This is the blog for the Waitsfield Elementary School Art Program in Waitsfield Vermont. This site is maintained by Nora McDonough. It contains photographs and information about past and current art projects completed at all levels, K-6.
First and second grade artists learned about Positive and Negative Space. Although I hope the Art Room is always a "Positive Space," sometimes is is the use negative space in a piece of art that makes it interesting.
Negative space, in art, is the space around and between the subject(s) of an image. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting
or artistically relevant shape, and suchspace occasionally is used to artistic effect as the "real" subject of an image. from Wikipedia
When I look out the window of my art room, I look directly at Sugarbush Ski Area. Our students are especially fortunate to not only live at the base of two fabulous ski areas, Sugarbush and Mad River, but also to get to spend one afternoon of their school week on the mountain.
In celebration of the joys of winter, we are applying knowledge of Graphic Design and Logo Design to creating original skis and snowboards.
Graphic designis the process of visual communication and problem-solving through the use oftypography,photographyandillustration. The field is considered a subset ofvisual communicationandcommunication design, but sometimes the term "graphicdesign" is used synonymously. Graphic designers create and combine symbols, images and text to form visual representations of ideas and messages. (From Wikipedia)
Fifth and Sixth graders watched these two short videos to learn some of the basics of graphic and logo design. Some of the tips are applicable to many different types of art.
We looked at Freeskier Magazines "Best Ski Graphics of the Year" and talked about how different art appeals to different people.
Artists created multiple drafts of their ski and snowboard designs and company logos before translating their work to actual size size paper.
Kindergarteners read "Penguin Problems," then used cut paper to make penguins. This is a very funny book about a penguin with a whole lot to complain about. The best part of this story is definitely the sage advice this penguin receives from a walrus. I have been thinking about these wise walrus words ever since!
"Do you think birds know when it's going to snow?"
asks Lois Ehlert in her book "Snowballs."
We looked at Ehlert's creative collages and then made painted paper using the watercolor resist technique. We used music pages for our birch trees and collaged colorful birds in the trees. These gorgeous collages and Ehlert's amusing illustrations remind us that winter is anything but cold and gray!
