Artist of the Week 10 / 24 / 2018

All elementary school students in RSU 1, our school district, learn about the artist Vincent Van Gogh. Maybe you can picture his “Starry Night” with it’s many beautiful cool colors and shimmering halos of light around the yellow stars. One of the things that made Van Gogh’s paintings stand out from those of other artists of his time was the way that he let his brush strokes show instead of smoothing them out. 

After looking at and talking about Van Gogh’s work, 3rd Graders used his painting style as inspiration making these pumpkin patches. These are coming out great and will start going up in the hall this week! I would like to recognize a young man in Mr. Deane’s class who always makes Careful, Quality Work. He was also the first student to add a fence at the edge of his pumpkin patch, an idea that some others students added to their compositions. Nice work R.S. Student Artist of the Week!

Artist of the Week 10 / 17 / 2018

4th Graders have made some awesome motivational posters for our hallways using tempera water paint. As they finished 4th Graders had the opportunity to use the same paints for what might be considered a more creative project. We talked about the difference between line and shape, and came to the conclusion that when lines connect they can make shapes. In this project students were asked to make a design using only lines, no shapes! This could be non-representational or representational. The student I am choosing to recognize this week has been practicing his skills and representing cars, which can be difficult to represent realistically. Usually when students try this line project they select a very small paint brush that allows them to make careful lines. This student selected a brush that may have seen better days, but allowed him to make multiple lines at once! Take some time to check out his awesome artwork! Did he make any closed shapes? Or are they all open lines? Nice work LS in Mrs. Towle’s 4th Grade!

Artist of the Week 10 / 10 / 2018

This was a particularly difficult week to choose an Artist of the Week. Students have been working hard to finish their designs for the Square 1 Fundraiser. I love seeing all the different ways students approach this project. I have seen everything from cartoon characters, to landscapes, to special messages to family members. I even saw a lighthouse that was inspired by the picture book One Morning In Maine! However, the student I am choosing to recognize is a 3rd Grader who did an extra special job on project that I asked students to do as they finished the Square 1 design. I demonstrated proper techniques for using Tempera water paint. I asked students to do a very specific assignment that focused on their fine motor skills and their ability to get the colors bright and vibrant and not to mix with each other or get muddy. Some students really liked doing this and even made two! One student created a really beautiful piece by first doing the assignment and then adding wavy lines on top. It came out awesome! Nice work D. M. in Mrs. Levesque’s 3rd Grade Class!

Artist of the Week 10 / 3 / 2018

Every year district Art Teachers work with the PTA (Parent Teacher Associations) to do the Square One fundraiser. This opportunity gives each student a sheet of stickers of their own design and the opportunity to have their design printed on different items like coffee mugs, aprons, keychains and pillows for a fair price with some of that money coming back to our school! In class we talked about Audience, in this case who will actually be buying items printed with our designs and of course creating Careful, Quality, Work.

This thoughtful student always does quality work. Recently I have seen many students trying to depict the beautiful colors of the sunset using tempera water paint. This student was able to create this effect using colored pencil. It looks awesome! Nice work E. M. in Ms. Hoskins 5th Grade Class!