This week we revisit the artist Elizabeth Catlett. She was known for her sculpture as well as her printmaking. We are going to create out own prints with our images we make on a styrofoam tray. First practice drawing in your sketchbook with a picture of your choice. We practice in our sketchbook because we want to try first, and get it even better the next time. So once we are confident that we know and have tried our pictures we can make our styrofoam print. (avoid writing/words, if you do it will have to be backward. So if you want to try go for it!) Using a blunt end of a paint brush and using pressure on the styrofoam create your picture. Make sure your dents are deep but you don't break or rip the tray. Once you have completed your "drawing" for your print, have your paper ready you are printing on, brush a layer of paint on your print (careful not to fill the grooves with too much paint), and press onto the paper, gently lift the paper from the styrofoam. Voila! MATERIALS
![]() INSPIRATION Elizabeth Catlett (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) Catlett was an American and Mexican graphic artist and sculptor best known for her images of the African-American experience in the 20th century, which often focused on the female experience. She was born and raised in Washington, D.C. to parents working in education, and was the grandchild of freed slaves. It was difficult for a black woman in this time to pursue a career as a working artist. Catlett devoted much of her career to teaching. However, a fellowship awarded to her in 1946 allowed her to travel to Mexico City, where she worked with the Taller de Gráfica Popular for twenty years and became head of the sculpture department for the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. In the 1950s, her main means of artistic expression shifted from print to sculpture, though she never gave up printing.
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Week 7&8 we look to the artist Augusto Torres. To make one point perspective we need to define a vanishing point on our paper. Once we have that we can draw our horizon line, and our lines that will define our rows in our landscape. Those rows can be fields, this time of year pumpkins are ready to harvest! I love fall it is my favorite time of year. Feel free to draw other things like trees, bushes, rocks keeping in mind tht the things drawn at the bottom of the page are to be the closest to you so they will be the LARGEST. Things drawn near our vanishing point will be the smallest. Have fun! Materials Sketchbook (for practice) Pencil Ruler Color Pencils, markers, crayons, watercolor Black marker, Black Sharpie Paper Inspiration Augusto Torres 1913-1992 The eldest son of Joaquín Torres-García, Augusto was an active participant in his father's artistic life. Growing up primarily in Italy and France, the young artist met many of the great figures of twentieth century art, including Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, and Joan Miró. During the 1930s, while living in Paris with his family, Augusto was the apprentice of the sculptor Julio González and studied drawing in Amedée Ozenfant’s academy. Introduced to North African and American Indian art by the painter Jean Hélion, it was also in Paris that the artist developed his lifelong passion for tribal and primitive art. After Torres-García brought his family to Uruguay in 1934, Augusto participated in all the activities of his father’s teaching, Augusto later went on become a teacher himself, instructing subsequent generations of artists. Throughout his life, Augusto traveled widely, including two years living in New York. From 1973 on, he divided his time between Barcelona and Montevideo. The art of Augusto has been displayed internationally in both solo and group exhibitions, and his work is included in the collections of such institutions as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; the Miró Foundation, Barcelona; and the Museo Torres-García, Montevideo. Video link to Mrs.Buss
youtu.be/v7sw-GuA-yE Mary Cassatt's work included many monoprints. The image of mother and child was some of her favorite subject matter, what she chose to put in her pictures. Mono means "one". SO when a monoprint is made it is meant to be printed once. In this project We will experiment with this process. Create a simple image (mother and child, landscape, favorite animal, etc) on a cookie sheet in tempera paint. quickly press paper on your work to print before the paint dries. This project is about the process, feel free to create multiple images in the spirit of discovery! Materials Sketchbook Pencil Color media for drawing- crayons, markers, oil pastel Cookie sheet Tempera Paint Brush/Water cup Paper ![]() Inspiration Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Pennsylvania but lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children. Video on Mary Cassatt's work:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcTE5x7cTL8 Video Lesson with Mrs. Buss: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfwQK78Ha_0&t=2s In this lesson we look to the artist Frida Kahlo. She created many self portraits and included animals or items symbolic to her in her compositions. Picture day is also coming soon at St Paul's and we read in the lower grades K-5 the book, Mrs.Toggle's Picture Day by Robin Pulver. Students are given directions to create a portrait of themselves and to include 1-3 things that are their favorite or have significant meaning to them. In my example I chose to include a landscape and a Blue Jay because it is my youngest child's favorite bird. Many things can be added to make your self portrait your own. Your pet, favorite color(s) in the background, a favorite place, a favorite toy but something that hold importance for you. Practice your drawing in a sketchbook or separate piece of paper, practice eye, ear, nose, mouth, shapes, practice your favorite or important items. When you are ready draw the portrait on the watercolor paper with pencil draw lightly so you can correct or make any changes. Use any colored media, colored pencils, crayons, markers, oil pastels, and/or watercolor. fill the page and like Ms.Kahlo use VIBRANT colors. Materials Sketchbook Pencil Watercolor Paper Crayons Color pencil Markers Watercolor Water cup Brushes Mirror Visual examples of your favorite or important items ![]() Inspiration Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is remembered for her self-portraits, pain and passion, and bold, vibrant colors. She is celebrated in Mexico for her attention to Mexican and indigenous culture and by feminists for her depiction of the female experience and form. Kahlo, who suffered from polio as a child, nearly died in a bus accident as a teenager. She suffered multiple fractures of her spine, collarbone and ribs, a shattered pelvis, broken foot and dislocated shoulder. She began to focus heavily on painting while recovering in a body cast. In her lifetime, she had 30 operations. Life experience is a common theme in Kahlo's approximately 200 paintings, sketches and drawings. Her physical and emotional pain are depicted starkly on canvases, as is her turbulent relationship with her husband, fellow artist Diego Rivera, who she married twice. Of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits. A warm up to the school year includes celebrating Dot Day. Based on the book by Peter H Reynolds, dot day encourages young artists to make their mark, encourage others, and trust in what your hands can achieve. As I read the story to our entire school, even the 8th graders, they all listened. As I explained the key principles in the book students understand that finding courage and encouraging others relates to passing on the acts of kindness and giving value to one another's achievements. Here are just a few of many talented work generated this past week. I am so excited to be working with a wonderful group of children.
We began our very first school day and very first hour in 6-8th grade practicing mindfulness. We settled our minds and bodies to let thoughts and feelings like anxiousness, fear, or even excitement pass by us. We also allow our mind to wander... Only for a few minutes and then we recognized that maybe we may have felt calmer. As a class we discussed subconscious and related it to dreams or day dreaming, much like the meditation that we just practiced. We also discuss the concept of abstract art and looked to the work of Joan Miro. We watched a brief video on his work. I described automatic drawing and the kids went to work. I began each grade this week with the same lesson, 3-5th grade and 1-2nd grade. Surprisingly the kids were very receptive to settling their minds for just a few minutes. This year my goal was to introduce mindfulness as a starting point to the day in our art room. The world moves so fast, we get caught up even as children in the hustle and bustle. MaterialsWatercolor Paper Pencil Colored Pencil Crayons Watercolor Brushes Water cup Inspiration![]() Joan Miro (1893-1983) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona in 1975, and another, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, was established in his adoptive city of Palma de Mallorca in 1981. Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride. In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and declared an "assassination of painting" in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting. Students were directed to create a main character, create some narration or joke around the character, a name, a setting. They also needed to include at least three sequences, in the joke or story. Art supplies only require paper and pencil and coloring media. Materials Sketchbook Pencil coloring media, coloring pencil, markers, crayons Paper Ruler Jim Davis was born July 28, 1945 in Marion, Indiana, and raised on a small farm with his parents, James and Betty Davis, and his younger brother, Dave (Doc). Like most farms, the barnyard had its share of stray cats; about 25 at one time, by Jim's estimation. As a child, he suffered serious bouts with asthma and was often bedridden. Forced inside, away from regular farm chores, he whiled away the hours drawing pictures.In college, he studied art and business before going to work for TUMBLEWEEDS creator, Tom Ryan. There, he learned the skills and discipline necessary to become a syndicated cartoonist and began his own strip, GNORM GNAT. When he tried to sell the strip to a newspaper syndicate he was told, "It's funny, but bugs? Who can relate to a bug?" After five years of GNORM, Davis crushed the bug strip idea and tried a new tact, studying the comics pages closely. He noticed there were a lot of successful strips about dogs, but none about cats! Combining his wry wit with the art skills he had honed since childhood, GARFIELD, a fat, lazy, lasagna loving, cynical cat was born. Davis says Garfield is a composite of all the cats he remembered from his childhood, rolled into one feisty orange fur ball. Garfield was named after his grandfather, James Garfield Davis.One of my lessons, during the safer at home recommendations was an everyday composition. A composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or 'ingredients' in a work of art, as distinct from the subject. The term composition means 'putting together' and can apply to any work of art, from music to writing to photography, that is arranged using conscious thought. The students were instructed to include at least one living creature. All five of the projects I compiled for the the remote learning of this school year included easily obtainable art supplies, easily understandable projects, and adaptable to all grade levels K-8. Students were encouraged to spend time on their work, however given home teaching situations, they could easily accomplish the work with in a reasonably swift amount of time. Materials Sketchbook Paper Pencil Colored Pencil Markers Crayons ![]() Inspiration Realism The Realists depicted everyday subjects and situations in contemporary settings, and attempted to depict individuals of all social classes in a similar manner. Classical idealism and Romantic emotionalism and drama were avoided equally, and often sordid or untidy elements of subjects were not smoothed over or omitted. Social realism emphasizes the depiction of the working class, and treating them with the same seriousness as other classes in art, but realism, as the avoidance of artificiality, in the treatment of human relations and emotions was also an aim of Realism. Winslow Homer, Jean Francois Millet, John William Waterhouse Lydia Nielsen, 7th Grade The art of the triptyck, we studied, was based in the Gothic period. The artists the students were introduced to were Giotto and Van Eyck. Both artists used religious subject matter. Students were encourage to think about a three part composition that could include the change of seasons, stages of growth, metamorphosis, three related compositions. We used tempera on board. Materials Sketchbook Pencil Illustration board or thick paper Tempera paint Brushes ![]() Giotto 1266-1337 When Giotto was a young boy tending sheep in the mountains of northern Italy, he drew pictures to pass the time. A traveling artist discovered Giotto’s drawings and offered him an apprenticeship. There he learned how to make paint from different minerals which could be used to create different colors of paint. Giotto is best known for painting people who appeared three-dimensional rather than flat. Many paintings of Giotto’s time were made with egg tempera on special panels of wood. Egg tempera is made by grinding minerals, berries, clay, even insects into a fine powder and mixing it with egg yolk and water. This paint makes a thin fast drying coat of bright color. Van Eyck 1395-1441 Jan van Eyck was the most famous painter of northern Europe in the 1400’s. Van Eyck was the first artist to really master oil paints, a new material in his time. Unlike egg tempera oil paints could be applied in thick coats and in thin glazes and could create rich velvety colors that glow. One of van Eyck’s most famous paintings is an altar piece called a triptych, which is a wood framed panel made in three parts. There are pictures on the outside of the panels when it is folded shut, and more on the inside when it is opened up. I Love this artist a lot. Working during the period of art nouveau, the organic and decorative as well as symbolism in his work make it magical and mysterious. Students are introduced to Klimt as an artist and also to the concept of symbolism and what certain shapes, numbers, or object might mean. We practiced in the sketchbook then transferred those ideas to black paper outlining our trees in white, adding details in color, and accenting with metallic paint or markers. Materials Sketchbook Pencil Tempera Paint Metallic Paint/ Markers The Tree of life is an important symbol used by many theologies, philosophies and mythologies. It signifies the connection between heaven and earth and the underworld, and the same concept is illustrated by Gustav Klimt's famous mural, The Tree of Life. For Klimt's admirers, the mural also has another significance, being the only landscape created by the artist during his golden period. Klimt used oil painting techniques with gold paint, to create luxurious art pieces, during that time.
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AuthorI have a passion for the visual arts and love sharing it with others. I have enjoyed teaching all ages and love to incorporate art history and traditional disciplines as well as innovative ideas. Art is vital to who I am as a creator and educator. Archives
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