Circus Animals inspired by Brian Wildsmith... in progress

First and second grade artists are gearing up for our Artist-in-Residence, Troy Wunderlee from the Ringling Brothers Circus.  We looked at the beautiful illustrations in Brian Wildsmith's book "Circus."  These paintings show richly textured animals and colorful patterns and designs.  We discussed the difference between texture, pattern and design. 

First and second grade artists tried to capture the texture of animal fur of skin using finger paint and cardboard scrapers.  Next we decorated saddles or costumes in the style of Wildsmith's paintings. 

Circus animals by first and second grade artists:

Martin Luther King Jr. In the Style of Andy Warhol

Finger painting! To anyone who thinks that Elementary Art is all about finger painting, I give you these masterpieces.

First and second graders studied the civil rights movement in class? We used a high contrast photo of Martin Luther King Jr., projected onto large paper. Using only our fingers, we painted each portrait using two shades of paint. We looked at examples of Andy Warhol's colorful prints as our inspiration for our repeated MLK Jr. portraits. These will be displayed at Friday's civil rights assembly, led by Mr. Young's class.