Celebrating Art

Last year I read a post on someone's blog (if it was you, thank you!) about Celebrating Art.  Celebrating Art lets you submit photos of student artwork (or students can submit their own from home) to be considered for publication in a really nice hardback book.  I submitted work for each school on their website (you have to create an account to keep track of all your information) and ended up with several students getting work accepted.  I actually had quite a few but lots did not turn in the permission form, and since we didn't get them until a few days before school got out, I didn't get the chance to remind them.  There are two deadlines a year, one in November, and one in April.  If you get enough students published, you get a free copy of the book for your classroom.  I went through and found all of my students but I haven't even had a chance to check out all the other awesome artwork yet!  I did make sure to mark pages with my students' work so my principals could find the right pages when I left the book for them to check out.

I thought I would just try the contest once to see how it went and overall, I'm very pleased with my experience!  If you have any questions, the company is very quick to respond.  I had a question about permission and they answered the same day.  *I wanted to make sure that you don't have to get permission to submit and they confirmed.  Parents only need to give permission for work to be published in the book.

Below are some photos of pages that featured my students' work with the links to posts about the project.

1st grade Bird Nests

2nd grade Tactile Paintings

Forgot to post about Kindergarten self-portraits...

...and forgot to photograph 2 more projects published in the book: one of my 3rd grade Architecture 2 Ways and 1st grade Circle Printing

4th grade Shape Paintings

6th grade Self Portraits (Their Future's So Bright...)

6th grade Aboriginal-Inspired Paintings

 Splashes of Color

5th grade Food Sculptures

5th grade True Color Self Portraits

5th Grade Clotheslines

4th Grade Piven-Inspired Self Portraits

Jr.Duck Stamp Drawings

 More 4th grade shape paintings and Aboriginal-Inspired animals

School Logo Paper Mural

Some people who see this in person can't find the picture!  I think it's easier to make out when viewed from the center and at a distance.

Yesterday I wanted to do one-day projects to try and get my classes back on the same schedule after snow days.  I got the idea for the mural from my friend Amy's blog but adapted the project for my students.  Her students had more variety of media but I stuck to my brand new Mr.Sketch markers.  I knew that I wanted to give each student a small section of the logo and show them how to create a grid to enlarge it.  I opened the logo up in Photoshop because that is always the easiest way for me to find the right size to scale the image and to add even lines.  Also, I have the file saved so I don't have to do the work again to use the project in future years.  I printed the logo in black and white so there were pretty much three values of black, gray, and white.  I haven't really done a project focused on value before so this was kind of an experiment.  I asked the students to make the black areas (pretty much just outlines) solidly colored in, fill the gray areas with line and shape designs, and either leave the white areas white or add sparse designs.  I also asked the students to use an analogous color scheme.

This project was completed by two 4th grade classes, a 6th grade class, and me.  There should have been enough students to complete every section.  But the power was out for an hour yesterday morning so the 4th class that I had planned to have work on this had to do a different project.  I figured I would complete a section in each class to demonstrate but I think I ended up finishing 16/72 pieces.  If I hadn't done that, the day would have been kind of a waste.  You can't put up a half-finished mural!  We had conferences today (and last night) so I finished my sections and one of our social workers helped me hang it.

When I do this project in the future...

I will probably stick with 6th grade.  It was tricky for some of them, the 4th graders needed LOTS of help.

I will probably tell the students what they are making.  I didn't tell the 4th grade classes what the "big picture" was going to be.  I wasn't going to tell my 6th grade class but decided to on a whim and they instantly were more interested and motivated!  I forget how much they are into anything with our school logo and it made a big difference!

I will try to figure out how to handle the REALLY simple sections.  Some pieces only had a little line down one side or a small shape in the corner.  One of my students with SUPER low motivation chose a section that was almost empty so when he finished that, I had him take over another section for a student who had to leave early.  And for once, he actually did the work!  (And with little more than a half-hearted protest!)  I was so happy!

I will have the students fold their paper "hotdog" and then "hamburger" style to make a simple grid with the creases instead of measuring.  I had the 4th grade classes use rulers to make their grids and you'd think they've never used one before!  I have vented about ruler issues before and had lots of the same problems again. I showed the students how to find the middle.  I told them that the paper was 9x12 inches.  This is what followed with the first 4th grade class.

Me: What is 9 divided by 2?

Students: 18!

Me: No, that's 9 times 2.  What is half of 9?

Students: 3!  No, 2!

*Frustration*

I decide to draw it on the board and show the students that 9 divided by 2 is 4 and a half.  I asked them what half of 12 was and thankfully they figured that one out a little quicker.  I marked the measurements on both sides and connected them with the ruler.  Simple, right?  Haha, that's what I thought.  Several used the wrong measurement, one even blamed it on me, several used the right measurement but just marked it once in the middle of the paper so it wasn't straight, several even measured correctly but tried to draw the grid lines free hand instead of with the straight edge of the ruler.

I feel a little like a quitter to give up on using rulers (I mean it's a simple but important skill the students should know) but I don't feel like I get enough class time with them to spend as much time as it would take for them to get it...

Another issue was students turning one of their pieces (either the small section or their drawing paper) horizontal and the other vertical which of course doesn't match up.  I don't think a lot of them had the visual-spatial skills yet to take on the more complicated sections.

Jr. Duck Stamp Program

5th grade student, Honorable Mention

Ever since I took part in the Jr. Duck Stamp program in high school, I've been a big fan.  I know a lot of teachers don't do the program with their students because it takes so much time but  I had always planned to do it with my students and something the other elementary Art teachers in my district were already doing. (Check out last year's post to see a photo of wetlands in my area and photos of my high school duck stamp drawings.)

If you are not familiar with duck stamps, here's a brief summary, at least as brief as I'm capable of being (if you want a more in-depth look at duck stamps, check out the US Fish and Wildlife Service page.  Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamps, or "Duck Stamps," are sold by the government to raise money for wetlands conservation.  98 cents out of every dollar generated from duck stamps goes to purchase or lease wetlands.  A lot of people think it's all about hunting because those 16+ who want to hunt waterfowl are required to purchase a duck stamp but they are also bought by stamp collectors and people  who want to use them as a pass to get into National Wildlife Refuges.  Wildlife artists compete each year to try to get their paintings chosen to be printed on the duck stamp.  Jr. Duck stamps have been around since 1989 and the goal of the program is teaching "conservation through the arts." The students create a realistic drawing of an approved duck or goose to show that they have learned about the species and their habitat.  Students can enter their artwork into a contest at the state level.  In Kansas, they choose 3 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place winners and I think 12 honorable mentions in each of the 4 age groups.  All the first place winners are put together and the Best of Show is chosen to represent the state at the national level contest.  The national winner is actually printed on a Jr. Duck Stamp and the student gets scholarship opportunities.  I assume that all the states have similar processes.

The Jr. Duck Stamp program is a great way to incorporate science and observational drawing and ties into the curriculum for most grades as you can talk about the animals, their habitat, and environment.  I always start off by assessing prior knowledge of wetlands and habitats.  I then show the students some of the duck stamps my dad has saved for me and explain what they are all about.  I have lots of photos I have taken of ducks and geese printed out for the students to reference and some calendar photos that one of the teachers gave me.  This year I had created a PPT of me making an example drawing with photos of each step since I was gone on maternity leave when my 4-6th grade students had to start the project.  I showed the PPT to my younger students as well since it is a lot quicker than me demonstrating in person.  I did draw a few things up on the board like legs and feet and beaks/bills to point out that they are not stick legs and not plain triangles for the beak.  I told the students when we practice observational drawing we can pretend to be scientists and draw all the important details.  Each student chose a photo to reference when drawing but I encouraged them to change the background or something to make it their own.  I allowed three classes for each grade level to work on this project.  The first class was mostly introduction, passing out paper, labeling information on the back, and filling out an entry form.  I encouraged each student to take home an entry form for the art contest just in case they decided to enter. Some of the classes had a little time to start drawing in the first day.  I had the students draw out all the important details in pencil before starting with color.  This is a good time to talk about composition.  The students have to use 9x12 inch paper (must be horizontal) but the design needs to be appropriate for printing on a smaller stamp.  I tell the students to draw big so we can see the details and to fill the space.  Even if their reference photo has a whole flock of geese, I ask them to focus on drawing one or two.  So far I have just given the students colored pencils to work with but I may let them use paint next year.  I always preferred to use colored pencils when I entered because I felt like I had more control over the media and could be more detailed.  On the last day, I talked about ripples, reflections, and shading.  If any students finished early, I had them write a conservation message which is an additional contest.  Most of the students enjoy this project but a few complain about it being "hard".  I always tell them that just because something is hard doesn't mean they can't do it and that we learn more from challenges than doing things that are easy all the time.  Next year I may give the students a choice of Jr. Duck Stamps or the State Fish Art Contest since the goals for the project are similar.

If I remember correctly, I sent in about 300 entries between my two schools this year.  I ended up having 7 students receive Honorable Mentions and all I can say is that the drawings that placed higher must have been AMAZING because I am so proud of my students!

5th grade student

5th grade student

6th grade student

6th grade student, Honorable Mention

4th grade student, Honorable Mention

4th grade student

1st grade student, Honorable Mention

1st grade student/future Art teacher, Honorable Mention

2nd grade student

3rd grade student, Honorable Mention

2013 State Fish Art

Last year was the first year I offered the State Fish Art contest to students in addition to the Jr. Duck Stamp program. It was another successful year! Once again a lot of students found fish easier to draw than waterfowl. Someone suggested that maybe their experiences seeing fish are behind glass in an aquarium so they feel more comfortable translating them to 2D... Beyond the drawings, we also had success in the contest! Four of my students placed in our state taking 2nd and 3rd in both the Mighty Minnow (K-3rd) and 4th-6th grade age groups. Beyond the Mighty Minnow group, students are required to write an essay about their chosen fish species in addition to their artwork submission. (This is why few of my intermediate students actually enter the contest!)

4th-6th grade Winners:

Kansas 4th-6th grade 2nd place (6th grader)

Kansas 4th-6th grade 3rd place (5th grader)- this student drew from the mounted fish I brought to school!

 Here are some of the other 4th-6th grade drawings made by my students.

Mighty Minnow winners:

Kansas K-3rd grade 2nd place (3rd grader)

Kansas K-3rd grade 3rd place (1st grader)

The results were just posted online this week so while I haven't had a chance to congratulate my 5th and 6th grade winners, it was so much fun to go make the announcement to the classes of my 3rd and 1st grade winners. 

Dogs Don't Make Art!

Last month, Diane deGroat visited the elementary schools in my district. You may not recognize her name, but there's a pretty good chance you recognize her work. Diane has illustrated numerous books for other authors and also writes and illustrates her own. She is responsible for the Annie Pitts books and the Gilbert series. My favorite of her books is a joint project with Shelly Rotner, Dogs Don't Brush Their Teeth.

The art in the book is totally digital, and shows what dogs "do" and "don't". You can preview a few pages on Amazon and learn how the illustrations were made at http://sillydogbooks.com/. My students were already familiar with deGroat's books but I used the Amazon preview and Silly Dog Books on my projector to focus on how the artwork was made.

For the students' projects, they were to think of something a dog wouldn't normally do (something not in the book) and figure out how to illustrate it. To make our version, I asked for help collecting dog magazines and calendars. I cut or tore out pictures to save time and the students had a huge stack of dogs to choose from. I asked the students to carefully cut out their dog(s) and either draw the rest of the body or piece it together like deGroat and Rotner did with their photos. After the dog's body was taken care of, they drew the rest of the scene to help tell their "dogs don't" story. In the 2nd class period, the students used watercolors to paint and, if they wanted to, wrote a "dogs don't" sentence. I used the exact same lesson with my 3rd and 4th grade students. Overall, the 4th grade students had a much better handle on it. The next 3 photos are my favorite 3rd grade examples. The rest are from 4th grade.

*I totally forgot to mention that we looked at William Wegman's dog artwork since I saw a connection. Try these videos here and here.

 I didn't want to break it to her- my dog sleeps in my bed every night!

  

I was really amazed at some of the details students thought to add. For example, this student made "Dogs Don't Graduate" and included a picture of a puppy like a nostalgic graduation slideshow.

And of course I put up bulletin boards. I made poster size examples of dogs making Art. On my smaller bulletin board I changed it from the school name to the school mascot "... but panthers do!"

4th Grade Shape Paintings

Last year I had all my 4-6th grade students vote on their favorite projects to help me decide which ones were "keepers".  My 4th grade students voted for Geometric Shape Op Art (click on the link to see last year's projects) and landscape paintings that blended watercolors and had salt sprinkled on it to make bright colors with cool texture.  I wasn't totally satisfied with either project.  The landscape idea came from my cooperating teacher during student teaching and though I changed it a little bit and loved the bright, finished paintings, I thought it was lacking.  The Op Art project was very frustrating and didn't turn out the best even though I felt I had good intentions of covering lots of material- shape, complementary colors, math tie in, etc.  I decided to combine the two projects and I am much happier with it!

I got a list of the geometric shapes that are on the 4th grade math assessment to start.  I printed the shapes off on colored card stock, laminated, and cut so that each table would have a set of tracers.  I also had compasses available to make larger circles.  At the beginning of the first class, we reviewed organic and geometric shapes and the students named the geometric shapes as I held them up in the air.  I explained the first step: trace geometric shapes on your paper to create an interesting composition with overlapping.  The students traced with pencil then traced the pencil with fine point sharpies.  I was looking at the drawings and saw something that would become a problem with the next step- the negative space was one giant shape!  I had the students get rulers and use the straight edge to make 3 or 4 lines at different angles go clear across their paper.

On day 2, I introduced analagous colors.  I showed the students the colors that are next to each other on the color wheel are also next to each other in the watercolor paint trays.  I spent a couple minutes quizzing them to check for understanding.

Iif you are only using analgous colors would you ever use red and green?

If you are using orange, what two colors could you combine with it?

Etc.

I pointed out how new shapes are created when the geometric shapes or lines overlapped.  I told the students that each shape should have two analagous colors in it.  I demonstrated carefully painting in half of a shape and then while the paint was still wet, painting the other half with an analagous color so that they would blend in the middle.  I showed the students how to sprinkle a TINY bit of salt on the wet paint to create a texture.  They always think it's like magic to see the salt soak up the paint.  I suggested that the students skip around their paper instead of painting shapes that were touching for two reasons.  1- That gives the paint a chance to dry so colors don't bleed into other shapes.  2- It's one of my "artist tricks".  If you run out of time and things are balanced, it looks like it's on purpose.  If you run out of time and one half is painted and the other half is empty, it's obvious that you ran out of time!

I was only planning on 2 classes for this project but had to add another one.  Some students achieved a nice balance between the colored and white spaces but most did not and they looked unfinished.  About 2/3 of the students were able to get every shape painted in the 2nd class.  Learned helplessness is a big problem at my school.  We have discussed it as a staff and try things like encouraging the students to see what others are doing bore they ask the teacher for help.  I had lots and lots of students coming up to ask me if two colors were ok to use together after we spent a good amount of time on it.  I didn't want to just say yes or no, I wanted the studnets to figure it out!  I started asking them "Are they next to each other on the color wheel?"  Then they would go look and get to work.

I have one 4th grader who is quite a character. He LOVES Art (last year he asked me every single time he came to class if we were going to do an Art contest!) but is not the best at following directions or using good craftsmanship. Needless to say, he kind of struggled with this project.  I also had a student turn his wet painting totally sideways up in the air to show me.  He learned cause and effect as his paint blurred together and dripped down his paper!