Collaboration - Elementary School Art Auction Pieces

This is the Kindergarten Classes Collaborative Piece 22"x17"

On top of the individual and collage art auction pieces I've created a collaboration piece for each individual class. My collaboration pieces are a mosaic puzzle of an image. Here are my steps:

1) I created the piece on an 8.5x11 piece of paper with just the outlines (like a coloring book page.) 
2) I then blew it up on a copier so that it became a 22" by 17" piece.
3) Using oil pastels, I matched the colors to the original inspirational painting.
4) I cut it into squares depending on the number of students in my class. (16 or 24)
5) I laminated the squares individually.
6) In a plastic bag I put the the individual laminated square, and the identical uncolored square, plus the oil pastels used to color in that specific part.
7) I know my students abilities so I made sure to match the artist skill to the complexity of the square.
8) I'll spray a fixitive on top and mount them together to create a single piece. 

This is the first grade collaborative piece 17"x22"

First Grade Art Auction Piece - Mondrian

Inspired by the work of artist Piet Mondrian

Teaching young children that more isn't always best is hard. When they are learning about what they can do in art they want to do it all. Piet Mondrian and his minimalism approach to his art is truly inspiring. Introducing this to my first grade class has been interesting. I used a worksheet I found on Pinterest from a blog called Once Upon an Art Room. It helped the kids think about the shapes in a Mondrian painting.

Last week I had the kids do a practice run using markers and crayons. They drew their lines with rulers and went over them with black and then filled in some of the shapes with primary colored crayons. The biggest thing for a good number of kids to overcome was drawing so many lines on the page that it became similar to a checkerboard. Limiting them to 10 lines would have helped.

This week we will put pre-cut painters tape down on 6"x 6" pieces of tagboard paper. They only have 6 pieces of tape to work with, so that will eliminate their desire to add too many lines. If we have time we will start painting some of the pieces in with acrylic primary colors. I will require them to at least leave two white squares to balance their use of color.

Next week to finish up. We will remove all of the painters tape, color in the white lines left behind with marker and then touching that up with black acrylic paint. 

I will mount three student pieces on one black mounting board, ready for the art auction!  

Art Auction Research

Oil Pastel version of Van Gogh's Starry Night
I did this as an example for my students.

Third grader adaptation of Starry Night

I am planning a fundraising art auction for the elementary school where I teach art. Each grade will contribute their own projects for the auction. I've never planned this kind of event before. I know schools do this on a regular basis but I've been unable to find a blog or books on how to do this successfully. I've found art auction project ideas around Pinterest and art teacher blogs, but I'm bummed that I haven't been able to find any planning information. 

So, the wheels have started turning. I'm going to track my process on my blog and possibly turn it into a book? If I can figure out how to raise money for my school through an art auction, then maybe it's a way to save art in other schools.

Art beautifies our classrooms, our homes, our life and yet it's the first subject to be cut in school. Recently, my third grade class used oil pastels to replicate master artist, Vincent Van Gogh's, Starry Night. These are perfect individual pieces for an art auction. 

Color Mixing Acrylic Paint - Elementary Art

 

It is all about the COLOR! I didn't start painting until I was in college, which left me scrambling to learn the basics. I love the fact that I get to explore color with young children. With this project I did the following:

 

1) On a plate I gave the students (K-5 classes) all three primary acrylic colors, and the three mixtures to make up the secondary colors.

2) Each table had a pile of Q-tips to mix up their secondary colors.

3) They used those  Q-tips to apply their colors in a rainbow-like pattern.

4) I allowed the kids to choose whatever kind of patter they wanted, I just asked that they painted patterns and not a scene or mix all the colors together on the page.

Value ART ELEMENT - Elementary Art Project

Artwork Provided by a Kindergarten Student 

This Project was split between two class periods. The goal was to introduce students to the effect color value has on the mood of a piece of art. 

I was very specific on their colors, separating the light colored pencils from the dark colors so they weren't confused. 

Artwork Provided by a Third Grade Student

I drew the butterfly on a computer with Adobe Illustrator and printed it on card stock two-up so that each butterfly could be completed in a class period.

I encouraged the students to create patterns in the wings of the butterflies. When asked if they felt a certain way while working on each piece, quite a few mentioned they felt happier working with the light colors. I know that the colors effected me when I produced the sample. I was much happier working with the lighter colors.

Elementary Art - CONTOUR LINES

Introducing Shape as an Art Element– Contour/Negative and Positive

Talking about positive and negative shape. The positive shape is the object. The shape of the
space surrounding the object is the negative shape. We will work with contour lines around the object.

Project: Glue a shape onto the middle of the page and draw contour lines around the shape.

                Goal: Fine motor skills

                Materials: Card stock, pencil, glue stick, cut shape.

Kindergarten Students exploring
contour lines around a solid object

Art Palette - 3rd grader - contour lines on the negative shape
Scissors - 1st grader - contour lines around the positive shape

2nd Grade Student - Combo of Insect directed draw
and contour lines

3rd Grade Student - Contour lines around
Positive object