Lincoln & Ravinia First Grade Art Thus Far...
Now that I have my blog up and running, I am going to show you what we've been up to so far this year. It's been an exciting year so far! We've learned about Wassily Kandinsky, clay turtles, tri-color shading, Tomie DePaolo, watercolor blending, and Camille Saint-Seans "Carnival of the Animals".
When Camille Saint-Saëns was just a toddler, his mother and his great-aunt began teaching him music. He was only five years old when he gave his first public piano performance. When he was seven, he began to study with other teachers, and he had already begun composing his own music. He became one of the most famous French composers.
First Grade students were immersed into the world of Camille Saint-Saën’s Carnival of the Animals.
We read poetry set to the music of Saint-Saën’s compositions and used our bodies to explore sounds through animal gestures and movement. We carried this lesson into art where students learned and applied basic animal drawing techniques. Using these skills, the first grade students created a train car containing their favorite animal. The train is currently traveling down the main hallway as it makes it way to the Carnival!
Clay Turtles
Have you ever made a pinch pot?
A pinch pot is made by starting with a ball of clay, pressing your thumb into the center, and pinching the sides to form a bowl.
A pinch pot is made by starting with a ball of clay, pressing your thumb into the center, and pinching the sides to form a bowl. Students made a pot and added carefully cut and designed feet, tail, and a head to create a turtle. They formed the feet to show whether it was a land or sea turtle and used tools to make beautiful designs on their shells.
Lincoln: Wassily Kandinsky Squares with Concentric Circles
Have you ever made a pinch pot? 
A pinch pot is made by starting with a ball of clay, pressing your thumb into the center, and pinching the sides to form a bowl. 
A pinch pot is made by starting with a ball of clay, pressing your thumb into the center, and pinching the sides to form a bowl. Students made a pot and added carefully cut and designed feet, tail, and a head to create a turtle. They formed the feet to show whether it was a land or sea turtle and used tools to make beautiful designs on their shells.
Lincoln: Wassily Kandinsky Squares with Concentric Circles
Wassily Wasilyevich Kandinsky was born on December, 16th (4), 1866 in Moscow, in a well-to-do family of a businessman in a good cultural environment. In 1871 the family moved to Odessa where his father ran his tea factory. There, alongside with attending a classical gymnasium (grammar school), the boy learned to play the piano and the cello and took to drawing with a coach. “I remember that drawing and a little bit later painting lifted me out of the reality”, he wrote later.
In Kandinsky’s works of his childhood period we can find rather specific color combinations, which he explained by the fact that “each color lives by its mysterious life”. (http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/)
Kandinsky, himself an accomplished musician, once said Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul. The concept that color and musical harmony are linked has a long history, intriguing scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton. Kandinsky used color in a highly theoretical way associating tone with timbre (the sound’s character), hue with pitch, and saturation with the volume of sound. He even claimed that when he saw color he heard music. (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky/)
First grade students learned the importance of relating art and music through the work of Wassily Kandinsky. This Russian painter was inspired by the music of his day, especially that of Igor Stravinsky.
They learned that music has color just like art can inspire music. I encouraged them to listen to jazz and let the music “tell” them what colors to use. Each child created their own Kandinsky inspired piece of art.
Wassily Wasilyevich Kandinsky was born on December, 16th (4), 1866 in Moscow, in a well-to-do family of a businessman in a good cultural environment. In 1871 the family moved to Odessa where his father ran his tea factory. There, alongside with attending a classical gymnasium (grammar school), the boy learned to play the piano and the cello and took to drawing with a coach. “I remember that drawing and a little bit later painting lifted me out of the reality”, he wrote later.Lincoln & Ravinia: Apple and Pumpkin Color Layering
We examined the shapes of a real gala apple and miniature pumpkin and discussed curves and lines in the drawing stage of this lesson. When we completed our drawings we began coloring with the lightest color and working to the darkest.
Children learned how to include shadows on their apple and pumpkin to add dimension. Ask your child to name all the colors they used on their apple and pumpkin starting with the lightest!
Lincoln & Ravinia: The Legend of Indian Paintbrush
First grade students were read Tomie dePaola’s, The Legend of Indian Paintbrush. I instructed them on how to paint with watercolors using a wet on wet technique to create a sunset. We discussed how colors fill the sky with relation to the setting of the sun under the horizon.
Then students were introduced to the technique of creating a silhouette using black paper. They were challenged with trying to draw just the outline of their pictures without details.
Cutting out their silhouettes was challenging as they needed to cut around their shapes without cutting their pictures off the hills. When the cutting was complete, they glued their silhouettes to their sunsets. They are currently on display in the main hallway at Lincoln.
Then students were introduced to the technique of creating a silhouette using black paper. They were challenged with trying to draw just the outline of their pictures without details.
Cutting out their silhouettes was challenging as they needed to cut around their shapes without cutting their pictures off the hills. When the cutting was complete, they glued their silhouettes to their sunsets. They are currently on display in the main hallway at Lincoln.Lincoln & Ravinia: Carnival of the Animals
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| Camille Saint-Saëns, 1835 – 1921 |
First Grade students were immersed into the world of Camille Saint-Saën’s Carnival of the Animals. We read poetry set to the music of Saint-Saën’s compositions and used our bodies to explore sounds through animal gestures and movement. We carried this lesson into art where students learned and applied basic animal drawing techniques. Using these skills, the first grade students created a train car containing their favorite animal. The train is currently traveling down the main hallway as it makes it way to the Carnival!
One of Saint-Saëns’ most well known compositions, The Carnival of the Animals, is enjoyed by children all over the world for the pictures it paints of animals. (www.dsokids.com)
