Liebster Blog Award

Kathy Zwahl at a wonderful blog named B art Z Elementary Art was nice enough to bestow upon me the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks Kathy!

Leibster is German and means dearest, beloved, or favorite.  The premise of the Leibster Blog Award is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. I especially love that in being honored you are also being acknowledged by your online peers. The origin of this award is quite a mystery. It seems to have taken on a life of its own.

So, here are the official rules for recipients of the Liebster Award:

1.  Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2.  Thank the giver and link back to them.

3.  Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

4.  Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

This honor can be given to a blog of any subject matter, but I decided to pass it on to other art educators. My five Liebster Awards go to:

Mrs. Crosbie

Maureen is a long-time educator and brand new blogger. Her images are beautiful, thoughtful and fun. Keep at it Maureen, I can't wait to see more.

The Lake Forest Louvre

Ms. Krass has a beautiful blog, well organized, and with lots of art history inspired projects. Lovely! Thanks for all of your online efforts.

Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists

Hope's blog also serves as a virtual classroom with a word wall, sketchbook ideas and more. My favorite lessons as of late are the winter collagraphs and abstract trees.

Arteascuola

Miriam is  a brilliant teacher abroad who really brings out a painterly quality in her students' works. Her blog is in Italian, but take the time to run it through Google Translate. That's what this virtual world is for! Ciao Miriam! Piacere di conoscerti.

ARTASTIC! Miss Oetken's Artists

Kati shows a great relationship with her students, and makes her lessons fun. Look for the fashion design lesson, adding clothes to Michelangelo's David and Botticelli's Venus. Great job!

 

I hope you get a chance to look at some of these wonderful art teacher blogs. They are such an inspiration to me!

Raven Collages

During my full-time stint at elementary school, 4th grade students and I created collages based on the book Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott. I read the story aloud to the class and we discussed the stylized designs and colors found in the illustrations.

All works started with a blue rectangle on a black border with four red squares in the corners to begin the border design. Students also had a template for the shape of the raven itself. I decided that since the design and space for it to fill was so specific, this would be the best way to go. Although by fourth grade I try not to use too many stencils.

After that all of the cut paper designs were left to their individual choice. Enjoy!

Positive/Negative Space Trees

First graders finished a unit on line this fall and also learned about positive and negative space. On black construction paper we learned to draw a tree with bare branches. These branches needed to reach the edges of the paper to create different areas of negative space. When the children were happy with their drawings, they traced the lines of their trees with white construction paper crayons— I LOVE THESE! Especially when used on black paper.

The trees (positive space) were not to be colored, so they remained solid black. All of the areas between the branches of the trees (negative space) were filled in with many different colors and types of line. The children took their time and did a great job completing these projects. Here are some of their masterpieces.

Book Review: Let's Make Some Great Art

Laurence King Publishers has sent me another great offering for review. Let's Make Some Great Art by Marion Deuchars is an art-themed coloring and activity book filled with drawings, activities and even lessons in art history.  I really enjoy its hand-written text and friendly visual style.

Artists such as Picasso, Mondrian, da Vinci and more are featured with exercises inspired by their works. There are projects in all types of media from collage, to sculpture, to painting and drawing— and all of them are FUN! This would be a great art workbook for home-schoolers, or a resource for art lesson ideas and simple sub plans. I hope you get a chance to check it out!

Paper Chain Monsters

I was inspired by Fem Manuals and their paper chains, and just by chance one of my students asked how to make paper dolls during her free choice time. I took it as a sign and created monster shapes for a Halloween theme.
First graders learned how to create an accordion fold and then chose one of four templates to trace onto their papers. They learned how to not trace the entire image, so parts of it will be the connections of the chain. The cutting was a challenge but all managed with a little perseverance. The they used crayons and/or markers to create their designs. The final touches were the addition of pom poms, yarn, sequins, and googly eyes.

 

Great Art Sites for Kids— Build Your Wild Self

Build Your Wild Self is a site sponsored by the New York Zoological Society, which allows children to create a self portrait Using attributes from a variety of wild animals.

First you create an avatar based on your human self, a fun exercise self portraiture. The you choose features from different animals to create your "wild self." As you work, you hear the sounds each animal makes and your final result lets you read about the attributes you've chosen.

This would be a great exercise to combine with a "Where the Wild Things Are" art lesson. It could also be a cross-curricular themed project with wildlife sciences. Here is the wild self I created:

Calaveras Portraits Inspired by José Posada

My fourth graders are learning about the works of José Posada, an artist from Mexico who illustrated political cartoons which poked fun at the members if High Society. He was also influenced by Dia de los Muertos, hence his portraits rendered as calaveras (skulls).

My amazing family of artists helped me to create some sample pieces for my classes. Here are our creations. Students' work to come soon!