Iowa Catholic Radio: Saint Poster Voting is up!

Happy to announce website winners for Iowa Catholic Radio's Saint Poster Contest!

Great job to everyone that was involved with creating these masterpieces! I might be a little bias, but I think my kids are the best. Way to go Anna, Jack, Kelly, Kevin, Mairan, and Nicole!

One student winner from each school's division is featured.
So, VOTE for the grand prize winner by going to Poster Contest! 

There are 3 division  (K-3rd), (4th-6th), (7th-8th).

Voting is easy.

Simply click one (or all) of the divisions below and fill out the short form highlighting the art you're voting for. The theme for the contest is "Saints" and the winning art in each division will be printed on a folder and distributed to every student during Catholic Schools Week.

Ready? Set? Vote!

5th Grade: Op art

Fifth grade looked at the op-art works of  Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely. Op-art is art work that fools the viewers eye into seeing reality change either by giving the impression of movement, color-changes, vibrating patterns, hidden images, swelling, or warping.

Our assignment was to create an image that appeared to go backwards in space with spheres that seemed to pop out at the viewer.

Students were given few options to test which would give the best illusion of a warped space.
They could choose to color in their background like a checkerboard board or rings, add gradation to some spaces, or change the directions of their curves throughout the background.

Many discovered that the best spheres were ones with curved lines; straight lines were discovered to make the sphere look flat. Also. as their lines went to their vanishing-point their stripes should get thinner and closer together.
I am so proud my fifth graders willing to experiment with the unknown. When they do the testing themselves it seems to stick better than when I tell them 'just do it.'

Kindergarten and 8th Grade Buddies: Collaboration Art

I can not take all the credit for this lesson. That credit goes to BusyMockingBird. She and her 4 year old daughter collaborate during their art project to create some that is truly unique and imaginative.
The mom starts the drawing by drawing a face, then her daughter takes over by drawing the body and background. Finally, BusyMockingBird adds extra color to complete the collaboration.

Here at SFA our 8th graders have been teamed up with a Kindergarten Buddy. Together they have made some awesome pieces of art.
Mrs. Heath, our middle school art teacher here at SFA, had her 8th graders practice drawing faces using proportions. Their faces were then turn over to my little ones for the finishing touches.
Kindergartners were not allowed to change their partners marks, but they could add around them. They have great imaginations! 8th grade decided that the pictures turned out way better when gave up some control and let things just be creative.
Later, 8th grade will be writing short stories about the images and reading them to back to their Kindergarten buddies. I know these stories will be amazing!

"Day of the Dead" Through Spanish/Art Collaboration

Do you know the words "Calaveras", or "Papel Picado"? Ask a our students and they can tell you! The Spanish and art classes collaborated to teach our students about the popular Mexican holiday called "Dia de los Muertos" or "Day of the Dead" which takes place place October 31 - November 2. Far from being a sad time, it is a celebration of the lives of those who have died. It pays tribute to the circle of life and death and ensures that the stories of ancestors are passed down. Families gather and put out favorite foods, flowers and candles for the spirits' yearly visit.

The students at the school have built an "ofentda"  or "altar" to show honor and to celebrate those who have died. It is located down by they school office.

• Kindergarten used coffee filters to create colorful marigolds, also called cempasúchitl, symbolize death. Their strong fragrance also help lead the dead back to their altars. Marigold petals may also be sprinkled on the floor in front of the altar, or even sprinkled along a path from the altar to the front door, so that the spirit may find her way inside.
• First grade created candles to welcome the spirits back to their altars and families.
• Second grade studied how bones worked to create poses for their calacas, skeletons doing everyday activities.
• Third grade painted rocks to appear as sugar-skulls, calavera, which are used as offerings and tasty treats.
• Fourth grade drew images of people or pets they would like to honor for the holiday. They included a small paragraph about who they chose and why.
• Fifth grade built monarch butterflies out of mix-media. Why butterflies? Monarch butterflies arrive at their winter home around the same time as Day of the Dead. They symbolize the souls returning to earth for their yearly visit.
• Sixth grade learned how to create papel-picado, paper cut images, banners depicting Day of the Dead symbols.
• Seventh grade worked metal foil to create a relief of calavera images.
• Eighth grade built relief sculpture masks.

2nd Grade: Leaves and Ripples

Second grade took some time to carefully study leaves. We did some observation drawing to capture the rips, tears, spots, and colors that help make each leaf unique. Students started in pencil then switched to crayon to sealing in their marks with wax. (My rule was no tracing!)

Next, we studied what would happen if our leaves fell into a puddle. Ripples, of course! The students discovered that ripples started around each leaf then grew into the other ripples as they went outwards. 

Our ripple lines were created by using water-soluble markers. We used expo overhead markers, but crayola washable markers would work just fine. Carefully, we circled around each leaf in turn until we could not get our marker through without crossing over another line; when that happened we treated it as a single item and traced around both objects. 

After tracing we 'painted' over our marker lines with water. The water caused the markers to bleed giving the appearance depth with in artwork. Some were worried about the water destroying their leaf drawings, but the wax in the crayons helped to keep their leaf marks safe.

Lastly, we added white painted lines following along with our ripples lines to give the illusion of light reflecting off the water and back into our eyes.

Students had great predictions about ripples, and how water and wax would react with one another. They proved to be real scientist as they experimented to test their theories to find out the answers to their questions. 

1st Grade: Faith Ringgold

Recently in first grade we read the story of Tar Beach written and illustrated by Faith Ringgold. Tar Beach is a story about a little girl on the rooftop of a tall building at night. The little girl talks about her family and how she wants things better for them. In the story it talks about how sometimes people are not fair to people that might look different than they do. As a result, her family becomes the inspiration for her new adventure.
As the story goes on the little girl learns how to fly. When she flies over things she can claim them as her own or for someone else. She flies over many places for her family and herself.

The kids discussed what they might fly over and who they might give it to. Many chose to draw themselves flying over something with their family or friends. The kids thought it was best to share the wonders we found.

Faith Ringgold is know for integrating quilts into her artwork, so around the frame we added 'quilt' piece created by using texture plates.

Texture rubbings we used as quilt squares.

Flying over Lego factory

Flying over the school with his brother

Flying over the Art Center with her friends

8th Grade: Shattered Images

Eight grade have been working on Value, one of the seven Elements of Art. Value refers to the lightness and darkness of a tones or color.
For this project we used observational drawing skills to recreate an image of a bird or other animal using simple contour lines. After that, we divided our paper using five lines going across our paper; curved or straight both work. If the lines went through our animal even better, the more spaces in our creature the better.

They then used these spaces to demonstrate their skills in creating gradation of values from the darkest dark all the way to white. I suggested that in each space that they angled their value slightly differently so their image would stand out.
They turned out amazing!

I love that he added patterns on top of his shading.
He figured out this style himself. Way to go!

Day of the Dead

We are celebrating Day of the Dead, called Dia de Muertos in Spainish. It is a Mexican holiday that falls on November 1st and 2nd of each year. On the Day of the Dead, the boundaries between life and death begin to blur. Men, women, and children of all ages honor and celebrate their loved ones who have passsed away, participating joyously in a festival that has roots nearly 4000 years old. To help celebrate, students will be creating different ofrendas to go on our altar here at school.

Ofendas are an essential part of the Day of the Dead celebration. The word ofrenda means offering in Spanish. During day of the  Dead, Dia de Muertos, families and friends will go to the cemeteries to clean up where their loved ones are buried. They may bring flowers, food, or objects the person enjoyed in life, ofrendas. If they are honoring a child the family and friends might bring toys and candy. Often there will be pictures set-out to remind the living what the person looked like. 

Sometimes altares, altars, are created at home because families are unable to attend the grave-site or they want a more intimate reminder of those who have gone on before. The altars will hold a pictures of the people the family and friends are honoring along with: candles, foods, marigolds, sugar-skulls (calavera),images of Saints, tequila for the adults, milk or water for the children, rosaries, pan los muertos (bread of the dead), incense, fresh fruit, salt, and other symbolic ofrendas. These are the items the spirit may enjoy when they come back to earth to visit their family and friends.

The soulds that visit their altars do not actually eat or drink what is on the altar. They can't-- -they have no bodies! Instead, they absorb the aroma and energy of the food, which nourishes their spirits.

After the holiday is over, the foods and drinks on the altar are distributed among the family and friends. 

What an amazing time to remember and experience joyful representation of the duality of life and death! 

2nd Grade: Op-Art

Second Grade's Op Art.
We learned that op-artists tried to fool the eye of the viewer into seeing something that really wasn't there such as a hand popping up under a sheet of paper.
We first traced our hands lightly with pencil and later erased it. Next, we used horizontal lines across the background, curving them slightly when they went over the wrist and hand. After that, we talked about how light and shadows might interact with a raised bump. Many of my 2nd graders were up for the challenge! Finally, we colored between our lines. Some got very creative with their lines by using squiggles and zig-zags instead of soiled colors.