The Joys of Creativity (and being messy)

As we start to get involved in painting and clay and various other art materials, I would like to remind students to not wear their Sunday best on art day. We do try to put on paint shirts, and keep as clean as we can, but art is messy by nature. We will be working with clay, paint, and glazes, etc. We will get messy. I can always use a few extra t-shirts for paint shirts, if anyone wants to get rid of some for us to have in the art room for cover-ups. Remembering to not wear really good special clothes on art day can also really help.

Vincent van Gogh

Maybe some of you saw the amazing report on Vincent van Gogh on Sixty Minutes last Sunday night. If not, you can go on line to see it. Use the link below, or google Sixty Minutes report on van Gogh. The program showed many of Vincent's works and revealed many things that were not as originally thought. Some of it will change what has been taught in art history for many years. As you can see by the accompanying art work by a young child in my class, Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night is one of the master works of about about which we learn. He was an amazingly talented painter, and I think you will enjoy seeing this report.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7384904n&tag=fdEmbedTooEarly

Looking at manikins

Over the years I have learned that even first graders are able to look at a manikin and think about how to observe people, their proportions, and the way people move. They are also able to work through emotions and feelings and events through their art. As children create, they often have a story to tell, something that happened in their life that they are drawing and/or painting about. The picture that accompanies this post is a great example from last year. First grader Carter said this was his father waving goodbye as the bus leaves for school. I love how in this picture Carter was able to capture the feeling of that moment, the point of view of his dad as the bus leaves,

and even the perspective of the bus getting smaller as it gets further away. Art class enables students to create and learn, and also to think deeply and to communicate important ideas.

Radial Symmetry from Nature

Radial Symmetry From Nature on PhotoPeach