SECOND GRADE . . . Flowers are blooming at Ranney School!

Inspired by the artwork of Vincent van Gogh, second graders painted a still life in art class with a vase and a bouquet of flowers. Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), a Dutch post-impressionist artist, is well known for this painting of "Sunflowers." All of his work including hundreds of self portraits and his famous, "Starry Night" scenes were painted with short directional brush strokes that helped to define the shape and movement of the scene.

To explore this style of artwork, we painted our vase, table and back wall with bright colors and added patterns with our brushes all over the page. Then we learned a technique for painting flowers using the thickness of the brush to create the petals. We did not draw our flowers first, but used our brushes to do all the work. They all look like realistic bouquets of wildflowers, and just like Vincent did with his sunflower still life, we signed our names right on the vase!

Here are some examples of our work. To see all the 2nd grade flower paintings, click on this link for artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Jason

Artwork by Shaya

Artwork by Crosby

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 . . . learning how to see 3D

In third grade we are creating 3-dimensional animals out of clay. In preparation for this project, students brought into school a stuffed animal that they could use as a model. It is difficult to understand how to mold the shapes of the animal if we are not used to seeing it in a 3-dimensional form. To practice seeing 3D forms, we created drawings of our animals from six different view points, using the layout of a cube.

Cube layout by Ashley

Cube layout by Lucia

On one side of the cube we drew the front of the animal as it is facing us. Then we drew the two sides of the animal, the back, the top, and even how it appeared from underneath! A nose that looks flat from the front projects out when you look at it from the side. We learned a lot about the shapes of our animals this way.

Here are some finished cubes! To see all of our cubes, click on this link for artsonia.com.
http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Artwork by Nicholas

Artwork by Lauren

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

KINDERGARTEN . . . We are published authors and illustrators!

 “If you Take a Mouse to Ranney School” is now a published audio e-book. I recorded each of the students’ voices as they read their own story for the book. To read our published book and hear everyone's voice, see the iTunes information below.

You will need an iPad or an iPhone with the ibooks app (free to download) installed on your tablet or phone. In the itunes bookstore, you can then download the book into your ibooks app. It is a free book and is listed under the category of education. Share your child’s artwork with your entire family!

This book is available for download with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device, and with iTunes on your computer. Books can be read with iBooks on your Mac or iOS device.

This is an audiobook written, illustrated, and read aloud by the Kindergarten art students at Ranney School in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. Based on the book "If You Take a Mouse to School," by Laura Numeroff, Kindergarteners drew illustrations of what would happen if they take a mouse to their school. Along with their illustrations are the voices of each student reading their stories.

View In iTunes

·         Free

·         Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.

·         Category: Education

·         Published: May 14, 2014

·         Publisher: Ranney School

·         Seller: Barbara Levine

·         Print Length: 38 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.

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