. "Tropical Forest with Monkeys" is perhaps one of his most famous paintings. Even though he was a self taught artist, he gained the praise of artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse and his paintings can be seen in museums all over the world. This painting now hangs in Washington DC at the National Gallery of Art.

Our third graders learned how to draw monkeys and created a composition on the page with tall trees and many different shapes and colors of leaves to give us the illusion of a forest. Here are some examples of our work. To see all of our tropical forests, click on this link for Artsonia.com.

http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Ashley 

Artwork by Charlie

Artwork by Matthew

Artwork by Nehemiah

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 . . . The making of an Egyptian mask

Second graders looked forward to this art project all year. The day we created our plaster masks, we left the art room covered in white plaster and smiling from ear to ear! This fun project took us on a journey around the world and over 3,000 years back in time to the rich art and culture of Ancient Egypt.

Here is a video of how we created our own King Tut masks... enjoy!!

FIFTH GRADE . . . Is it Math or is it Art?

Maurits Cornelis Escher, best known to us as M.C. Escher, was a Dutch graphic artist. His woodcut, called "Sky and Water," from 1938, is typical of Escher's work. It plays around with the positive and negative spaces in the print, tricking us to focus on just the bird in the sky or the fish in the water. In mathematical terms, his artwork is often called a tessellation, a repetition of tiles that fit together like a puzzle.

Fifth graders worked on original illusions with one image that tessellates together with another image in the negative space. This project was difficult for us to do and definitely called on our creative thinking skills. It is hard enough to solve a problem, even harder to come up with our own puzzle for everyone else to solve! I think our fifth graders lived up to the challenge!

Here are a few examples of their illusions. To see all of our work, check out the 5th grade exhibit page on Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Jillian

Artwork by Taylor

Artwork by Evan

Artwork by Annabella

Artwork by Haeun

Artwork by Noah

FIRST GRADE .... Joan Miro Project

Our First Grade Joan Miro project has covered many different activities as students learned about the whimsical work of Joan Miro. In our earlier first grade posts, you can see videos showing how we discussed Miro's artwork on our Smart Board and our fun activity of drawing objects hidden inside a brown paper bag. With this final project, first graders created a sculpture of a person using part of the drawings they made and assorted wooden and paper shapes. Their only rule was that the person should have a face and some indication of arms and legs. Miro was very abstract in his interpretation and we used that inspiration to create our three dimensional figures.

In every grade, we are learning that art should tell a story. To keep that focus in mind, our first grade figure sculpture is not only a sculpture of a person, but of an artist, a musician, or perhaps a veterinarian. The sculpture can let us know about who the person is by what it might be wearing or holding in its hand. Here are a few examples of our completed sculptures. You can see all of our work by following this link to the first grade exhibition on artsonia.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Drew

Artwork by Abriella 

Artwork by Anthony

Artwork by Layla

Artwork by Cole

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 . . . Cleo the Cat

Kindergartners continued to work on their painting skills with this latest project. We read 'Cleo the Cat' in art class, one of a series of picture books by Caroline Mockford. As usual, we were most interested in the illustrations that bring the story to life. What is unique about the illustrations in 'Cleo the Cat' is that they are paintings done on a black background.

We learned how to draw a cat, either sitting or standing, with shapes to create the head and the body. Using black paper for our scenes, we added bright colors of tempera paint, to fill in the cat and the areas of our background.


Here are a few examples of our colorful cats! To see all of our work, check out our exhibition on artsonia by clicking on this link.    http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Drew

Artwork by Mara

Artwork by Vijay

Artwork by Zahra

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

Our first published eBook!

One of my favorite things to do as a teacher at Ranney School is to share what we do in my art classroom with everyone in the Ranney community. I am so proud of the creative efforts of all of my students and I want to give them every opportunity to see their artwork displayed, both in the galleries at school and digitally on the computer. With my art blog, for example, I can post videos, pictures and stories directly from our classroom, and through Artsonia, every student has their own digital portfolio of artwork from all their grades in school. (If you are still not registered as a family to Artsonia.com, please send an email to blevine@ranneyschool.org and I'll reply with your child's registration code.)

My latest list of Featured Artists for Lower School is now highlighted in an eBook you can download onto your iPad or iPhone. If you have an iPad or iPhone, or know someone who does, make sure you have the iBooks app installed. (It is a free app to download.) In this app, search the store for RANNEY SCHOOL FEATURED ARTISTS, and download the book to your app. (Again, a free download.) It will be found under the category of education.

This eBook not only sits on your virtual bookshelf in the app, it opens with animated pages that turn using the swipe of your finger and it has an audio feature as well! By pressing the interactive play button for sound on the pages of the book, you can hear the voices of our students as they offer an artist statement. I hope you all enjoy our first published eBook!