K/1s Create Monarch Life Cycle

As the K/1s study the life cycle of the Monarch in class, they are working on a visual description in art class. After some initial experimenting with oil pastels, and listening to the book, Monarch Come Play with Me, by Ba Rae the students drew and cut out large monarch caterpillars. The leaf, chrysalis, and butterfly completed this project.

Coloring the caterpillar's stripes

Adding antenna

Making a large leaf

Careful cutting

Gluing down the caterpillar and leaf

A monarch butterfly emerging

Cutting out the butterfly

Assembling the parts

Caterpillar and Butterfly complete

One more!

4-8th Grade Name Molas

Fourth through eighth grade students begin each fall with some form of artwork to help identify their hall lockers. This year they are learning about Molas, a fabric layering art form from the Kuna Indians of Panama. The students are using layers of colored construction paper to make abstract looking designs that secretly reveal their names upon close observation.

Getting started

Cutting the first layer

Almost done with one name

A finished mola

And one more!

Middle School Trip to the Arts Center

Claire describing her sculpture

Students looking at their drawings

Drawing a found bit of wood

Contour drawing of a rock

The middle school students went on a field trip to the Arts Center in Troy where exhibiting artist and Parker Mom Claire Sherwood (Nora Ring, preK 4) toured the students through the gallery and talked about her work and the process she goes through to create it. After the tour, the students were given paper and charcoal pencils to work on drawings inspired by objects they had collected at Camp Chingachgook. This was a wonderful exercise in process rather than product. Each student came back to school with the beginnings of a drawing and a deeper understanding of the the steps a working artist goes through to create a work of art.

K/1s Experiment with Oil Pastels

Students applied one color of oil pastel over another to see what new colors they could make. They will make use of their discoveries to  draw monarch caterpillars and butterflies.

Trying new combinations

Making a new color

2/3s Draw Bug Jars

The 2/3s closely observed plastic insect models to prepare to draw large bug jars filled with plants and bugs. The practice of close observation helps with focus and concentration leading to the ability to draw what one really sees, rather than drawing a preconceived idea of what an object looks like.

Checking out the shapes

Drawing a second bug

Designing the contents of the jar

Drawing a spider from observation

A spider gets Sharpied!

Bugs coming to life

Painting the jar

Adding paint to the inside of the jar

A Finished Work

This one has a spectator!

4th - 8th Grade Sunflower Drawings

Beginning to follow the flower lines

Focusing on the flower heads

As the new school year began, the 4-8^th grade students reviewed routines and expectations in art class and then tried their hands at observational drawing. Working from vases of beautiful sunflowers, they explored the shapes and textures they saw and tried to capture them with pencil and paper.

Thoughtful observing

Classroom view

Drawing taking form