Iron Springs Art

Historical Printmaking

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:23:00 +0000

The students at Iron Springs spend about 40 minutes a week in visual art class. Each week they exercise their creative muscles making art about the things they learn about with their classroom teachers. First graders have been making whimsical portraits with shapes, second graders spent time making simple mosaics using the 100 chart from math. Fourth graders are making books that illustrate the water cycle and the fifth graders studied color theory which complimented their science core.

The third graders have been learning about our local history over the past few months in their regular classes. They visited the Frontier Homestead Museum (formerly Iron Mission) and several historical sites in Parowan. After their field trips, we made block prints illustrating the things that they saw. First we made our preliminary drawings, and tried to include texture and details. Then we transferred our drawings to styrofoam printing blocks. Finally we used plexiglass, brayers, and water-based ink to create stunning block prints. Many of these prints are on display on a bulletin board in our hallway. Please stop and take a look the next time you're in the building.

Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:29:00 +0000

Here is them movie that the first graders made this year. It's all about changes in nature. They came up with these ideas, created story boards, drew pictures, took photos and made sound effects all by themselves. Amazing what 6 year olds can do, isn't it?

What a Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:20:00 +0000

I have just assembled a video that documents most of the major projects that we have done up until this point for the year. Beware, this slideshow is 10 minutes long.

Art Partners

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:30:00 +0000

In our first and second grade classes, we have been playing an art game that my daughter sort of made up. I'm calling it "Art Partners." It is great. Basically two kids work together, each with their own paper. They decide on what to draw (or leave it undecided.) One person draws the first element, then the next person copies it onto her own paper. Then that second person adds a detail and the first partner copies it onto her paper. And so it goes, until they have created something quite wonderful.

We pushed all the chairs out of the way, so kids are working on the floor. And it just got so still and nice (and occasionally giggly) as the kids worked together to make just fabulous drawings.

The kids and I talked about how their brains have to actually work pretty hard to play this game. They have to compare and contrast, measure and count, focus, concentrate, and also be creative.

I think this also gets their minds in gear to understand diagrams and charts and all other kinds of visuals that are on the end of level tests that are always looming near, you know.

2nd Grade Around the World

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:13:00 +0000

The second graders in Utah learn all about maps, and continents and all that great stuff. So we're going to spend a month or two going around the world in art. We started in Italy this week and learned about Michelangelo and the ceiling of the Sistine (not SIXTEEN, I told the kids) chapel. Our lesson plan was an elementary art teacher standard. We just taped papers under our desks and drew. We drew pictures of people--bodies in motion, which is something we studied a lot when these kids were in first grade.

The kids drew for about 25 minutes and after the first 3 minutes, they were ready to be finished! It was a fun day after all and it was especially nice to crawl around on the floor and gain an appreciation for the hardwork that Michelangelo went through over four years as he painted the ceiling.

Paul Klee Faces

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:08:00 +0000

Our first graders are creating their Paul Klee faces again. This is a project that I just love because they all turn out great and just so playful. We're still focusing on drawing faces using shapes, bold lines and bright colors, but we're doing it a bit different this year. This time we're starting with thick white using white oil pastels. The kids are really learning how to press strong and to trace over a line a few times to make it bold and smooth. Next week we'll fill in the faces with either warm or cool colored regular chalk pastels, then we'll fill in the background with the opposite colors. These kids were already so proud and excited about their work.

First Grade Bodies in Motion

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:57:00 +0000

We have just completed a three week unit in first grade all about the body. It is pretty similar to what we did in first grade last year.

Week One: We had all the chairs and tables pushed up against the walls and we worked on the floor. Everyone had a clipboard, pencil, and plenty of scrap paper. We looked at our bodies and realized that normally when we draw people, they look like boards--straight and stiff with no bending. So we moved our bodies and figured out all the places and directions our bodies can bend. We talked a little about bones and joints as well. Then we took turns modeling in our craziest, bendiest poses as we drew short--30 seconds to a minute--gesture drawings. We especially loved it when the classroom teachers modeled for us.

Week Two: On this day we remember all the joints that we talked about last week. Then we created "Geometric Kids" using card stock shapes. Then we carefully repeated our kids in crayon rubbings.

Week Three: We finished the unit by making bodies in motion out of paper strips and glue. We looked at Kieth Harings artwork, then added "energy lines" to our pictures.

The Art Anumls

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:13:00 +0000

When kids finish their projects early in class, I like to give them the chance to have free drawing time. I think no kids can ever have too much time to draw. I love to see what they do, when they get to choose on their own. Often they will do another quick version of the project that they just finished. Sometimes they totally surprise me.

A first grader named Zac made this completely beautiful drawing yesterday. These "Art Anumls" are awesome. I wonder where he found his inspiration.

Weaving

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:21:00 +0000

I am excited about our current project at Iron Springs. I have reserved a traveling exhibit from the Utah Arts Counsel called Navajo Children: Weaving the Future. It will be on display in our school for one month, starting next week.

All grades from 1 to 5 are deep in weaving projects right now, all involving math, sort of. For my first graders, we are doing paper strip weaving and we're practicing ABC patterns.

The second graders are doing drinking straw weaving to make wrist cuffs (thick bracelets.) I think the over/under pattern is a good brain challenge for them.

The third, fourth and fifth graders are weaving tiny rugs on cardboard looms. We're really stretching our brains on these because we had to do quite a bit of ruler work to set up our patterns and prepare for our warp strings. We even brought in fractions a little bit, as we talked about dividing the rug into half or quarters as we thought up our stripe patterns.

We'll be having a mini arts night to show off the Navajo weaving (and our own creations, whether they are finished or not) on October 8th. This will also be a time to learn about becoming a member of the Friends of artworks for kids! organization. This grassroots group is working hard to save funding for my position, and those of 49 other art teachers across the state of Utah through the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program. I hope we have a great turn out.

I'll post picture of our weaving as we finish up. Look forward to it!

Picasa Slideshow

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:50:00 +0000

I'm experimenting with picasa's slideshow. Let's see if I can embed it here. Plus, our school has a totally awesome new digital picture frame hanging by the office. It was donated by the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program. Check it out to see great pictures of student art from our school.

District Art Coordinator

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Lesson Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:07:00 +0000

I presented at the Utah Art Education Association's (UAEA) spring art conference a week or so ago and promised everyone that I'd post the lesson plans here on this site. I've had some technical frustrations but I finally have them online and ready to go. Here is a link to the site where I have them posted now. I'll try to post other lesson plans there in the future. I'll put this link on the side here and remember that I've also linked to the Iron County School District site, which has lesson plans too.

Animals In Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Here it is. Enjoy.

Geometric Art

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:21:00 +0000

The 4th graders study geometry basics so we did a little abstract geometric art.

First we talked about some of the earliest geometric painters. We discussed the idea of nonrepresentational art and whether or not art had to have meaning and symbolism.

Next I gave the kids little guides that directed them to draw certain kinds of lines, angles and circles. The guide used terms that the kids had been studying like parallel, vertical, intersect, acute and radius. It was really amazing to realize that these kids had been taught and tested on these concepts but until that point they had never actually created them. They had only identified them in the past. It posed new challenges for their brains.

Then of course they traced over all of their lines with glue, let them dry, then filled them in with colored chalk. I had the students limit themselves to only 5 colors, to make their work look cohesive. I think they turned out great and it was a good mental challenge for the kids.

Monsters Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:25:00 +0000

Usually each grade in my school does different art projects. For example, the 3rd graders did a project about the cycles of the moon while the 4th graders studied flips, turns and slides (part of their math core). The projects tie in directly to what they learn in their other classes. At least I try to fit them in. But once a year I like to do one project that every child in the school participates in. This year we're doing the Daily Monster.

I introduced the kids to the illustrator Stephan Bucher and showed them a few of his excellent Daily Monster movies. With the older grades we even watched his interview with Mimozine.

Then we used his open source monsters to sort of practice drawing awesome little creatures. We used black pens, markers, and colored pencils. We talked about line quality and showing expression. We also talked about how to develop personalities for the creatures that they were creating.

During the second class session, we make our own ink blots with India ink and drinking straws. Then the kids drew their awesome monsters and finally they wrote stories about them. What the kids didn't know is that they were doing a whole bunch of creative writing. They came up with the best little stories.

We're going to type the stories and hang up all 565 drawings somewhere, somehow in our school. I'm still trying to figure out how I'll do that.

The kids are loving this project and I have received several hugs and thank yous, for "letting" them draw monsters in school.

Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:51:00 +0000

I just finished up an awesome comics project with the third grade. We've been working on it since the beginning of January and most kids didn't want to stop.

We started by looking at wordless comics. I found a few in some books my husband has and made copies for the class. They had to look at the pictures and tell ME the story. We talked about how the artists used symbols, facial expressions and body movements to tell the story. We even acted out a few of the comic strips. Then I had a few kids stand at the front and show me how they would move their bodies to show certain emotions or scenarios. I said that when drawing comics, acting out the scene is a great way to figure out how to draw your characters. Just see what your body does and draw it.

Then I gave them some cute supershort wordless comics and had them spend 5 minutes writing the story in their sketchbooks, without any discussion.We read a few of them afterwards and it was awesome to see the differences and similarities in their stories.

The next day I gave them copies of stories (short fables from their language arts book) and had them split the stories up into six chunks. They actually circled and numbered the six sections of the stories. Then I had them underline any words or phrases that would be useful in helping them draw their comics. This was stuff like time of day, description of the scene, emotions, and anything else that they could represent visually.

Then I gave them a letter sized sheet of paper with six boxes on it and they sketched out their comic. As they were doing this, we talked about the different kinds of shots you'd see in a movie (wide angle, close up, extreme close up and so on) and why you'd choose a particular one over another in a story. We talked about that they could use different angles as well.

We also talked about word bubbles, how to rephrase and shorten the dialogue, and how to really communicate the story with less words.

After they drew their practice (sloppy copy) I gave them an 12X18 sheet of drawing paper with the 6 comics frames and a title frame printed on it. They transferred their drawings lightly with pencil onto these, then "inked" them by tracing over their lines with black felt tip markers. Then they erased any stray pencil lines. Finally the colored them in with prismacolor pencils.

I was really afraid that this would project was dragging on too long and that I was making them do too much preplanning. But the kids have told me that they loved it. Several boys who normally drag their feet and just don't understand my assignments had no trouble with this one. They jumped right on board and did great with little to no prompting. Lots of kids came in before school to work extra on this project as well. They are really proud of them, and I am proud of the kids.

The Bat--A Sneak Peak

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:54:00 +0000

Here is an unfinished claymation movie that my first graders made. This doesn't have the sound yet. The kids are going to explain that bats sometimes hibernate in attics during the wintertime. The movies are turning out totally awesome--and we're learning as we go (especially about the flash, lighting and all kinds of other things.)

Claymation

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:45:00 +0000

I am starting a new project with my first grade kids--stop motion animation with clay. We looked at books about animals in the winter time then I split the kids into three largish (8-10) groups and assigned each group an animal to work with. They had to figure out what their animal does in winter (hibernate, lose antlers, what does it eat, live, etc.) Then describe and quickly sketch the animal's winter habitat. Then each group got a box which they used to create the animal's habitat. They turned out so cool. We used sticks, paper, clay, rocks and leaves, and puffy polyfil stuffing.

Next week each group will work together to make one animal out of oil based clay, and also they'll create story boards of their short film (for example, they could show a bear walk into a cave, turn around, then lay down an sleep, or show a deer lose it's antlers then eat bark and twigs while walking through snow.)

During the last week we'll set up cameras and take a bajillion pictures, Wallace and Grommit style. Finally I'll record their voices telling us about what their animals do in the winter time. I am expecting the average film to only be about 15 seconds long. I'll string together all 12 (from 4 classes) into one "long" movie online and we'll have a special screening day.

I am super nervous about this actually working. I'm hoping it doesn't tank. So far, their habitats are looking pretty great anyway. We'll start the sculpting on Friday.

Paul Klee Faces

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:56:00 +0000

My first graders looked at the works of Paul Klee this month. We talked about how much he loved children's art and tried to capture it's playfulness in his own work. We saw that he uses bold shapes, colors and lines.

We ended by looking at his most famous piece, Head of A Man. Then we drew our own large playful faces using geometric shapes on black paper. Then we colored our drawings with pastels. It was most kids' first experiences with pastels and they really had a ball. (Although I'm sure their mothers cursed me about the mess on their clothes.)

We talked about color temperature and the kids did warm colored faces and cool backgrounds (or vice versa) then finished the project by redrawing the original drawing over the top with white and black chalk. I think they turned out awesome. They are just what I imagine when I think of elementary art. Sometimes it just has to be fun.

Venn Diagrams

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:07:00 +0000

Last year I introduced visual texture to the first graders by looking closely at the book, "Where the Wild Things Are." I scanned several pages from the book, then cropped in for some extreme close ups. I showed these to my students on a big screen. They loved guessing which part of the picture they were looking at in the close ups. Then we talked about each of Sendak's methods for showing textures, like fuzzy carpet, rough wallpaper. Curly hair, scaly legs, feathers, fur, scratched up claws, and everything else. Then we mimicked his techniques. It was basically an introduction to cross hatching, and some other stuff.

Next I had the kids draw their own "wild things," and try to include multiple types of visual texture. Last year that was the end of the lesson. This year I took it a little further.

I made two photocopies of each child's drawing. At the start of the next class period I had them color one of their drawings. They had to use crayons but I asked them to experiment with them and use them in new ways. They pushed hard and soft, tried to mix colors, and basically thought more about what they were doing than usual when they color.

Once they finished these pictures (it only took about five minutes) I gave them each the second copy of their work and let them watercolor. They were thrilled about this and spent much more time working on the second picture. Also, it felt like magic to them when they got a second copy of the same picture.

At the end of class we compared and contrasted painting with watercolors and coloring with crayons and put our results into a Venn Diagram. Here are some of their results:

Crayons: push hard or soft, made of wax

Watercolors: use a paintbrush, colors can run together, use water

Both: use your hands, lots of colors, you can make lines or fill areas in, you can see through the colors, you can make the color light or dark, it's fun

New Site!

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:34:00 +0000

I just made a new website for my school district's art department. You can find the link on the sidebar. It's called ICSD Art Department

If you go there, you will recognize many many of the pictures from this site. I worked with what I had.

I'm hoping the site will be updated often. You will also find an increasing number of art lesson plans for elementary kids. Right now it just has a few of my plans, but we'll also add dance, music and drama lesson plans in the future.

Thanks for checking.

Alisa Petersen

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:47:00 +0000

Here is the next phase of the figure drawing unit that the first grade is doing. After they drew the quick gesture drawings of figures in action, they created people from geometric shapes. They cut the shapes from oak tag and glued them together onto oak tag bases. I asked them to create people in motion, not just straight line bodies. They looked at their gesture drawings for inspiration.

The next day we used ink and brayers to create prints of their little geometric men. The kids loved using the ink, but it was a really messy process.

The next time we met, we looked at the work of Keith Haring. The kids

talked about the shapes and lines that his figures made. Then we discussed the little “energy” lines that he uses in his compositions. The kids decided that he uses them to show motion, feelings and sounds.

Then they used black paper strips and construction paper backgrounds to create little paper sculptures. Again, they were required to show figures in motion. They also were required to make a head and body out of shapes, then the limbs were to be lines. They used thick craft glue for this project and sometimes used paperclips to hold their

shapes together until the glue held.

Gesture Drawing: First Grade

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:48:00 +0000

The first graders have been learning about line and shape this year. Our most recent project included a little gesture figure drawing as a warm up. It was so much fun.

I asked a volunteer to come

to the front of the room and stand on a small table (don't tell.) Then we looked at the line his body made. Usually it was a pretty straight line. Then I had the volunteer change his body into a different kind of line or shape. Then we made q

uick gesture drawings of our model. I taught the kids to just make sweeping oval shapes to represent the trunk and limbs of the body.

We did several of these dra

wings very quickly with several different models. Each model had to strike a dynamic pose that we hadn't seen before. Then I played music for about 30 seconds and let the kids draw during that time. When the music stopped, they had to stop. It was fun. The best part was that they really got the idea of looking at the model more than at their papers. I loved watching them work.

This is an example from a boy who always draws tiny. Even though I asked him to draw larger, I still LOVE this little sequence. It almost looks like a diagram of a cartwheel.

Next week I'll show you the next phase of this project.

Art at Home

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

Our new school year is well underway. It's going wonderfully. My funding source has changed. My position is now state-funded through a brand new program called the Beverly Taylor Sorensen Arts Learning Program. As a part of this new program, I have a classroom this year and I love it.

I am starting something new called "Art at Home." I'll be sending a short newsletter home with every child monthly. These newsletters will give parents simple and creative ideas for art projects that they can do with their children at home. I'll also try to post an online video tutorial each month, explaining the projects in more detail. The first of these projects is the Writing Station. Parents can make simple stapled books for their children and create a special place for their children to write and illustrate their own poems, short stories, dreams, or just passing thoughts. Here is the first tutorial. I hope you like it.

Puppets

noreply@blogger.com (Alisa) — Mon, 26 May 2008 18:35:00 +0000

In March, a third generation puppeteer from Portland, OR named Bruce Chesse visited our school district and taught several day-long puppet making workshops. His trip was made possible by SUU's ArtsFusion program, with support from the Utah Arts Council and artworks for kids!

The workshop was wonderful and we learned to make some really fun stick or rod puppets using yarn, stuffing, socks, staples, buttons and fabric. About 8 teachers from my school attended the workshop and they just loved it. All of them went away wanting to make puppets in their classes. I ended up helping 12 classes make puppets. That's all of the first, second and fifth grades. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work. It took three or four class periods to make them, so it kept us busy for a long time. The best part is that most of the teachers used the puppets in their classes when we finished. Some teachers had their kids write scripts, some had them act out fairy tales, and some did great readers' theater with them.

These are just a few of the over 300 puppets that the kids made at Iron Springs. The one that is unfinished belongs to a 2nd grader, the dark haired puppet is a 5th grade student's and the large group is from a 1st grade class.