Miro's Monsters

Joan Miro's name is pronounced hoän mro.

Joan Miro (1893-1983) was a Spanish painter and sculptor who produced vivid abstract and surrealistic works of art during much of the 1900s. 

Miro was born on April 20, 1893, in Montroig, Spain, which is near the city of Barcelona. His father was a goldsmith and watchmaker. 
In 1919, he traveled to Paris, France, which was then the center of the art world. He was friends with many surrealist and abstract painters, including Pablo Picasso, Andre Masson and Max Ernst. In France, Miro developed his individualistic and recognizable style and eventually became famous.

After Miro returned to Spain in 1940, he lived mostly in Majorca. He painted, sculpted, worked in ceramics, produced many mosaics and murals, and illustrated over 300 books. Miro lived to be 90 years old, dying on December 25, 1983.

First grade students learned about the surrealistic art movement by examining some of Miro's works. We played a fun game called "Roll a Miro" that provided students with fun Miro inspired shape options that allowed them to piece together a creature not unlike those found in Miro's whimsical artworks.

After drawing their creatures, they learned about the dynamic ways oil pastels could be combined and utilized to perform like paint on a paper. Mixing colors enabled students to explore color theory principles and discover new combinations. The composition was outlined with black oil pastel when completed and are currently hanging by the Treehouse and in the first grade hallway.

Moonlit Forest

This painting challenged students to prepare and execute an acrylic painting.  They learned how to create a palette and mix paints on their “canvas” to create a monochromatic glowing effect.  

The objective was to control the white paint, moving it from the center of the painting out to the corners.  The next step was to control the amount of black paint pulled in from the four corners of the painting.  

After the background was complete, students received a demonstration on how to paint a tree with a flat brush.  We discussed the importance of placing a small and large tree on one side of the composition and a medium tree on the other in order to create balance.  When the trees were completed, students used a splatter brush technique to create a snow effect across the painting.

A Walk Through The Woods

Ever take a walk through the woods on a brisk snowy day?  This snowman decided to take a stroll through a birch forest just as the sun was beginning to set and twilight was emerging from between the trees.  

Students created this whimsical piece by painting their background with glitter water color paints and added salt to create a crystallized effect.  We scraped black paint with tagboard onto paper to create the birch tree effect.  Once trees were dry, they were cut, glued onto a snowy hill, and shadows were added with pencil.  

Our snowman was embellished with chalk pastels and care was taken to create highlights on the same side of the snowman as the light source.  Once completed, students finalized their work with snowflakes and glitter snow.

Splat the Cat

Second grade students read Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton with Mrs. Lau in the Treehouse and came to art to make their own "Splat" out of clay.  They learned a slap technique where they rolled clay out into a consistent thickness and cut out their Splat using a tracer.

 After adding Splat's face with a score and slip technique, they placed their cats into bowls and allowed them to dry concave.  They smoothed the edges and after they were fired, gave their cats personalities with creative clothes and patterns using glaze.  Google eyes were added as a finishing touch.

The following week, we wove a blanket out of construction paper for our kittens.  They are currently relaxing in the display cases near the school lobby and Treehouse.


About the Book
It's Splat's first day of school and he's worried. What if he doesn't make any new friends? Just in case, Splat decides to bring along his pet mouse, Seymour, and hides him in his lunchbox.

The teacher, Mrs. Wimpydimple, introduces Splat to the class and he soon starts learning all his important cat lessons. But when Seymour escapes and the cats do what cats do (they chase mice!), Splat's worried again. Maybe now he'll lose all his friends, old and new! Just in time, wise Mrs. Wimpydimple takes charge and teaches everyone an important new lesson. Maybe Cat School is going to be okay after all!

Kindergarten Fruit Wreaths

Tracing, cutting, folding, gluing, and decorating can be very challenging for Kindergarten students.  This project challenged their fine motor skills and provided repetitive skill-building exercises that also allowed them to be creative.  

When students had made a necessary amount of fruits for their wreaths, they were encouraged to use realistic colors to enhance the appearance of their fruit.  They included brown spots on bananas and pears and highlights on the more shiny fruits like apples and grapes.  They are currently on display by the Treehouse at Ravinia and in the main hallway at Lincoln School.

Snowballs!

Have you ever heard of the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert?  It's about a family of snow people and pets decorated with everything under the sun!  
In art, first grade Lincoln students created their own snow people through tracing and cutting a snow person form and decorating a background with snowflakes (we threw a little math and symmetry in there, of course).  


Once the forms were ready, they applied their creativity and imaginations to decorate their snowmen.  They used everything from colored papers, gift wrapping materials, buttons, sequins...everything we could find!
They turned out to be quite a unique community of snow people.  They are currently congregating in the main hallway.

The February Youth Art Month North Shore School District 112 Exhibit

This exhibit represented a selection of kindergarten through eighth grade art work created by students in North Shore School District 112.

The exhibit was on display from

February 19th through February 26th at

The Arts Center of Highland Park

1957 Sheridan Road, Highland Park

We were proud to share a small sampling of the outstanding work produced daily in the district schools with the community.

Artwork will be returned through school following the show.

                                                               

Ceramic Pencil Holders

If you were handed a half pound of clay and asked to make a pencil holder could you do it?  Fifth grade students were posed that challenge and exceeded many expectations!  

The question surrounding this project was, "How could you create a creature or simple composition that could balance a pencil (or toothbrush) using at least 2 appendages?  The extensions could be anything imaginable; flower petals, arms, pylons, tentacles, etc."  Needless to say, monsters, insects, animals, and many imaginative inanimate objects were created! They are currently on display in the lobby.

Gustav Klimt Quilt

Gustav Klimt was born July 14, 1862, Vienna, Austria—died Feb. 6, 1918, in Vienna.   He is best known as an Austrian painter and founder of the school of painting known as the Vienna Sezession.  He painted in the art nouveau style and added gold leaf to many of his beautiful paintings.

Forth grade students drew a self-portrait and covered themselves with quilt after quilt throughout the rest of the page.  Some students chose to include family members, favorite pets, or stuffed friends in their bed with them.

Inspired by the intricate detailed works of Klimt, students used the principles of line design to fill in each quilt section with thin, thick, wavy, and jagged lines as well as geometric shapes.  They traced over their designs with black sharpies and filled in their compositions with water color paints.   They are currently burrowing down for the winter near the fourth grade classrooms.

Freedom Quilts with Secret Code

How much do you know about quilts and secret codes? Did you know that slaves in the South used the patterns on quilts to help guide them through the Underground Railroad to freedom? Hidden in Plain View outlines the struggles and triumphs of the the Underground Railroads quilt code creators and secret keepers.

We celebrated Black History Month by learning more about the history of African Americans in this country. The fourth graders learned all about the codes and quilt creation. If you ask, maybe they’ll tell you some of the secret codes...maybe.

They created their own quilts by learning about the meanings behind the different patterns, creating a grid through measurement, and then applied their plan to their final work using a number system.  After the numbers were entered into their grids they applied their colored papers to the grid.  We used specialty papers that included metallic, animal print, embossed and stitched designs.  Student finalized their work by explaining the meaning of their quilts in a short written paragraph.

Quilt Code Patterns

Loom and Pom Pom Weavings

How many life-skills can you tie into one textile project?  I wanted to challenge my third grade students to problem solve and apply skills they would utilize again and again throughout their lives.  How?  By presenting them with a loom and a whole lot of yarn!  Students learned how to tie knots in  different ways,  fix knots in their work they didn't mean to create, stay detail oriented to the task of weaving over-under-over-under throughout their project, create interesting patterns and designs by weaving in different areas of their loom, and discovering how to recycle cardboard in order to create colorful pom-poms!  

Because of the variables with sizes of yarns, designs, and ability levels, it was a great exercise that enabled students to challenge themselves to see how sophisticated they could make their weaving.  

Most students came in during lunch recess on our coldest days to socialize and work on their weavings with their friends.  It created a great sense of community and they worked as a responsible third grade team to clean up after themselves before returning to class.  I have prepared a large "school wide" loom for students to work on either solo or with friends when their work is finished before the end of the class period.  They are currently on display by the gym and in our school lobby.

Monet's Ice Cream

Have you ever looked at a Monet and wondered, "How did he make such beautiful lightened colors"? Second grade students examined some of Monet's paintings and we discussed his use of white paint mixed with bright colors to mute them into tinted pastels.  

We needed a subject to explore these new colors, so what better subject than ice cream?  Students drew their tiered sundaes and embellished them with spoons, marshmallows, fruit, sprinkles and anything else their imaginations would allow.  

When we completed the drawings, we traced them with Sharpie® marker to define our shapes (this helps us see our drawings better as we paint over the lines).  Once the paintings were complete, we outlined the work in black paint using a fine-tipped brush and drew any tiny details on with colored Sharpie®.  As you can see, their work turned out delicious!

First Grade Matisse Flower Painting

First grade has been working tirelessly to create beautiful flower paintings inspired by the artist, Henri Matisse.We discussed “The Purple Robe and Anemones”, painted in 1937, and used it’s vibrant colors and content to inspire the vases and flowers the students painted.

We began by drawing a vase, the table, the flowers, and the wallpaper sections.

After the entire picture was outlined in black marker, we spent a day painting in areas with solid color.

The next day we discussed the wallpaper and simple geometric designs-not symbols. Students completed their paintings by filling in their wallpaper using only one color per color sections.

The final touch was outlining the entire painting with black tempera paint to clean up rough edges produced in the painting process.

Lincoln and I Self-Portrait

Lincoln’s first and second grade students recently performed cheerful songs for their concert in February.

On display were some precious and well executed self-portraits as well as the student’s interpretation of Abraham Lincoln!

They learned how to draw Abraham Lincoln by allowing me to take them step by step through the portrait drawing process.

After they had completed their President, I demonstrated how to create a simple self-portrait.  Students personalized their drawings by adding their own hair, clothes, and jewelry.  

The pictures were outlined in black sharpie and painted using watercolors. They are currently on display just outside the gym.

Lincoln Line Design Landscapes

Wouldn't it be fun to live out in the country? What if you could paint your fields? How about drawing patterns on them? First grade students created their landscapes with pencil. We talked about adding trees, a barn, silo, clouds and a sun.

Then the designs emerged.
Using two different sheets of paper with inspirational design patterns, students filled in their field sections with a variety of designs. 

When everything was drawn or traced with permanent marker, then the designs were colored with crayons. We wanted to use crayons because we knew they would resist the next medium added: water color glitter paint!

This was very challenging for first grade, but you can see that they were very creative and their finished products are gorgeous!

Snowshoe Hares

Arctic hares are incredibly stealthy and clever.  They are known for their ability to camouflage during the winter months by shedding their blue-gray fur and growing white fur to hide in the snow.

They eat berries, bark, grasses, and moss that can be found in the area surrounding the Arctic tundra.

They generally live in groups ranging from 20-300 hares and travel in packs.  This offers protection to the group.  Generally, the arctic hare searches for food within a one-mile radius of where it lives.

Kindergarten students made arctic hares by exercising specific fine motor skills including tracing, cutting, coloring, and drawing.  They learned how to draw 6 pointed snowflakes and embellish them with repeating patterns.