Welcome to Art with Ms. Stewart!
It has been a pleasure getting to know the students of Pelham Elementary School so far this year!
Students in every grade began their year in art with a challenge to introduce themselves to me without words. I learned a great deal about them from their drawings that day, ranging from hobbies and interests, to family members and pets, as well as how they approach art-making when challenges arise, or ideas remain out of grasp. From there we explored transforming mistakes, inspired by the book “Beautiful Oops” by Barney Saltzburg. In this project, students selected scrap papers that had blobs of paint on them or holes ripped in the middle, and then transformed them into something beautiful with markers and paint.
The kindergarten and first grade classes have been exploring lines, beginning with the book “The Dot” by Peter Reynolds. In this book, the student artist is told, “Just make a mark and see where it takes you!” and Pelham’s young artists were encouraged to do the same. Their dots became all sorts of squiggly, swirly, zigzaggy, spirally, wonderful lines. These young students have continued to explore lines using the Thinking With a Line curriculum from Cathy Weisman Topal (http://thinkingwithaline.com/). They’ve discovered that lines can become shapes, designs, and even letters!
Students in grades 2, 3, and 4 have been exploring paper sculpture. I taught them some basic principles, such as folding paper to give it a foot to stand on and rolling the paper around a pencil to make it curl, and then students took these ideas and built all sorts of amazing, colorful sculptures. More recently, they’ve been challenged to create a map of a place. We generated a list of places to map, including a brain, a bedroom, or an imaginary treasure.
Students in grades 5 and 6 are in the middle of working on a sculpture built out of the letters of their name. They are designing each letter to represent something about themselves and will soon look at artwork by professional artists to investigate the idea of identity more deeply.
Students have also taken the time to complete a drawing or painting for the Original Works fundraiser. These are artworks that can be printed on a wide variety of products and available to purchase. The products make wonderful holiday gifts, and the money helps support the school. Look for the order form to come home soon!
And lastly, art class is on Mondays. Please help your student dress appropriately.
Here’s to a great school year!