Thursday, December 29, 2016

Navajo Weaving


4th grade experimented with weaving in our Native American art unit while looking at the artworks of the Navajo people. These kids got to experiment with circle weaving last year with our Van Gogh Sunflowers and this one was actually a little easier. 

After we added string, we colored the rest with Sharpie markers. Some students chose to stick to natural colors to emulate real Navajo weaving, but others couldn't stay away from bright colors. Either way, they are great! 








Hopi Pottery


For our Native American art unit, 3rd grade created cylindrical pinch pots inspired by Hopi pottery. We explored using natural colors and symbols. 






Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Coming Soon!


A YouTube channel for Art From Chaos is in the works! I will post how-to videos so that our students can try out projects from other grades as well as informational videos on what we are studying. I have one video up so far; How to Create a Japanese Tea Cup from Clay. Check it out and come back for more soon!

ALSO so proud of my opening jingle and animation?! Thanks to husband for helping me work out the kinks. 

Sumner County at the Frist Center!


This past weekend we had the reception for our amazing Sumner County students at the Frist Center of Visual Arts in Nashville. It was packed with families and friends of our tiny artists from 20 schools around Sumner County. Thank you so much to everyone who participated, Andy Daniels from Sumner County Schools BOA and to the Frist Center for hosting us. You've made these upcoming artists feel so important!

PACKED room for our opening remarks.








Sunday, December 25, 2016

Happy Holidays!


Normally, I don't do "holiday" projects. But I was feeling extra jolly this year. 




3rd grade created the gorgeous painted paper poinsettia collages.




4th grade marker-printed some ornaments then added them to our realistic tree branch designs done with oil pastel. 



5th grade practiced 1 and 2 point perspective to make these beautiful present collages/cards.

Now back to real projects...

Monday, November 14, 2016

Google Doodle!



This week, many of our classes are taking part in the 2016 Google Doodle challenge. This is a national competition with amazing prizes for the winning student and their school. For more information and a replacement form, go to the Google Doodle site here. 

Contest closes December 2nd, but if our GES students want to submit a doodle with us, I will be mailing them off next Wednesday, November 23rd. Make sure to return all submission materials to me before you leave for Thanksgiving break if you want to send it with us! :) 

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Japanese Tea Cups


After looking at some beautiful Japanese tea cups and discussing how they differ from our tea cups and coffee mugs (no handles, cylindrical, thin) 5th grade created their own cups from clay. They did a wonderful job forming their tea cups and making them nice and smooth.




Once the clay dried, we used paint to add color and details. They were encouraged to use designs from examples of Japanese artworks (cherry blossoms, koi fish, kanji, etc.). So pleased with the results! Some day we will have a kiln and will be able to make real ceramic projects that we can drink out of. So if you are a parent visiting our page, please note that this is air dry clay and is NOT food safe. As I have informed the children, if you try to drink from these, you will get a mouth full of mud and paint. It is not advisable. :D 












Thursday, September 29, 2016

Cactuses & Patterns


1st grade took their knowledge of patterns and colors to create these amazing Mexican cactus paintings! We started with a guided drawing to create the pot and different kinds of cactuses. We added patterns to the flower pot and outlined everything with Sharpie to make our lines bold. After that, we viewed different skies from photographs and tried to recreate what we saw. Thank you Jamestown Elementary blog for the inspiration! 















Video Here!