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.

3-D Playground Designs

3rd Grade students imagined what the playground will look like at the new Wilson. They used strips of paper to make three-dimensional forms and to make their dreams a reality. Some students wanted to recreate the old playground so that they could share what it looked like with younger students.

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

Pipes

I am excited to have a new art room next year but there are some things that I will miss about my old room. The old pipes and electrical conduits that dance over the ceiling and the wall add character to my current environment and also provide third graders with a great visual reference for this project. The students used this pipe project to show their expertise at overlapping, hatching, cross-hatching, and stipple dots.

Ukiyo-e Prints

This has to be one of my favorite projects. 3rd grade students studied Hokosai's "36 Views of Mount Fuji" to make ukiyo-e prints. These traditional Japanese prints were made by painted ink on carved woodblocks. Paper was placed on the wet ink and  the ink was transferred from the block to paper by rubbing on the back of the paper. We used styrofoam blocks instead of wood and tempera paint instead of ukiyo-e ink, but we still hand rubbed the paper to get something that looked kind of like a ukiyo-e print. I was very impressed with what my students accomplished!

Squash and Stretch Animations

Third graders made these animations. Each student designed a character and then drew squashed and stretched versions of the same drawings. When we photographed the drawings in the right sequence it gave the drawings the illusion of movement.

Haunted Houses

These haunted houses were inspired by Cincinnati Music Hall which is a great example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. Third graders learned how to draw three-dimensional forms for the buildings and used white bubble painting on dark paper for the starry background. 

Bubble Art

Third graders are making bubble paintings to be used as starry skies in their haunted mansion projects.

Squash and Stretch

3rd graders found out that squash and stretch is a fun way to make cartoon characters look silly. They also learned that animators can use squash and stretch to give their characters weight and movement. Students used Vincent van Gogh inspired landscape paintings from a previous project as a setting for their cartoon creations.

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