 This year my Picassos and I did a bit of exploring! We looked at Christmas traditions around the world and we focused on Russia for our art piece! Children in Russia don't have Santa Claus... they have a similar figure called Grandfather Frost or Ded Moroz. He's actually tied more to winter than he is to Christmas. We learned that Christmas was banned in Russia from the early 1920s right up until 1991! During that time Christmas was celebrated by very few people and only in secret. Trees may have been put up but they were called New Year Trees, not Christmas Trees. Since Russians follow the Orthodox Church they celebrate Christmas on January 7th and Grandfather Frost dressed in either his elaborate red or blue coat grants children's wishes or brings presents. He also doesn't have reindeer... nope his sleigh is carried by 3 white horses that represent the three months of winter! After our very interesting discussion, the kids drew Grandfather Frost in an abstact style and we started painting him in using tints and shades of red, pink and orange. The focus here is using colour to demonstrate warm and cool colour pallets and how they can be used to make things either advance or recede.
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 I got this sweet little book for my own children (also from The Little Bookworm TT) last Christmas and as soon as I saw it I knew there was an art lesson in it somewhere... Lol! It's written in Spanlish and it's about a Mexican familia and all their preparations for Christmas Day! "Twas Nochebuena and all through our casa, every creature was kneading tamale masa..." You get the idea 😍 This is one of those beautiful rhythmic books that's just a joy to read and of course there's the added benefit that the kids get to hear about another culture and another language while creating some beautiful art! My Warhols were introduced to artist Gustav Klimt. They learned a bit about the artist himself, but they really focused on what made his style unique. He helped to shape a movement called Art Nouveau or new art. This movement was all about using symbolism to make statements in art and this is exactly what they did. They were challenged to look at two local icons, Wendy Fitzwilliam and calypsonian Shadow. They will use Klimt's style of including lots of gold and metallics in their piece but they will also bring the focus to the background and instead of using Klimt's motifs, they will practice symbolism by including local flowers and birds and other symbols that speak to their subject with a nod to Klimt. I just love how they're moving around the space, getting into the different aspects and really putting their mark on their piece! YAY for creativity! This is going to take two weeks so check out what they've done so far!  The Picassos heard all about Gustav Klimt who was born in Vienna in 1862. His father, a gold engraver, taught Gustav how to work with gold. When Gustav was older he used gold, tiny pieces of colored glass and stones to make images that were inspired by Byzantine Mosaics. This was called his “GOLDEN PHASE” Klimt was a part of a group of artists that were tired of traditional art and wanted their art to symbolize something beyond the canvases. They used bright colors, swirling lines and curves. They called this new style of art ART NOUVEAU. Klimt was famous for his paintings of women. They were both decorative and abstract. He’s most famous for his painting The Tree of Life but he’s also done numerous portraits, mostly of women, so I decided to go the portrait route. My Picassos drew a simplified version of a Klimt lady wearing a robe. They created patterns and really zeroed in on using pattern and colour that was indicative of the ART NOUVEAU period. This one will take two classes so stay tuned to see how they turn out!  My Picassos and Warhols are exploring the wondrous art of Klimt so of course my little Doodlebugs are going to get a taste as well! We talked about the main characteristics of Art Nouveau and how Klimt loved to use real gold in this his art work! They used all the patterns and the metallics characteristic of the man and created some gorgeously shimmering fish!  I decided to do a lesson that puts a fun little spin on all the rain we've been experiencing in the beginning of this lovely rainy season! Of course, the day I decided to do this collage of a cute child decked off in raincoat and boots under an umbrella there was not a cloud in sight! In fact it might have been one of the hottest days ever! LOL We had fun never the less and the kids got to practice cutting... an activity I have to say the absolutely NEVER get tired of doing! They are always soooo excited to get their hands on a pair of scissors and truth be told, if I think really hard, I remember the feeling! The inspiration for the actual composition came from a book of the same name and the cover is pictured above.  Divali is in the air and while the Hindu community is immersed in prayer and fasting, the rest of us can't wait to take in the colour, food and fashion that culminate on Divali day! My Picassos are creating an abstract-styled Indian dancer but my Warhols tackled one that's a bit more realistic. They got the chance to really focus on painting a figure in motion, while also getting to work in all those fun elements like colour and using brushstrokes to show movement! Just love this piece! A couple of my girls opted to paint a lady all decked out in a gorgeous sari so not a dancer but still very very beautiful! I got this gorgeously illustrated and colourful book from my subscription to The Little Bookworm and both my children and I enjoyed it so much I knew I had to read it in class! It's a picture book version (with a twist of course) of how Ganesha came to write the epic poem of Hindu literature the Mahabharata. Reading through the pages of this book gave us the opportunity to talk about lots of things. like Hindu sweets, Hindu Gods and the bright and beautiful colours of India. Take a look as they use collage to recreate an image from the book. Each child hit the pieces to make Ganesha in a little jumble and they had to sort through and put the pieces together to make the complete picture, then they stuck and decorated! |
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Be a fly on the wall in our art room! Take a look at what we do, how we do it and the smiles that I get to see week after week :) Archives
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