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A frequent response, which I loved, from one of my old first grade students when I was a classroom teacher. His enthusiasm for learning and positivity is what I hope to instill in my K-2 artists as we imagine, create and explore together this school year!

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Giving WordPress a go to see where our art updates will end up staying.  Parents and students, let me know if you have any feedback on tumblr/wordpress.  Thanks!

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Quite the title there! The competition is put on by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and Starbucks. A great way to get your art out there! Have fun.

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Grade 1 Architects, what do you think of these structures?

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Collecting Ideas How did you spend National Day?  I went on a hike with my friends around Tai Tam Country Park and saw so many interesting things. I have a slight obsession with patterns in nature and also like to collect colour palettes for future pieces of work. Nothing better than capturing it from the great outdoors--which HK surprisingly does have plenty of. Find some time to enjoy nature with your family and keep an eye out for ideas for your art. Nature Rocks is a great site I found that has fun activities to do outdoors. Some of the content is US based but check out the extras.  I particularly like the Nature Treasure Hunt and the Journal for Kids--there is also a space for an illustration.   Sketching outdoors is great fun too! Just grab your sketchbook and a pencil or two.  Erasers not needed!

Grade 1 artists will soon be heading out of the classroom to do some sketches around school once the weather clears up.

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Bridges Class: Lanterns

We reviewed mixing purple for our evening sky background, then looked at symmetry and patterns for our lanterns.

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Typhoon Art

Thrilled to have received this in my inbox today! I can feel the wind blowing just looking at it.

What materials were used in this piece? What shapes do you see? Use your Looking at Art poster to discover more about this collage.

                                                                                                                   artist: Charis, P1D

Here is my finished piece. I was wondering today where all the birds go when there is a typhoon. They are sketched from a photo I took of a sculpture when I visited Taiwan.       

Did you make some art today too? Post a picture of it in the comments section below, send me a photo or bring it to school tomorrow/next week. We would all love to see your work!

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Typhoon Day!

Good morning artists!

What are you doing at home today?         What does the wind and rain make you think of?                  Have you had a peek up at the sky and looked out your window to see what is going on? Take some time to make some art today! Paint, draw, sketch, collage and show me your art tomorrow. Here's what I've been working on so far.  I'll let you see it when I am finished.

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Bridges Class: Paint and Clay Bridges artists began the year learning about secondary colours.  We practiced cutting and gluing using the papers we painted to complete our colour wheels. Apart from paint, we also tried mixing red, yellow and blue clay and made some sculptures afterwards.

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P1 Geometric and Organic Shapes (cycle five)

In this unit, artists will create a paper collage using various shapes to depict their favourite activity and the location it takes place. We started off by looking at this artwork: Three Musicians, Pablo Picasso.  We viewed this painting without knowing the title and used our Looking at Art poster  to help us (you can find this on eClass). Ask your child what they discovered and learned about the painting.  Vocabulary:

geometric shapes

natural/free-form/organic shapes (also check out SHAPE under Encyclopedia)

overlap

background

        As we practiced cutting out geometric shapes and creating pictures in our sketchbook, we checked for the following: 

I hold my scissors correctly.

I cut on the lines.

I use the glue stick properly. (Ask your child to tell you what properly entails.)

(Thumb up=I am doing a great job, Thumb sideways = I will keep practicing because I can do better.)

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Richard III

It’s the 40th Hong Kong Arts Festival this year (I am going by school years here)! Richard III was last weekend and it was brilliant. What I love about theatre is the intimacy of the performances and seeing how the story is just as much told by those offstage. In this production, I was most impressed by the simplicity of Tom Piper’s set design--walls with a series of doors which was seamlessly incorporated with the shadow projections and lighting. This shot doesn't quite do it justice but gives you an idea of what it was like.

        Another highlight was the percussion and keyboard transition between scenes. Reminded me of one of my all time favourite arts events in HK: Yamato  which was part of the New Vision Arts Festival (this takes place every other year so look out for it in the fall of 2012). An upcoming event you may be interested in taking your child to is WOW-World of Wearable Art. Hong Kong Arts Festival advance booking is just around the corner: Oct 4, 2011. Have a look at everything that's on offer this year. Now added to our class list of art related professions:

set designer

costume designer

lighting designer

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P1: LINES

What things do you think the artists considered in creating these works of art with yarn and beans?

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Grade 1: Cityscapes (cycle 5)

"Architecture is a small piece of this human equation, but for those of us who practice it, we believe in its potential to make a difference, to enlighten and to enrich the human experience, to penetrate the barriers of misunderstanding and provide a beautiful context for this life's drama"

Frank Gehry

        Grade 1 artists started off the Cityscape project by doing some building studies. We will be designing our own buildings and also exploring different ways to create visual texture to incorporate into the building designs.

           Artists we will be learning about and who will be inspiring us:

Frank Gehry

Antoni Gaudí

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

          Two great books to look out for:

Iggy Peck, Architect Author: Andrea Beaty, Illustrator: David Roberts Click here to listen to a reading of Iggy Peck, Architect Roberto, the Insect Architect Author: Nina Laden

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P1: Lines (cycle four)

P1s use yarn and beans to continue exploring line.  We looked at the similarities and differences between glue sticks and white glue bottles, then practiced using the glue bottles to draw lines.  Elmer’s is indeed the best white glue out there.

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Grade 1: Warm and Cool (cycle four) Artists finish adding details to their background and start making animals for their pictures using geometric and organic shapes.

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ART in HK

Two exhibits your child would enjoy seeing with you:

Outside the Box: Frank Gehry “The exhibition is a tribute to imagination and ingenuity. A selection of sketches, intricate models and stunning images will provide an inspiring journey of how one of the world’s most creative talent’s works were created from vision to reality.”

ArtisTree, 1/F, Cornwall House, TaiKoo Place, Island East, Hong Kong 09 September to 27 October 2011 10 am – 8 pm daily – Free admission Stories of our Neighbourhood “Cities are made up of jigsaws of little stories of their communities. Every street sign, building or shop witnesses the transformation of this city. Sino Group, Olympian City and “Art in Hong Kong” jointly present large-scale exhibition “Stories of our Neighbourhood”. Based on Tai Kok Tsui’s old shops and old district culture, Cheers Design, a creative team of four females, created a series of artworks comprising scene sets of old shops with illustrations, fotomos (three-dimensional photographic models), photography and videos. “

Central Atrium, G/F, Olympian City 2— 18 Hoi Ting Road, West Kowloon (MTR Olympian Station Exit A & D / Mongkok Station Exit C) 02 September  to  02  October 2011 10 am to 10 pm

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ART books

Here are a few of my favourite books that are now in the elementary library. Check them out and read with your family!   The Art Book for Children, Book Two Phaidon Press, 709REN

          This painting, which I saw at the LACMA over the summer, is in the book along with 2 other works by Magritte. Learn about him and 29 other artists from different periods.  The Black Book of Colors Menena Cottin, ECOT How do we see colour? How do others see colour? Beautiful tactile illustrations and descriptive writing. 

A Book About Color Mark Gonyea, E 701 GON A look at colour, shape and design. Art & Max David Wiesner, E WIE Two friends on a painting and creating adventure. Check out Wiesner’s picture on the inside back cover. Where is Jasper Johns? Debra Pearlman, 759.13 PEA Look for clues in Johns’ art to learn more about him. Discover new ways to look at and think about art. Art Patrick McDonnell, E MCD Art is an artist. How does he use lines, shapes and colours to create his art?

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P1 Looking at Art (cycle three)

 We finished off our unit by looking at and talking about this painting together.

        What do I see? Putting on our special art viewing glasses, we look at the whole artwork, the details, materials used, and elements of art--line, shape, colour

Ask questions With a thinking face in place (they are v. good at this), we ask ourselves: What do I notice first? How does the art make me feel? Does it remind me of anything?

What does the artist  want me to know? Like a detective with a magnifying glass, we focus on the art and try to figure out what the artist is trying to tell us.

Talk to other people We love to share, especially our ideas.  What do I think? What do you think?

In their table groups, artists then looked at and talked about a friend’s painting and collected some thoughts in their sketchbooks. P1s are now on an art hunt. When they spot an art piece, take the time to really look at and talk about it with them.