Tree and Foliage Prints

In this printmaking project, fifth grade girls first drew a stylized tree trunk and branch design on paper which was transferred to a rubber-like material. Students used carving tools, called gouges, to carve away at the negative spaces around their tree. When the carving was finished, students used various colored inks and papers to print the tree (we even created our own tea-stained papers for printing). 

This was my example to show the process and carving techniques

 The next step was to create another small printing block on which a fall leaf design was carved. These designs were printed repeatedly directly on top of the trunk/branches using the colors of the students’ choosing. 

I originally had the idea that these would be really cool "fall" trees, but when some of the girls asked if they could do whatever colors they wanted, I figured "why not!?". I really love how different they are from one another rather than sticking to a red/orange/brown kind of color scheme, and check out these two pieces by the same student (same tree trunk and leaf blocks, but different colors and ways of printing the leaves). Isn't that pretty cool?!:

And here are the final pieces (the students each chose which of their prints they liked best wanted to display if they made multiple versions):

Warm & Cool Portraits with Tessellations

In this “classic” Calvert project, sixth graders first learned about the history of tessellations (and artist M.C. Escher, who is famous for his unique tessellations like the one pictured here) before creating one of their own. Tessellations, which have been around for thousands of years, are a special kind of pattern/design
made from repeating shapes called polygons (closed shapes with three or more sides). In tessellation designs, congruent polygons fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces that repeat again and again- they could go on forever!  Students painted their unique tessellation designs using acrylic paint in a warm or cool color scheme of their choice.

To create the portrait, on a separate piece of paper, students traced the light and dark areas of their faces using a projected digital photograph. Using the opposite color scheme from their background, they painted their portrait, making sure that the light and dark areas were highly contrasting.

 Here are the colorful finished pieces!

Whirled Peace!

Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two Florida art teachers as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives. The project was quickly embraced by their students and the entire school community and by millions of art teachers, teachers, parents, children and adults who desire peace in our world. Last year in 2012, over four million pinwheels were spinning in over 3,000 locations around the world! (If you go to their website and click on the "locations" tab, you can see where pinwheels are installed. You can even zoom in to Baltimore and find Calvert School!)

In advisory this week, all middle schoolers were invited to create pinwheels for the project. On one side, students wrote their thoughts about peace / tolerance/ living in harmony with others, and on the other, they visually expressed their feelings through art. September 21st is International Day of Peace, so we displayed the pinwheels outside today as a public statement and art exhibit/installation. Again this year I was so excited to have the lower school on board and we have over 550 pinwheels outside created by 6th agers-8th graders, lining the path between the two schools. We hope the spinning of the pinwheels in the wind spreads thoughts and feelings about peace throughout the country, the world!

 My 8th grade advisory girls working on their pinwheels:

 I grabbed a group of students from the Atrium early this morning to help install the pinwheels out on the path:

 Thanks guys!

 Can't leave out my littlest helper- my two year old daughter!

Happy International Day of Peace!

Funny e-card

I am so grateful that here at Calvert, and usually at private schools in general, the value of the arts is appreciated and celebrated and that real cuts in arts education is rare. Nevertheless, I saw this e-card and thought it was pretty darn awesome. There are so many students in schools now who do not get Art at all, and that's a scary thought...  

Typographic Thumb Print "Self Portraits"

In 8th grade, we started the year with this quick project (originally found here, via Pinterest... isn't Pinterest ridiculous!?) which got them thinking about representing who they are in their work.

Using an ink pad, each student made a print of their thumb on white paper which I enlarged on a photocopier to the approximate size of a face. Students used their natural, everyday handwriting to compose a text about them, following the contour lines of their thumb print as a writing guide. The final pieces combine the personal text, distinctive handwriting, and one-of-a-kind fingerprint of each student to form a unique “self-portrait”.