Monday, September 28, 2015

More hand painted paper for future use in collages

Today in the art room, students continued to produce nuanced, layered, and textured painted paper to use in collages. Stayed tuned to see the collages that they will create using this unique paper. 




Friday, September 25, 2015

Making hand painted paper to use in collages

Many children are familiar with Eric Carle's children's books and his distinctive illustrations. Today the children learned that Eric Carle's illustrations are collages and that the paper he uses to make his collages is paper that he hand paints himself. So his first step is to create an interesting and nuanced selection of hand painted paper in various colors and shades with a lot of brush strokes and textures visible. He then uses this paper to cut out shapes to form his illustrations.


So today, as part of our collage unit, students began creating hand painted paper themselves which they will use later in collages. Using tempera paint in only the primary colors - red, blue and green, students discovered through exploration how to mix rich colors and shades they had never mixed before. They also learned how to create distinctive texture through use of brushstroke and through makeshift texture making tools such as plastic forks and pieces of cardboard with wedges cut out of one end which they used to scrape away top layers of paint, creating various lines and textures.
above: 3rd graders working at the Frida Kahlo table. (each table in the art room is named after a famous artist with a picture of one of their artworks attached to the table with clear tape)
above: 2nd graders working.
below: Kindergarteners working at the Jacob Lawrence table.
above: 3rd grade hand painted paper
below: Kindergarten hand painted paper






Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Black and White Torn Paper Collages

Students explored the method of torn paper collage using black and white paper, their hands and glue. No scissors were allowed; through tearing the paper, students gained a tactile knowledge of the physical properties of paper by experiencing how it reacted to being torn. They developed their fine motor skills as they figured out how to tear the paper into the shapes and sizes they wanted for their composition. They also realized they could tear paper in a way that made the paper curl. Many students created three dimensional collages. Exploring many ways to manipulate paper, arrange a composition, and create three dimensional collages will serve students when they create representational artwork. Exploration is an incredibly important part of art education. If a medium and/or method is new to a student, they need to be able to thoroughly explore that method and/or medium so that when they want to use it to create a specific representational artwork, they have the the repertoire of skills to do so effectively.

above: 2nd grade collages
 above: detail of 2nd grade collages

above:collages from class 4-252

Illuminated Name Poems

Using oil pastels, students wrote their first names vertically along the left hand side of their paper. Then, for each letter of their name, they thought of a word that began with that letter and wrote it horizontally. The results are whimsical, colorful, visually dynamic short poems.

Through this project, students learned:
 • about the various ways that oil pastels can be manipulated for expressive purposes - blending, color mixing, layering, etc.

• that you can take "mistakes" & "mess ups" and find creative ways to transform them into something great. For example, if a student realized they wrote a different letter than the one they intended, they  employed the natural flexibility of the medium of oil pastels to change the letter. They saw that their "mistake" caused them to find a creative solution which greatly enhanced their artwork.

• that text can be incorporated into visual art.

• about relationships between colors.

• elements of design and typography. 

Below are some examples from class 4-330.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Ms. Triplett's blog for Visual Art at P.S. 307

"Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that shape and inform our lives."
-Joseph Beuys

My name is Ginna Triplett and I am so excited to be the new art teacher at P.S. 307. On this blog, I will post photos of the amazing artwork of the incredibly creative students at P.S. 307 along with information about the concepts and skills children are learning in art class. Please check back often to see new posts with many pictures of student artwork! Below is my personal art education vision statement.


Cultural Awareness and Literacy
Creating art and responding to the artwork of their peers helps students develop a deeper understanding of themselves and empathy for others. Art education is culturally responsive because it gives students opportunities to share their personal and cultural experiences through artwork. As students respond to historical and contemporary art from diverse artists and cultures, they develop a deep appreciation for and understanding of different time periods and perspectives. In art class, students develop a powerful sense that their own experiences and thoughts matter and are of interest to others, building crucial self-esteem and encouraging more engagement in other classes. Being asked about and talking about their own artwork develops students’ verbal communication skills, improving their ability and confidence to participate in discussions and communicate their ideas through writing in other classes.   

Common Core and National Core Arts Standards
Literacy is woven into art education at every grade level. For very young children this happens mainly through discussion of art concepts, learning new vocabulary, and verbally articulating what is happening in their own artwork and the artwork of others. As children get older, art education also includes writing about their own artwork, incorporating reading and writing into the artistic process, and reading and writing about art history and contemporary art. Observing, analyzing, reading and writing about historical and contemporary art develops sophisticated reading comprehension and writing skills which are needed to master Common Core literacy standards. Responding to art, understanding its context, interpreting its meaning based on evidence, reading art historical texts and art criticism all sharpen students’ higher level and critical thinking skills demanded by the Common Core. Recognizing that art has always been essential to humanity across cultures and continues to be a huge drive of our culture and economy today (The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the number 1 tourist attraction in New York City), The National Core Arts Standards provide a framework for delivering an art education which provides deep learning designed to support college and career readiness. With more and more career fields demanding high levels of creativity, a strong art education gives students a significant edge in the workforce.

Habits of Mind, Efficacy, Innovation, Problem Solving
Art education fosters a powerful sense of efficacy in students by setting up opportunities for them to make discoveries, innovate, solve problems, and develop their creativity. Building these skills early and consistently gives students a powerful resource within themselves to envision, carve out and follow their own successful, fulfilling path in life. Exploring various methods of creating art and responding to the creative endeavors of others develops habits of mind which will serve them throughout their academic, personal and professional lives. These habits of mind include developing technical skills, engaging and persisting in creative endeavors, finding multiple solutions to problems, envisioning a desired outcome and imagining the steps needed to make it a reality, observing surroundings and situations closely, assessing one’s own work, exploring new ideas, learning to transform accidents into discoveries, and working within a community of creative people. What makes art education so successful at developing these habits of mind is that it provides experiences in which students construct knowledge and actively create things on their own, engaged cognitively and physically in the entire process. High-quality art education develops skills essential to becoming a life-long self-motivated learner.