Kimono Collage

FINALLY getting around to posting about 3rd grade's fantastic Kimono collages from our Japanese Art unit.

The kimonos are made from coffee filters. We colored them with markers then sprayed them with water to create a "tie-dye" effect. Then we used a template on various skin-toned papers to create our people and dressed them up!  We also added scraps of ribbon and cloth for an extra dimension. Love how unique these are. ^_^

Why yes, there is a video. My first video, such a sweet baby.

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 

Koi Collage

So, 4th grade was totally amazed by the wet-on-wet watercolor painting technique we used! We sprayed our paper with water then added dots of blue paint. The colors spread out and gave our artworks a WOW factor! You can see the wet-on-wet painting in action on our Twitter page. We also used "pigeon finger" splatter painting and salt for more texture and variety.

After our paint dried, we created pop-up 3D koi fish based on real koi fish designs. We got a beautiful view of warm and cool colors working together. The final touch was a white oil pastel for ripples in the water. Love these and they were so fun to make! 

Pagodas

Inspired by the beautiful architecture of Japan's pagodas, second grade created monochromatic paintings using values of blue. After drawing and painting our pagoda scenes, we collaged a mini us onto our artworks. These kids did a great job using only 1 color!  

Check the how-to video here!

Cherry Blossom Paintings

SO happy with these amazing cherry blossom paintings from 1st grade! We used the paint blowing techniques I learned at this summer's Tennessee Arts Academy workshop to form the branches. Check out our twitter for some videos of these branch-makers in action! 

After we added the branches, we used tissue paper and glue for the cherry blossom petals. Finally, we added some kanji of common words and ideas.

Video Here!