American Flamingo by John James Audobon

Kindergarten and first graders are learning about the artist John James Audobon. Many artists have a favorite thing to draw -- his was birds. His life work was to create life-sized engravings of 500 species of North American birds.

There are two books in our library that helped us understand this artist more. From The Boy who Drew Birds we learned the scientists of his time didn't know much about birds. For instance, to answer the question of where birds went for the winter, some believed that birds transformed themselves from one species of bird to anther. Others claimed that they hybernated underwater all winter. One scientist even claimed that birds traveled to the moon each fall and returned in the spring. He claimed the trip took 60 days! Do you see why it was so important for an artist/scientist to study birds and learn the truth?

From Into the Woods, we learned about Audobon's methods for observing, studying and painting birds.

After learning about the artist and painting, students learned which shapes and colors can be used to draw flamingos.

Below are some finished drawings by kindergarteners.

Comics about Bullying

Fifth graders are finishing up their comic strips in pen and ink. Each student created original cartoon characters and wrote a comic about bullying. The story might show how bullying makes us feel, or it might show how a bully has learned from the consequences of his or her actions.

Here is one of the first completed comics. I thought it was very clever how the artist used names from common texting messages like BRB, LOL and TTYL. There are also very clever puns related to how each character is a nose, mouth, or eye (who are part of the Senses Bureau!). Click on the comic to see a larger view.

Making "Friends" in the Art Room

Fourth graders are "making friends" in the art room. They are sewing pieces of felt together to make soft sculptures. The images above are examples from previous years.

We use darning needles because they're a little bit easier for kids to use. Some students have chosen to take theirs home to do a little sewing at home. It's also okay to get a little help from home, if they like.

Some kids are finished and starting to stuff it with cotton batting. We use the paint brush to make sure the batting gets into the legs and arms of the figure.

Be a Buddy -- Not a Bully!

The motto for our school's anti-bullying program is "Be a Buddy, Not a Bully!" Third grade classes are making posters that illustrate examples of bullying behavior and contrasting that with "buddy" behavior.

First, here's mine:

Here's a couple finished posters by third graders:

Here are some up-close details of a buddy behavior and a bully behavior.

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

Little Gopher was smaller than the other young Indian boys of his Plains tribe, and although he tried hard, he could not do what the others did. The tribe's wise shaman assures him, however, that he has a different gift.

This book is a vivid retelling of a Wyoming legend of the origin of their state flower, the Indian Paintbrush. We read this together in kindergarten art classes, and talked about Native American life and art. Then students made their own drawings of Little Gopher.

Painting -- Andy Warhol Style

Fourth grade classes have been looking at the paintings of Andy Warhol. This artist often used repetition of the same image (like a can of soup or someone's face) to create a pattern. If you look at his work, you can see that he often used unexpected colors and didn't always "stay within the lines."

In some ways, each image is exactly the same, but when we consider the color, each one is completely different. To learn more about this fabulous artist, we've read these two books together. Did you know the author and illustrator is also Andy Warhol's nephew -- and that he'll be visiting our school in the spring?

The book above is his brand new book. Andy Warhol had 25 cats -- all named Sam!

One of the students was excited to find that his family owned the special edition commemorative stamp plaque below!

To duplicate our image, we made a sketch, scribbled on the back of it, then traced over the lines in the drawing over and over again. If you've never done that, try it! It's a lot of fun.

Now we're painting each one with some experimental and expressive colors and techniques. We are ready for our fifteen minutes of fame!

Splat! Good thing she's wearing a paint shirt!

Family Fun Night

A couple weeks ago, we had a Family Fun Night with the theme of "Carnival". Mr. Macik and I covered the Caricature Station. I don't know how many caricatures of kids we drew -- it seemed like at least a hundred!

Kids: "Mr. Wales, when will it be my turn?"

Me: "I'm drawing as fast as I can!!!"