After creating a painting and a collage of the animal they were studying in class, the K/1s sculpted their animal in clay and then painted it. The students then built a habitat in which they placed their animals.
As the 2/3s study the Hudson River in class, they are drawing plants and animals from the river, and designing a background page in art class. The drawings, and their research and poems will be put together in a book about the Hudson.
In conjunction with their classroom study of an animal of the Northeast the K/1s looked at a photo, and figured out the shapes they needed to draw it. They then drew their animal and a background, and added color with liquid water colors.
The 4/5 students are demonstrating their knowledge of some aspect of Iroquois life by creating a tunnel book. The end page is a picture of the Iroquois involved in some specific task. The center pages are borders on which they have added details like trees or animals.
After looking at the work of British Op Artist Bridget Riley and other eye-popping black and white designs, middle school students tried their hand at designing an Op Art cube with at least four different optical designs on the six sides of the cube.
I've been teaching art at Parker since the school's beginning in 1991. Working with students over their kindergarten through eighth grade year becomes a longitudinal study of creative child development. It's inspiring and energizing to be part of the students' amazing growth as artists thoughtful young adults.