a job well DONE

In 2 days, it will be the LAST day of the school year. Wow, the time really did fly by. I started out with students who were average (with a few exceptions) in their artistic abilities and I helped shape their talents and direct their creative minds to become better artists than I had hoped for. Looking back on all the artwork we created together, I can't help but feel proud and accomplished. This year, I was on top of my game. Years ago, I incorporated more crafty projects but this year I focused my program on the finer arts. I introduced famous artists to my students and challenged them to use one of the artist's work as inspiration for their own recreation. Of course, I guided them through EVERY step and taught them art terms, theories and techniques. I also made sure to expose my little artists to different mediums to help broaden their imaginations and skills.

Here are some student examples of the projects we've done since the last time I've posted them.

This project took me weeks! I made clay handprints with my 4yr olds for Mother's Day.
Watercolor pandas with my 4 year olds for Father's Day.
I read the story Rainbow Fish to my 4 year olds, then we recreated the fish in the story with crayons and watercolor paint. We also added glitter to a few scales.

My 4 year olds made crayon and watercolor tulips for Mother's Day.
My 5 year olds used watercolor pencils to draw their swirly floral bouquets for Mother's Day.
The artist, Kandinsky, was introduced to my 5 year olds before recreating one of his color studies.
Here, my 5 year olds painted a cactus with watercolors for Father's Day.
I went over "negative space" with my 6 year olds. We drew the background (negative space) first, and the bunnies just...showed up :)

Here, my 6 year olds learned about the artist Jim Dine and then used one of his bathrobe drawings as inspiration for their Father's Day art. We used oil pastels.
I went over the artist, Paul Klee with my 6-7 year olds and we recreated his Castle and Sun with oil pastels.
For Easter, my 7 year olds recreated one of Magritte's works. The famous painting is of a large green apple in the middle of a room, but for Easter we replaced it with a giant egg. We used pastels and colored pencils and learned about how light casts shadows.
My 7 year olds used pastels again for this Georgia O'Keeffe recreation of a white shell.
My 7-8 year olds learned about Vincent Van Gogh and used his many paintings of sunflowers to recreate their own sunflower art with oil pastels. We were careful to try and copy his brushstroke techniques by making lots of little lines and dashes.
My 7-8 year olds used acrylic paint on canvas to recreate Paul Klee's Senecio, for Father's Day. We sponge painted a few of the final details at the end.
My 8 year olds recreated this Georgia O'Keeffe painting using pastels and watercolors for Mother's Day.
This was my FAVORITE project of the whole year. My 8 year olds learned about Vincent Van Gogh and they tried to copy his painting style using short lines and dashes with oil pastels. We recreated his Wheatfield with Crows, for Father's Day.
My 8 year olds recreated one of Laurel Burch's mystical horses using oil pastels and watercolors.
FABULOUS work, my little munchkins. I always refer to them as "munchkin land" and they get a kick out of it :) I'm looking forward to seeing what great creations we come up with NEXT year. I'll lose my oldest class to the other art teacher (who teaches the older kids) and I'll get a fresh new batch of 4 year olds. Have a great summer :)