Eighth Grade Altered Portrait, May 2008
This image began as portrait in pencil. It was transferred to linoluem, cut and printed mulitple times. The final image is a combination of four prints altered in a variety of ways for strong emotional impact.
Altered Portrait Close up
In this close up view you can see how the artist used a variety of sections from several portraits to create one new image.
Eighth Grade Altered Portrait
Another example of an eight grade altered portrait.
Seventh Grade Charcoal Drawing , May 2008
This large charcoal drawing is the final drawing of an extensive drawing unit. Students had the chance to experiment with a wide variety of drawing materials and papers to see just how they worked together. After trying several different drawing materials, students picked the material they liked best and spent two and one half days drawing this comlicated still life set up. Two other fine drawings follow.
Seventh Grade Charcoal Drawing
Seventh Grade Pastel Drawing, May 2008
6th Grade Positive Negative Design , April 2008
Students were asked to create a postive / negative design inside a circle. Students were encouraged to use a variety of materials to create the idea of depth in their work.
6th Grade Stained Glass Designs, June 2008
Students were asked to create an original "stained glass" window. Using colored tissue, black paper, exacto knives and glue students created designs that reflected a story of some kind or a simple geometric design. Completed works were displayed in the lobby of the school to much praise and delight. Some examples of the work in progress follow.
Stained Glass on Display, September 2008
These completed stained glass pieces were on display in the lobby of Pierce School when students and staff returned in September. The sixth graders ( currently in the seventh grade) were kind enough to let me keep their work over the summer so the school community could see the completed work in the fall. There are two more examples of the completed work that follow.
5Th Grade Tidepool Installations, April 2008
5K created some amazing tidepool installations based on their studies of tidepools in the classroom and in the field. Each table of students became a team as they worked together to plan out and then create their own tidepool. This was not only a lesson in applying knowledge from a different area, but a lesson in how to work together as a team and successfully create a large piece of work that honors all talents of the team.
2nd Grade Costume Collage, October 2008
Students were asked to create a costume that they might wear, or wore last year for Halloween. We talked about where to start your collage and what kinds of materials and textures you might be able to use. Some students included background as well. This was a great opportunity to work on cutting skills while thinking about body parts and how to put together all the parts to make the image that they wanted.
5th Grade Positive Negative Drawing, September 2008
Students began the school year focusing on the concept of positive and negative space. We started the first assignment with an observational drawing of a plant. We cropped the image to better determine some of the negative space and then the students were asked to fill in all the negative space with colors of their choice. This assignment gave students the opportunity to continue to build on their drawing skills and to better understand how negative space can impact composition.
5th Grade Positive Negative Paper Cuts, October, 2008
Our next assignment was working with contrasting colored paper, cutting shapes and creating compositions that challenge the viewer to look carefully and determine which is the positive and which is the negative space. Some of the compositions began to vibrate due to color choices and placement. Our final exploration of positive and negative space tied in with 5th grade science studies in that we used bugs as our primary design element. Students had to use two different size bugs, cut and create a strong positive negative composition.
Kindergarten Line and color mixing paintings, January 2009
Students experimented with brushes and created colors to fill the spaces that they created on a square piece of paper. Over several weeks, discussions around how to make colors and contrasting colors helped students complete some beautiful paintings.
Kindergarten Hat Paintings, February 2009
