2019 State Fish Art Contest

I've written about the State Fish Art Contest before (see posts here) because I feel like it, along with the Jr Duck Stamp, are great programs that merge art and science. It's always a choice for my students to complete the art and an additional choice on if they want to enter the contest or not. This year I only had 3 students choose to enter... and 2 were my own children! My kids worked on their projects over spring break and it was a good distraction from screens since spring break in Kansas is usually too cold to do much outside.

My oldest son chose the Colorado state fish- the greenback cutthroat trout. He had watched me using watercolors a few months before so he was excited to try out some techniques. He drew the fish and used masking fluid to trace the outline. He used a wet on wet technique to paint the water, letting drops of color fall on the wet paper and then sprinkled coarse sea salt and some table salt on the wet paint to create a pretty cool effect.

When the background was dry, he painted the body of the fish and later used colored pencils to add details.

Showing off his finished painting

My middle son used a wax resist technique, adding watercolor over his crayon drawing of a channel catfish.

Some states have a lot more participation in this program than others. It is not well known in Kansas but it is a worthwhile program, especially if you have students or children of your own interested in wildlife, conservation, or environmental science.

2014 State Fish Art Contest

1st place oil pastel drawing of a Channel Catfish in the Mighty Minnows age group

Last school year I continued the tradition of offering the students a choice between the Jr. Duck Stamp program and the State Fish Art Contest. Both programs focus on teaching conservation through art and have a focus on habitat and observational drawing. This year I was floored when my students swept the awards for the Mighty Minnows (K-3rd grade) and 4th-6th grade age groups. If you teach in Kansas, please tell your students about this contest. They need some competition. :)

2nd and 3rd place in the Mighty Minnows age group.

 

Starting in the 4th-6th grade age group, students are judged on an essay about their fish species in addition to their artwork. My 5th grade 1st place winner made her essay more interesting by making interesting comparisons, such as the size of a bluegill to her hands.

1st place in the 4th-6th grade age group.

 2nd and 3rd place winners in the 4th-6th grade age group.

2014 Junior Duck Stamp- Primary

Another great year with the Jr. Duck Stamp program! I've written about the program before, and my experience as Junior Duck Stamp Ambassador. I love this program and think it has a great goal of teaching kids about conservation of wetland habitats through their artmaking. Every student completed a project for JDS, the State Fish Art Contest, or a book contest with similar criteria. Actually deciding whether or not to enter the artwork in the contest was up to the student. This was our most successful year to date in the contest with 6 Honorable Mentions at PC and 1 Honorable Mention at PS. I'm so proud of my students' efforts and especially of those that tried new things. 

 

This student tried a new technique by using oil pastels to draw the shape of the feathers and watercolors for the rest. The resist works really well. Often students can't figure out how to differentiate between the edges of the feather shapes while still coloring them in. This will probably be a demonstration next year. This Canada Goose was one of our HM winners.

These two were both drawn by 1st graders.

 The 4 above were 2nd grade projects.

 This student used her new knowledge of wood ducks' nesting habitats to inform her background.

 

This student was brave enough to add the reflection, which is intimidating to a lot of kids.

 Two more HM winners.

 Another HM winner. We had to do some research to find out what color the duck's legs are since in the reference photo it was swimming.

 Lots of good Hooded Mergansers this year!

Great texture in this HM winning painting!

2014 Jr. Duck Stamp- 4th-6th

I'm so proud of my students' efforts in the Jr. Duck Stamp program! I think they get better every year. A "have-to" project for every student is an observational artwork of an animal in its habitat for either the Jr. Duck Stamp program or the State Fish Art contest- both programs that focus on teaching conservation of habitat through art. This year the students also had the option of choosing a wetland animal for the Kansas Critters Wet 'n Wild book contest.

The artwork at the top received an Honorable Mention in the 4th-6th grade age group. That student, along with a few others, were extra dedicated and would come in early in the morning or during recess to put in extra work on their projects.

The first year I taught this program, all students used colored pencils. I always chose colored pencils for my entries in this program because I felt like I could blend colors well but have more control than with a paintbrush. That was back when I was fresh out of college having been taught to write objectives with "ABCD"- Audience, Behavior, Condition, Degree. Ex: The students will create a 9x12 inch colored pencil drawing of a migratory waterfowl in its natural habitat, focusing on anatomical accuracy, in three 40-minute class periods. That left little room for choice so each year I've allowed more. Now the students can choose contest, the species within the contest, the materials, and the technique.

 Here are some more examples:

4th-6th Fish

These are some of the results from my 4th-6th grade students for the State Fish Art contest.

I wrote a little bit about this project here: http://artteacheradventures.blogspot.com/2012/06/art-of-conservation-ducks-and-fish.html

You can also read more about it here: http://www.wildlifeforever.org/contest

I was initially a little confused and thought that students had to represent the fish from their state, when they can actually use the official fish from any state on the list. That's why all my 4th-6th grade students  drew Channel Catfish- the unofficial state fish of Kansas. Kansas does not have an official state fish, and I'm not sure why! We have a state mammal, amphibian, reptile, insect, bird, tree, flower, and even grass, but no fish!

I am so proud of how hard the students worked on their fish. Even though there was an essay required to enter the contest, I had about 15 students actually write the essay and turn everything in on time to enter.

This student clearly has an environmental/pollution theme.

Did you know that Channel Catfish....

-have 8 "barbels" (whiskers) on their heads?

-are "bottom feeders"?

-don't have scales?

We spent some time talking about their anatomy, behavior, and habitat so the students could be as accurate as possible in their drawings.