Fifth grade students made their alebrijes using air dry clay and tempera paint. You should have heard the excitement in the room when students found out they were going to use clay! Well, once again my students exceed my expectations. They have not had much exposure to clay, but they listened, watched and learned with great enthusiasm. Next they painted them with bright colors and patterns. Love them! Finally get to put our new display case to good use!
The Zapotec Indians of the southern Mexican State of Oaxaca are known for their folk art wood carvings. The carvings are of imaginary animals (alebrijes). The artists carry branches of a special kind of tree down from the mountains each day to use for their carving. The ideas for the alebrijes come from the imaginations and superstitions of the artists. The alebrijes are usually carved by men, and then painted with bright colors by women.
Fifth grade students made their alebrijes using air dry clay and tempera paint. You should have heard the excitement in the room when students found out they were going to use clay! Well, once again my students exceed my expectations. They have not had much exposure to clay, but they listened, watched and learned with great enthusiasm. Next they painted them with bright colors and patterns. Love them! Finally get to put our new display case to good use!
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Fourth grade students learned about Molas made by the Kuna of Panama. The Kuna are famous for the bright cloth panels and they are a part of the blouse worn by the women. Mola means shirt or clothing. Mola are made up of geometric designs as well as incorporating figures of sea animals, birds and flowers. Our Mola inspired art was made with brightly colored construction paper. The challange was drawing the central figure large enough for our large paper (12"x15"). Many of the sutdents incorporated symbols or images to create more of a story within their art.
First grade learned about the small city of Paracho, Mexico during Hispanic Heritage Month. Paracho is well known for the guitars produced in the city. Paracho artisans have been building guitars for several generations. We mixed the bright colors of Mexican art with making our own guitars. Students used white oil pastels for lines and then painted either warm or cool colors on their paper. They used texture scrapers to add more lines and interest to their paper. They traced their guitar on their paper, cut it out and then traded for the opposite color scheme with their classmates. They added a sound hole and strings, and then decorated with shapes and glitter. We had a lot of guitar playn' going on during class!
Second grade students observed the art of Diego Rivera and discussed how art tells a story. Students added symbols to their sombrero to tell a story about themselves. We looked at lots of sombreros too. Students were excited to make connections between the art and family/life in Mexico. Students used oil pastels and watercolor for a resist.
Third grade students learned about the folk art yarn paintings made by the Huichol in Mexico. The paintings are made by pressing yarn into warm beeswax. The paintings tell stories about the culture, history and religion of the Huichol. Students absolutely loved looking at the brightly colored yarn paintings and had great discussions about the symbols and what they might mean.
I have wanted to plan a yarn painting project for several years, but was afraid of the mess they would become if using glue! Somewhere along the way this summer, I saw the idea of using adhesive tiIes. I ran to the nearest home improvement store and purchased some linolium adhesive tiles on clearance! I cut them into 4" x 4" squares. I was worried the size would be too small for my 3rd graders, but decided much bigger would take them too long. Let's face it, I was just plain worried this was going to be too much of a challenge for my little ones that are really still like 2nd graders at the beginning of the year. I jumped in and tried it anyway. They created a simple plan the same size as their tile. They used markers and lines to look like the yarn. Once they had a plan, they went to town on recreating their plan on the tiles. They did an amazing job and most loved every minute of the project! A few were challenged by the process, but all were very proud to show off their creation in the end. The size ended up being perfect. I was just blown away by the talent and persistance of these little ones! |
Mrs. Kendell
I was a graphic designer for many years, and then decided to make the leap into art education. I taught elementary art for 8 years. Archives
May 2018
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