Making Paper

 The Wilson Wildcats are finishing up the school year in art class by making handmade paper and relief prints.  The students and I have enjoyed making our own paper and each day students teach me new techniques to refine this messy, hands on art process. I am learning that the paper takes a long time to dry on rainy days. Here are some pictures from our first batch.

Snails With Shadows

First graders used spirals and patterns to create snail drawings on black paper. I challenged them to give their snail a shadow.

Art Show

The students did a wonderful job presenting the art show on the evening of February 9th. A great crowd showed up to view the work. Thank you to family, staff, and community members who came to support our students' creative achievements. Many of the fifth and sixth grade students took an active role in preparing and hanging the artwork in the show and I am proud of their hard work.  I also want to thank the parent volunteers who helped put the art show together and the Wilson PTA for their financial support.

Art Show on February 9th From 5:30-8:00

The Wilson Wildcats have been hard at work preparing for the art show. The theme for this year’s exhibition is Super Hero’s. Students have been studying graphic novels and comic books in order to perfect their own technic. Some of the students favorites are El Deafo by Cece Bell and Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier. We have also been looking at the art work of Roy Lichtenstein, a famous pop artist whose paintings imitate comic books. Students have practiced using different comic book mark making techniques including ben-day dots, stipple dots, hatching, and cross hatching. I have been impressed with our students’ enthusiasm and I am proud of the active role they have taken in planning the art show. Be sure to stop in and see the results of their hard work! The art show is on February 9th from 5:30-8:00pm. I hope to see you there!

6th graders preparing their artwork for display

Mixed-Up Chameleons

First graders listened to the story The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle and then they made their own version. Some of the Chameleons are very mixed up and some are happy just to be him or herself. The first graders used crayon rubbings to give their chameleons different colors and textures.

Line Roller Coasters

We started 1st grade by learning about line. We talked about wavy lines, bumpy lines, zig-zag lines, and dotted lines. We learned how straight lines can be horizontal, diagonal, and vertical. The first grades used their knowledge of line to design roller coasters.

 The students sketched their designs with pencil and then trace the lanes with sharpie markers.

 The students used watercolor paints to add some bright colors.

 Some of the students glued tiny flags to their roller coasters as a finishing touch!

The first graders expressed their wild side to create these pinch pot monsters. They loved squeezing the clay and exercising their fine motor skills. It helped us learn about using shape and form to create expressive facial features too. First we patted our clay into a sphere which was then pinched into a pot. The students manipulated the pinch pot form to create an expressive mouth. Some students made their mouth look happy while others made it look sad, surprised, or angry. They then added smaller forms for eyes, ears, tongues, horns, and tails. We finished our monsters off with some color glaze.