2/3s Paint Chinese Scrolls

After becoming familiar with traditional Chinese scroll painting, the 2/3s tried their hands at creating their own scrolls. Watercolor backgrounds were painted on a vertical paper. Once dried, drops of black ink were applied to the bottom of the paper and lines representing branches were blown upward through a straw.  Names were then written in Chinese, and bamboo skewers were glued to the top and bottom to allow the scrolls to look authentic and hang straight.

Painting the background

A blue sky

Practicing the ink lines

Lettering the name in Chinese

Adding the name in Chinese

Two finished scrolls

One more finished

A tree emerges

Middle School Students Draw Self-Portraits

As their final project for this school year, the middle school students reviewed rule of thumb methods for achieving their likeness. They worked from mirrors, thinking about the shape of their face and trying to accurately locate their features.  They tried to capture the way all these elements relate to each other to create an image that is recognizable as them.

The image emerges

Matching skin color

K/1s Learn an African dance

Kathleen Oliver and some of her students (including three Parker alums) from Buxton School in Williamstown, Mass. demonstrated several West African dances to the K/1 students as part of their study of Africa. The students then joined in with Kathleen and learned some of the dance moves.

Kathleen demonstrating the dance motion

The class trying it out

Getting into it!

4/5s Work on Immigration Portraits

In the classroom the 4/5s are each writing about a specific fictional character that they have invented and researched in relation to their country of origin. In art class, the students are working on portraits of their character that will be put in a painted frame upon completion. The portraits include clothing and artifacts that their character might have had with them as they immigrated.

Sketching out an idea

Beginning to get ideas together

Painting

A finished portrait

And another

2/3s Paint Self-Portraits

The 2/3s spent some focused time looking in their mirrors and trying to capture their features and coloring. Once drawn, these are painted with tempera paint.

Checking in the mirror

Painting the face

Mixing the right color

Painting the background

Matching the hair color

Placing the eyes in the oval

K/1s Draw, Paint and Stuff African Animals

Each K/1 student is studying a particular African animal. In art they draw their animal working from a photograph, and then paint it with watercolors. Once this is completed, they again draw their animal, but this time on very large

Painting a lion

A giraffe is carefully painted

brown craft paper. This animal image is painted, duplicated and then stuffed with newspaper and sewn together with yarn. They will find their places in the classroom celebration of African work at the end of the school year.

Painting the big cobra

Cutting out the meerkat

Adding spots

Painting the second side for the gorilla

Sewing an elephant

Sewing the leopard

Part of the classroom display with paintings and animals

The zebra up close

Animals outside the African hut

AHut with occupants

The hyena finished

The beginnings of the hyena

4/5s Draw Self-Portraits

Annually all Parker students in grades K-8 draw or paint a head and shoulders self-portrait. It is wonderful to see them all displayed in the hall and to notice the developmental differences through the grades. The portraits are then turned into the next year's school calendar. The 4/5s begin this lesson by discussing different shapes of faces and the placement of facial features in relation to each other. Looking in the mirror they notice what they really look like and then try to capture that using colored pencils.

Beginning the self-portrait

Adding the background

The head takes form

Checking with the mirror