Lines, Lines, Lines!!!

Line, the basic of all art elements. The foundation of all art that is created.  There is only void without line!

Our focus, in a few classes (and basically all the time ;), has been 

LINES

(All the elements -and principles- of Art are continuously covered. Always, always, always :)

Here's some Kindergarten's latest 

focus on line (and color and cutting).

Drawing various lines down strips of paper and cutting them.  Then arranging (focus on composition) before gluing!

Second Grade continued with their line landscapes; adding permanent marker and starting watercolor.

Next Project: Native American Sand Art!!

They are foreground, middleground, background experts now! lol

Third, Fourth and Fifth grade 

worked on Self-Assessing their Stella sculptures (post on this later ;).

Then we started on Optical Illusion Hands.

Another cool "Whow!" project.  And learnin' some MATH in the process :)

Journal:

I am SOOOO enjoying finally being in a classroom!  For those first following, this IS my first year, but I've been dreaming of this room for decades.  I love education and I love art. What better way to teach students to learn (and to teach themselves) than through art!?  Every class is so different, and I love it. I think, if I'm this excited now, I must be in it for the long haul ;)

My current literary pause (book) is "The Big Book of Therapeutic Activity Ideas for Children and Teens." So many fairly simple activities to help students to focus, recollect and build self-actualization.  I plan to incorporate these into my "free time" station.  Sometimes students just need a brain break. Or help with a current brain-block situation (could have happened earlier before my class).  A few minutes on a guided activity geared to that specific emotional/social/focus need definitely helps!


Currently, we are taking a "sorta" break and making "Red Ribbon Week-Drug Free" posters.  They will be on display throughout the building the third week of October. And there will be a winner from each grade announced at the Red Ribbon Assembly!!!

I really need to put up kindergarten/first grade Kandinsky Dot Mural, but I'm afraid it will have to wait until November.

                                                                                                       

                  Artfully Yours',

                                                                                                                      Mrs. Bayless

             

Blotter Butterflies- Primary Color Mixing

This last couple/few weeks, first grade has been focusing on PRIMARY COLORS.

Look at their beautiful "blotter butterflies." Some were more successful than others at making the paint mix to create secondary colors.

We sang the first 2 verses of the color song:

(to the tune- "Wheels on the Bus")

-Compliments of my Wonderful cooperating teacher from student teacher (I only changed it a bit ;)-

The primary colors are red, yellow, blue.

Red, yellow, blue.

Red, yellow, blue.

The primary colors are red, yellow, blue.

Mixing them is fun to do!

The secondary colors are purple, orange and green.

Purple, orange, and green.

Purple, orange, and green.

The secondary colors are purple, orange, green.

Mixing them would be so mean.

I like how this student thought of the concluding "butterfly" when drawing her "B" to cut out her symmetrical butterfly.

The kids LOVE and are AMAZED when the colors transfer and mix.

Beginning of the Year Happenings

The first few weeks are full of setting up your routines and procedures. BUT, creating should always be happening in that chaos :)

First days center around making a portfolio (keeping all of their great masterpieces somewhere).  The next days are simple projects to build confidence, and in my case, to get to know all of these great kiddos.  I don't mean to brag or anything (well, yes, I do), but I have some awesome budding artists!

(You can see some of my procedures and routines in prior posts)

One of the first 2nd grade and 3rd grade projects is "Identity Hands."

I take these and display them in a collaborative mural (posting on that later).

1st grade's first project was getting to know our supplies (and review).  They traced the supplies and made "Supply Robots."  

You can see here, the usual, "I like mine to look like my BFF next me's" Lol.  The design was really cool, so how could I possibly say no :)

Aaaawwwweeee, Free Time..... The kiddos have a ton of "free time" activities, but their favorite is the color wheel puzzle.  

Artist of the Month for September

With only two weeks of projects, there weren't many to pick from.  But, I can already see some awesome work in the future!

I choose 2 from each grade and their work is displayed for the entire month.

(Not all are pictured. Some are part of the collaborative project Or they have their name on it too large to picture).

Kindergarten- "Tracing and Line Design"

Frist Grade - "Supply Robot"

Fifth Grade- "Journal"

Second Grade- "Portfolio"

Second Grade- "Portfolio"

Kindergarten- "Tracing and Line Design"

First Grade- "Portfolio"

Artful Aftermath

Always makes my heart smile :)

The collage bins are always interesting after creating "Stella Sculptures."

After stamping patterns with the kindergarteners.

Will be the background to our landscapes :)

This week we started Stella!!!  You can look back at prior posts to see a seek peek at what that's all about ;)

Artfully Your's,

Mrs. Bayless

GES

A new school year!!!
I am SO excited to start in my new art classroom at GES!


Here are a few pictures of my room:

"Let's Make a Mess!"

That was my first self portrait in oil, and the poster is a little bit about me.   My 5th graders keep art journals and that is the "creation station" for free time.

I hand draw all of my posters.

and

GES is a PBS school :)

I use my bulletin board (not just for displaying art). For: Weekly lessons, elements/principles, helper table, smARTy words, "Golden Paintbrush," and the GLEs and "I can" statements.

Can't wait for the kids to make their messes!!!

Here's to the start of a GREAT new school year!!!

-Mrs. Bayless

 :)

Student Artwork Samples

It's been a long, rewarding semester of student teaching!  I had the opportunity to work with great educators.  They will leave lasting impressions in my life and in my heart.

I am currently job searching.  Stressful but extremely exciting! Every opportunity so far has been just out of my driving range.  If I see "1 hour 15 mins" on googlemaps one time! lol!

I wanted to have a portfolio of student work compiled to share with potential employers, but thought, why don't I just post them to my art teacher blog too!?  Yes, why not?

So, this post is pictures of some projects I did with my students in the last couple of months.  Not all, of course, but of some that I actually thought, "hey, I need to take the time to take a few pictures!" lol.
A lot are "in process" pictures.  That's my favorite part :)

Kandinsky Circles with Kindergarten

 Each student painted four on a page.  I combined all of them for a BIG Kandinsky mural down their hall.  

While learning about Kandinsky, we read "The Dot" by Reynolds.

The aftermath of one day: this makes my heart smile.

Stella (Frank) Creature Sculptures with Kindergarten

They loved talking about Stella (and yelling Stella!!).  These creatures were very free form, exploration creating while learning various paper manipulation techniques.

Second Grade studied Stella also, and created group, collaborative "Stellas" after individually creating paper manipulations.

This was an amazingly, fun project that I would highly suggest for a start of the year project (one of the first).  ALL students were successful with this and LOVED doing it.

Now Pollock's turn!

The kids really enjoyed talking about Jackson Pollock, and then string painting.

Another "aftermath" photo. Always makes me smile!

First Grade used cardboard to create buildings.

This student struggles with concepts, but rocked this!  He didn't just do one building; he created a whole neighborhood! Just blew me away watching him do this!

Second Grade "Identity Hands"

This looks awesome down their hall.  All their individual identity hands made one big, beautiful wreath!

We decorate for the different grades' vocal concerts. These are a few examples (themes: Science and Country). The kids love this; we leave it for a couple of weeks afterwards!

Fourth Grade used round looms to create bracelets.

We discussed many things, but the main thing this group took from it was "perseverance!" They learned to face the challenge and push through (perfect for the big assessments coming up).

Another "aftermath" picture :)

Pieces from a horsehair firing workshop that I set up for art teachers at the state MAEA conference.

Very cool process that produces beautiful pieces!

This Value Vs. Value Project with 8th Grade 

helped the students focus on value (what's important) and value (lightness and darkness).  

They did a grid drawing of something they valued, and then grid drew organic shapes where the different values were, before painting.  Having to use complementary colors was the hardest part for them. "My _____(subject) has to be _____(color)! Even the skin!" lol. It was an awesome product in the end.

This was of a student's home town, where she had recently moved from.  Very good therapy for her.

Ceramics with an advanced middle school student

Inspirational Forms

This was a building-wide (middle school) collaborative project.

The 6th grade free form painted (focusing on the elements to create the design). The 8th grade painted the forms (during their lesson on value and forms). Finally, the 7th grade cut out the forms, attached them to the 6th grades' paintings, and painted inspirational quotes on them. 

This is by no means all of my students' work, but definitely good examples of some (I also teach art classes at the local gallery, which includes all ages, even adult).  I love watching them create and instilling all kinds of good stuff in the process. They always leave with a love for learning and creating, constantly seeking that new knowledge.

Artfully Your's,

Jessie