Monday, September 14, 2015

Art Theme, Week 3 (Value)

It's hard to believe that we've already made it through the first three weeks of school. Hopefully the time is passing so quickly because we are having fun!

Our Art Theme is still going strong. Last week, we studied the element of Value and explored the work of Georgia O'Keefe. While reading My Name is Georgia by Jeannette Winter, the sprouts studied the illustrations for examples of Value (shades of a color from light to dark). We added a new item to our "Art Smart" anchor chart.

Our "Art Smart" anchor chart for week 3 of theme.

Then, we spent the remainder of the week looking at examples of Georgia O'Keefe's work and experimenting with using value on our own. It turned out to be a really natural pairing because there example of value EVERYWHERE in her work. For example, we used colored pencils to create value in a copy of Blue and Green Music.

First Sprout discovered that adjusting pressure of your strokes with colored pencils could change the value of colors.

Our other big activity was loosely based on this art project designed to emulate Georgia O'Keefe's style. Since I wanted to incorporate value into the lesson, I switched our medium from watercolors to tempera paint ( I still used our thick watercolor paper as a base though). I had First Sprout draw a big flower using permanent marker. Then, I had her choose a color for her flower and dab it on the outer edge of the petals. Next, I had her dab white at the flower's center and blend the two colors together. First Sprout had free reign with the background,so she chose to experiment with color mixing to create the perfect shade of green for the leaves.The result was was a really great Value painting in the style of Georgia O'Keefe.

Blending purple and white to create petals with value.
First Sprout's final product.

Second Sprout chose to do a different art project on this day, which was okay by me. Even though I want to encourage experimentation with the various art elements during our theme, I want art primarily to be something fun. First Sprout is at the point where she enjoys the challenges more, whereas Second Sprout would rather go her own way (most days). I am primarily introducing these concepts as a way to learn about artists and art, without exerting pressure to perform.

I'm definitely loving this Art Theme and all of the wonderful conversations and art works that are coming out of it. For week 4, we are going to learn about the element of Shape in art and explore the works of Jackson Pollack. The sprouts already know a little bit about action art, and they are super excited! Until next time,

Happy Learning!

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