1st grade painting

I cannot get over how beautiful these paintings are.  1st graders examined the overlapping shape paintings of Robert Delaunay.  They sketched their own overlapping shapes and painted them, and then used black lines to create unity.  

3rd grade Abstract Food Paintings

3rd graders are exploring realism vs abstraction.  For this assignment, they were asked to come up with six foods and portray them in an abstract way, thinking about the foods as textures, patterns, and colors.  This was my first time doing this lesson (I was first exposed to the lesson in a college painting class!) and it went great!  The kids loved it.  They especially loved sharing their paintings with their friends as they guessed each others foods.  

How the World Works: Structure and Function in Art

3rd graders practiced and improved upon their observational skills in this still life drawing activity (thanks for the idea, Princess Artypants).  They observed actual flowers in vases and defied their preconceived notions of what a flower can actually look like.  

Another component of this lesson was examining the art of Chinese blue and white pottery.  Why did they use only blue?  How did they paint such precise details? Specifically, we examined the Blue Willow pattern and learned the story behind the pattern.  Who knew a vase could tell a story?

1st grade: Symbols from other cultures

1st graders are learning about signs and symbols in their classroom for How We Organize Ourselves, so I am trying to incorporate multicultural art projects that relate to symbols.  We examined the art of the Aborigines, who created wonderful dot paintings and used symbols to communicate.  1st graders made their own animal dot paintings and decorated the frames with aboriginal symbols and symbols of their own.