The Art Room

Winter Arrives with a Gust of Art

Art Updates for the end of the Quarter:                  

3rd grade is bringing home their Fall Leaves project and starting a Printmaking unit.  We will be focusing on drawing forms as we create our snowman to print.  Look for these coming home in January!

4th grade is finishing their Winter Tree projects.  By changing the way we apply the paint with the paintbrush, we have learned how to create different textures. 

5th grade is finally finishing their Still Life of an Owl.  They have worked very hard to finish them and used many mature techniques such as shading colors together.  I know that you will be just as impressed as I have been!

Wishing you all the best this holiday season and a Happy New Year! 

-Mrs Palen

November here we come...

As we enter into the month of November, all grades are starting new projects.

Third grade is beginning a unit on color theory as they work on the Fall Leaves project.  They will use color, overlapping lines, and different leaf shapes as they create an interesting composition.  Color theory will then be used.  Color theory is explains what happens as certain color mix together and why it happens.  Can you name the primary colors?  How about the secondary colors?  Ok, ok...do you know what the intermediate colors are?  If not, just ask a third grader!

                                                     

Fourth grade is starting to work on their Winter Tree project.  As we use real life observation, we learn how to draw a realistic tree without putting a green cloud shape on top.  We will use different painting techniques to obtain different textures.  We can't wait for you to see them!

 

Fifth grade is working on the Owl Still Life.  After learning about the 3 art theories (realism, expressionism, and formalism), we began work drawing a real owl that is in the classroom.  Don't worry; it is not alive.  We are working on obtaining correct proportion, texture, and ccolor to get the most realistic drawing possible.  We are working very hard on this project, so please give us a couple more weeks before demanding to see the masterpieces.

Falling into Art!

 
As many of you may know, Veteran's Day is next month.  To show our appreciation to those who have protected this country, 3rd grade will have a Veteran's Day Program.  Please remember to bring in any pictures of family members who have served in the past or who may be currently serving in the US military.  Give these pictures to either myself or Mrs. Brown in a plastic bag labeled with your name, the name of your family member, how they are related to you, and any other information you would like to include.

 

Please enjoy this patriotic art!

This was painted by the world famous Pop Artist Jasper Johns.  Painted in 1958, this painting titled Three Flags uses a popular image, which is what all pop artists used.  They wanted everyone to know what they made and why they made it.  Jasper Johns was born in Allendale, South Carolina, and you can tell that he is proud of his country!  Try to create your own patriotic art.

WOW! What a great start!

Due to testing and short art classes the week of Sept. 14-18, all projects will be extended for one more week.  After completion, they will be graded and sent home.  Please enjoy the following art work by professional artists based on the skills and concepts we just learned.

3rd grade: VALUE and MONOCHROMATIC PAINTINGS

 Oil painting by artist Jennifer McDuffie

Does this painting make you feel blue?

4th grade: VALUE & SHADING in pencil

Charcoal drawing by artist Hilary Brace

Can you believe this is a drawing?  That is some pretty AWESOME shading!

5th grade: ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE

Oil painting  

 Do you see the vanishing point?

Thanks for visiting,

Mrs. Palen

First Units ofthe Year!

We are finally off to the first unit of the year in each grade level.

3rd grade is focusing on the value of color.  Value simply describes the lightness or darkness of a color.  After learning to mix different values of a color and creating a value scale, we are starting to draw the frog that will be painted in a monochromatic manner (using only values of one color).

 

4th grade is also focusing on value, as we learn to shade.  Where is the light coming from and how is the object oriented?  These are some of the questions students must ask themselves before they can shade an object to give the illusion that it is 3-D.  They have started working on the Leaky Pipes projects where they draw a series of interesting pipes and shade them.

5th grade has begun to work on drawing realistically and three-dimensionally as they are learning to use one point perspective.  Each student will draw a landscape that will look amazing!

A New Year!!!

Welcome back to all 4th and 5th grade students, and welcome all new and 3rd grade students!  My name is Mrs. Palen, and this year will be my fifth year teaching here at Big Shanty Intermediate.  I am so excited to be starting a new year of fresh and exciting art.

The focus in Art this year will include many aspects:

• To better use and understand the Elements and Principles of Design (EPD).
• To create drawings, paintings, sculptures, printmaking & other crafts using the EPD.
• To use art as a tool to learn about history and other cultures.
• To communicate visually and creatively.
• To use tools and materials safely and wisely.

In their first class, students will go over teacher expectations of the students as well as what they can expect this year.  They will all start on a portfolio that will be used throughout the year to store and organize artwork.  I can't wait to start our first project next week!

End of the Year

Wow, I just can't believe how fast this year has gone!  We are all wrapping things up and trying to get everything finished.  Third grade finished the Ancient Egyptian Death Mask project with just enough time for one more short texture project.  Fourth grade finished the Papunya Dot Paintings, and I must say that they have really turned out great!  Fifth grade's last project is a Pop Art project in which they made an over-sized playing card.  Each student chose their own theme, and their personality really came out. 

A local art facility, The Art Station, celebrated young artists recently in the Spotlight on the Arts exhibit.  Congratulations to the following students whose artwork was displayed:

• Jordan Sesan
• Katie Stenzel
• Mason Jeans
• Delaney Rickles
• Anthony Bolden
• Sarah Andrews
• Autumn Camp
• Sean Prewitt
• Mackenzie Sicard
• Austin Bushnell

Thank you all for another great year.  I wish you all the best summer ever.  Third and fourth graders, I will see you next year.  Fifth graders, I have enjoyed the last three years more than you know.  I will miss you, and good luck next year!

Love Always,

Mrs. Palen

Spring into the Art Room

With Spring Break just around the corner, we are working hard to get another project finished.

3rd grade is wrapping up the Ancient Egyptian Death Mask project.  The golden mask made famous with the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in 1922 has been used as a tool to create many other beautiful masks by our students.  After coloring with oil pastels, the last step is to use a hieroglyphic code to sign our work.  The treasures of Tutankhamen's tomb can be seen in the TUTANKHAMEN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHARAOHS exhibit which is currently in Atlanta.  For more info go to  http://www.kingtut.org/home

   

4th grade is taking a dream time journey through Australia with Aborigines as we begin a Papunya Dot Painting.  Each student is using native symbols to tell a story with the use of tradition colors and of course, dots.

                                                                  

5th grade has been working hard (and getting really messy) with Paul Cezanne inspired still lifes.  Each student has chosen a bowl filled with fruits and vegetables to draw and is adding color through the use of chalk pastels.  Our fingers are messy, but our work is looking great!

Fun Fact: This work by Paul Cezanne is the most expensive still life painting in history.  In 1999, it sold for $60.5 million dollars!

If you can tell me the name of this painting, you will get a special treat!

Art Update

3rd Grade- Our self portraits are amazing!  We have really learned how to draw a realistic face.  Look for these to come home soon.  Next, we will use our knowledge of drawing the human face as we move on to our new unit Ancient Egypt.  After learning about the famous pharaoh Tutankhamen, or King Tut, we will be creating a portrait of his legendary, golden death mask.

4th Grade- We are almost finished with the dragons.  After learning about the influence on art that your culture may have, we created dragons of either a western or eastern influence.  The oil pastels give a bright and bold look to the dragons on the black paper.  The students are excited to share their work with you!

5th Grade- The clay reliefs are coming home!  They all have a hole so that they can be easily hung on the wall.  Simply hang a nail and enjoy!  We will be looking at the work of the well-known Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne who is most famous for his many fruit still lifes.  We too will be creating our own fruit still life using chalk pastels.

 

Happy New Year

I hope that everyone had a restful and relaxing break and have come back ready for the new year!

The Art Room is buzzing with new activity.  Everyone is starting new projects, and it is an exciting time!

3rd grade is learning about the human face as we start drawing our own self portraits.  Using mirrors will help us to make our portraits look even more like us!

4th grade is celebrating Chinese New Year by learning about the dragon.  Depending upon where you live in the world, you may have different ideas about what they may look like or how they act.  We have looked at dragons with a western influence as well as those with an eastern influence.  Now we are using texture to create our own idea of a dragon using both glue and oil pastels.

5th grade is finishing up their owls, and will be moving on to the clay unit.  We have been anxiously awaiting our turn at clay, and they should be coming home in February!