Braden's Art Swirled World

Carolyn Braden's 4th Grade: Shoe Design

2014-05-12T15:33:00.001-07:00

We often discuss art related careers during class. I want students to have a purpose for creating art. Students learned how shoes are designed by shoe designers and if they love shoes, they could grow up to do just that. Students love their shoes, so we painted them. Some designed their own and some used their shoes as inspiration.

Carolyn Braden: 3rd Grade Embroidery

2014-05-12T15:24:00.001-07:00

After studying Peruvian art and viewing their beautiful embroidery, my 3rd grade created their own inspired pieces. These shown are works in progress.

This is a finished piece being critiqued.

Carolyn Braden's 5th Grade: Quilling

2014-05-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

Students completed this quilling project a little while ago. They got super creative with it! After creating the art, we did a gallery walk and my 2 Stars and a Wish critique.

"Happy" by Schaffner Traditional Elementary

2014-03-03T18:52:00.001-08:00

Thank You Schaffner: Square 1 Art Fundraiser

2014-02-02T11:25:00.001-08:00

I just received my supplies I was able to order thanks to the large check I received from Square 1 Art. The parents at Shaffner are amazing! They purchased many items from the fundraiser and it helped my art program tremendously.

Here is what I am doing with the funds:

2nd Grade will go to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft and create clay masks.

Every student will receive a poster with their self portrait project on it.

A mural will be created with the students portraits on it and it will be hung in Schaffner as a permanent art installation.

Metal tiles were purchased for the 5th grade to embellish with tooling techniques and ink. Each square will be put together to create a large scale art piece to be hung as a permanent art installation.

I purchased these art materials for future art projects:

Class set of Crayola watercolor pencils

Class set of Crayola oil pastels

Class set of Crayola color sticks

Class set of tempera cakes

Crayola Tempera paint

Clay tool set

6 boxes of clay

Glazes in various colors

Edging scissors set

Kraft paper

Waldorf supply of beeswax clay

Magnetic architecture set

Watercolor paint refills

Embroidery floss

and more!

Most art supplies are consumable materials, meaning they are used and then gone. I have to replace materials often so having such supportive parents truly helps the students have art materials that help them create amazing art.

Many, many thanks!

The Big Self Portrait Poster Project

2014-02-02T11:07:00.001-08:00

As a thank you to parents and the school for supporting me in my Square 1 Art fundraiser, I am going to give the gift of art to everyone. My students are creating self-portraits in various forms. I am going to have grade level posters made of the portraits to give the students. Each student will receive a poster that has their art along with their entire grade level on it. I am also having a mural created with each portrait on it to hang up as a permanent art installation in the school. I varied the types of self portraits the students created. Kinders created Roger Hargreaves inspired "Little Miss" and "Mr. Men" portraits. 1st grade created abstract portraits. 2nd-4th grade created realistic portraits that showed their individual personalities and 5th grade concentrated on their eyes. Some grade levels did my "2 Stars and a Wish" critique after completing the art. They gave great feedback to each other.

Here are some photos of their incredible and awesome art.

I love this students interpretation of the eye focused project. He said it didn't show the eyes yet it was all about the eyes. What an amazing thinker. Some students didn't get it but I totally get it. I told him it's an "artist-thing".

2 Stars and a Wish: Art Gallery Walk for Elementary Students

2013-11-20T16:31:00.001-08:00

I am starting 2 Stars and a Wish Gallery Walk critiques with my elementary students. We've done formal, all class critiques before but I thought they may like a chance to move about our classroom "gallery" like people do in real galleries. I created slides with art vocabulary to post during the walk with directions to help guide them. This will also help them with spelling.

I will have students walk the room for a few minutes and then stop at one work of art. (One student per art piece so everyone gets feedback). They will then get my 2 Stars and a Wish paper (I made them small enough to save on paper but large enough to write sentences) and critique the art they are standing in front of. If they don't have a wish for improvement, they don't have to provide one.

Elementary students love showing off their art to their peers so this is a quick way to do critiques when you don't have time for presentations. I plan to do this with grades K-5, with plenty of guidance for K and 1st grade.

See my example below:

3rd Grade Low Relief O'Keeffe Flowers

2013-11-20T16:14:00.001-08:00

These are the first four students to complete our O'Keeffe Flowers. There were so many steps and directions to my project but my 3rd graders met every expectation I had. They actually exceeded my expectations. They mixed their own tempera paint colors for the leaves and petals and mixed their own watercolors for the background. Their craftsmanship of cutting the petals and leaves was awesome! Next I will have them bend their petals and leaves slightly to make them pop. I also connected this project to science as we discussed the parts of a flower.

Beautiful!

2nd Grade: When Pigasso Met Mootisse Watercolor Portraits

2013-11-08T18:43:00.001-08:00

I've taught this lesson for several years but changed it up a bit this year. Students used watercolors instead of crayons. I also differentiated the lesson by encouraging my "out of the box" thinkers to combine both characters to make a new abstract portrait. I did a guided drawing using my computer and projector and the students met every learning target. The students that combined both characters followed my drawing to an extent but had to figure out how to combine them on their own.

Square 1 Art Fundraiser 2013: Schaffner Traditional

2013-11-06T19:24:00.001-08:00

Our Square 1 Art fundraiser is already off to a great start! Thank you to all that are placing orders.

The proceeds from last years Square 1 fundraiser payed for clay, glazes, aprons, paint, construction paper, crayons, brushes, drawing paper, a field trip to the KMAC for the 2nd grade, markers, texture plates, modeling clay, printmaking ink and more! Art supplies are expensive. They are also consumable and have to be replaced often. This fundraiser is what keeps my art program growing so please consider making a purchase if you haven't already. The students art will look fantastic on any product and make wonderful gifts.

The deadline for orders is Thursday, November 14th, 2013.

www.square1art.com

How to Make Beeswax Clay

2013-10-07T17:50:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l5DGdCMqIM

Square 1 Art Fundraiser: 5th Grade Haring Figures

2013-09-24T19:06:00.001-07:00

After learning about Haring and seeing his art, my 5th graders were hooked. I think sharing himself would have been impressed with my students.

They had to show movement using Harings "motion lines." Each student will tell a short story about their works upon completion.

Square 1 Art Fundraiser: 4th Grade "Picasotec" Suns

2013-09-22T10:25:00.001-07:00

Inspired by a project I saw on Pinterest, I introduced the Aztec Sun Stone and compared it to some Picasso portraits. Fourth grade students viewed a PowerPoint I created and set to work. They learned about contrast, shades, tints, geometric and organic shapes and more. This student showed her creativity by using gradiated color.

Kinder Square 1 Art: Rainbow Fish Sketches

2013-09-22T10:16:00.001-07:00

My Kinders show great talent in this Rainbow Fish inspired project. And these are just their sketches! I gave them a tracer for the body and they followed a guided drawing (I drew and they copied me via Microsoft Paint and a document camera) for the rest. Each is a little different and very well done.

Square 1 Art: Fall 2013, 3rd Grade Project

2013-09-22T10:06:00.001-07:00

Here is an example of my third grade project for my Square 1 Art fundraiser, 2013. This student is showing so much creativity in her hippo portrait. A bathing suit! I love the humor my students show in their art. It's inspiring.

Kinders: The Dot, Ish and Sky Color Projects

2013-09-05T18:14:00.001-07:00

These are my Kinders very first drawings of the year. We read The Dot by Peter Reynolds and made shape drawings. The following week we made line drawings after reading Ish. This week we read Reynolds book Sky Color and mixed primary colors to make secondary colors. They now understand shape, line and color and will be ready for their first big art project, Pattern Owls.

Carolyn Braden's Ultimate Art Teacher Cart

2013-08-26T19:46:00.001-07:00

Being an art on a cart teacher, I needed more organization. I searched for the perfect cart, ordered one and it still wasn't right. I thought about my needs and just decided to design my own. Thankfully I have a very talented husband who was able to make my ideas come to life. With a little organization supplies from Lowe's and IKEA, it's perfect. I think I may need to market this. It would work as a great mobile organizational unit for any teacher.

Welcome Back! 2013-2014 School Year

2013-08-22T09:07:00.003-07:00

Welcome back to school! I am sending home my newsletter with students through next Monday. Here is the electronic copy of it. If you click on the photo it will enlarge.

Art Education: Back to School Bulletin Boards

2013-08-17T10:39:00.001-07:00

Carolyn Braden's TOIE: The Artist Series with Marvin Finn

2013-06-20T15:27:00.001-07:00

Keeping up with the arts this summer! Here's a new idea I had for videos; Carolyn Braden TOIE:

The Artist Series.

I want to capture students attention about artists that may not be as well known to the world.

I started my series with Marvin Finn. He was a folk artist that I hope many can be inspired by.

Here's the video I created:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CajpzDEsmaQ

First Grade: Scratch "Sgraffito" Art Owls

2013-05-22T15:57:00.001-07:00

We've finished our big projects and are ending art this year with some mini-projects. I did a guided drawing with 1st grade on drawing owls on metallic scratch art paper. They loved learning about contrast (gold and black) in this form of art.

Fifth Grade: Practice and Final Coil Pots

2013-05-22T15:45:00.001-07:00

We practiced our coil pots with oil based clay first, then created final pots. Here are the practice pots from one class and final pots from another class.

More 4th Grade Clay Medallions: Glazed and Fired

2013-05-22T15:40:00.001-07:00

Fourth Grade Medallions: Clay, Glazed and Fired

2013-05-09T15:09:00.001-07:00

My 4th graders created clay medallions with symbols that represented who they are. We learned about historical symbols from different cultures. We used Mayco Stroke n' Coat and white clay from Sax.

Kinder Pinch Pots: Glazed and Fired

2013-05-09T15:04:00.001-07:00

Here is my first ever firing of kindergarten pinch pots with my new kiln. They turned out great! I had the kids use Mayco Stroke n' Coat and a white clay from Sax.