Mr. Mills Art Blog

Have a Great Summer!

All projects have been completed and grades have been entered. Above, you can see examples of the 6th grade monochromatic portraits, the 5th grade mosaics, and the 4th grade three-dimensional characters.

Since today is really the last day for most students, I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful summer, and I look forward to seeing everyone next year!

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Final Full Week

We have finished up almost all projects this week in fine arts. Grades will be put in next week in time for report cards.

The third graders have finished their final projects this week. Mr. Graves class has finished their ink paintings and Ms. Nadel’s class has finished their clay sculptures. Mr. Brown will be adding this work to their fourth quarter grades.

The fourth graders have either finished their three-dimensional characters or will be finishing them on Monday. I really liked how the students were able to transform their flat characters into three-dimensional beings. It is obvious many students learned a lot by creating these characters.

Also, Ms. Walsh and I presented the child labor propaganda posters the students worked on in November and December to a group of teachers this past Wednesday. We are part of a organization called CAPE that supports programs dealing with arts integration in the Chicago area. Above, you can see the exhibit. The small postcards have pictures of the students work along with some of the letters they sent world ambassadors asking them to stop child labor in their country. Ms. Walsh and I also got a chance to show video of the students working and creating the ideas for their posters. We were both certainly proud of all that was accomplished by both classes during this project!

The fifth graders have finished up their paper mosaics. Ms. Kaiser’s class will have a chance to take them home over the weekend, but they will be due no later than Monday.

The sixth graders are almost done with their monochromatic portraits. Unfortunately, I will not be able to display their portraits this year in the hallway since this is the last project of the year. It is always one of my favorite projects every single year because the final pieces are so strong!

I hope to return all artwork and sketchbooks next week. It has been a while since I have sent anything home. Please look out for it!

Until next week…

Walk-A-Thon

The Walk-A-Thon is certainly a major landmark of our school year here at Murray. Above, you can see some of the pictures of the event. Hopefully, the event was able to raise money for the programs we run here at Murray.

All of the classes are finishing up projects this week as we prepare for the end of the school year. The third graders are doing two different projects. Mr. Graves class is working on an ink painting inspired by Asian scrolls. Since they missed out on the field trip to the Hyde Park Art Center, Mr. Brown and I decided to recreate it in the classroom.  Ms. Nadel’s students are creating clay sculptures of themselves in their future occupation. Also, the students took their final trip to the Smart Museum as past of the Art in Focus program this past week. Above, you can see the students at work.

The fourth graders are finishing up their three-dimensional characters. They should be finishing these up next week so they can bring them home.

The fifth graders are working on their paper mosaics. The students have drawn simple designs on construction paper, and they are cutting out pieces of construction paper to glue on their design in the style of a mosaic.

The sixth graders are in the process of painting their monochromatic portraits. They have to match the white, light, medium, and dark areas with the correct value of the color they have chosen. In some cases, the students will have to re-paint the areas of their face so the color looks solid.

Until next week…

The Last Long Weekend

It always seems odd to mark the end of the school year with a three day weekend, but it certainly does mark the beginnings of summer, so I can’t complain…

The third graders have finished their Joan Miro abstract animals. Above, you can see a couple examples of their work. They are currently on Art Sonia. In the coming weeks, the classes will be doing different project. Since Mr. Graves class did not go on the Hyde Park Art Center trip, they will be creating an ink painting. Ms. Nadel’s class will be doing a project using clay.

The fourth graders are in the middle of creating their three-dimensional characters. Above, you can see how the students had to take their flat character and adjust it so it would fit on to the box-shaped template they were provided.

The fifth graders begun working on paper mosaics this week. We started by looking at examples of real mosaics like the one pictured above. The students started their mosaics by creating simple designs on a piece of construction paper. Then, they cut out smaller pieces of construction paper to fill in the shapes of their design.

The sixth graders have begun painting their monochromatic portraits. This is one of my favorite projects to do every single year. This week, the students traced the shapes of their face using a transparency and permanent marker. Then, we transferred the picture on to a larger sheet of paper using an overhead projector. By the end of the week, the students were using different shades and tints of blue, green, red, orange, and purple to fill in the dark, medium, light, and white areas of their face.

As for technology projects, we are almost done with the poem videos in fourth grade. I have been working with Madame Gosser to create recordings with the 3rd and 6th graders for the World Language Assembly. Finally, the 5th graders just finished up a project where they had to take pictures of 5 objects important to them and then reflect on their choices. Ms. Kaiser and I will be presenting the students work next week twice. First, we will be at the University of Chicago International House on Tuesday. Then, the students work will be at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday. We are certainly proud of what they accomplished!

Enjoy the long weekend!

End of the Year Projects

With the end of the year approaching, I have a lot of end of the year projects coming to an end. In other words, it is a busy time.

Mr. Graves class took their first trip to the Smart Museum this week. Since weather issues prevented us from going to the first two trips, this will unfortunately be their only trip to the museum this year. Ms. Nadel’s class took their first trip to the museum this week. As part of the Art in Focus program, the third graders are beginning the process of looking at artwork, discussing it, descrbiing it, and interpreting what they see. In the classroom, the students are almost finished with their Joan Miro inspired animals. Mr. Brown and I expect to finish these with them next week, and I hope to have them on Art Sonia by the end of the week.

Above, you can see pictures of the students character design display. Now, the students are re-imagining their characters in three-dimensions. They have all been given the same template, and they are adjusting their character to fit on to this template. The challenge is to make their character work on this template even though the shapes might be different. This week, they are drawing their character on the template and will begin cutting it next week.

Above, you can see a picture of Ms. Kaiser’s class Smart Explorers final event held at the Smart Museum. A big thank you to the families that attended and congratulations to the students that presented their work. It was a an enjoyable evening. Mr. Rowell’s class will have their final event on Monday, May 18th. I look forward to seeing everyone at this event. In the classroom, we are finishing up the students context pop-ups. Next week, the students will begin working on their final project for the year…mosaics.

The 6th graders began work on their monochromatic portraits this week. The students had their picture taken and then adjusted the picture on the computer. They adjusted it in a way that their face was left with only 4 colors: black, red, yellow, and white. Next week, they will be tracing the shapes of their face in preparation for transferring their picture to a larger sheet of paper.

Also, I have been working with both 4th grade classes to create poem videos. Almost all of the students have recorded their voice and found music and pictures for their video. Ms. Finke’s class has begun compiling their video in Adobe Premiere Elements. Ms. Gorman’s class will begin this process next week.

Also, the 5th graders have been working with Ms. Kaiser and myself to take pictures of 5 important objects to them. Over the past two weeks, the students have brought cameras home to take these pictures. This week, the students will select their 5 best pictures and reflect on their choices. These images, along with their picture, will be compiled in a video that will be shown as part of the Adobe Youth Voices program at the Museum of Contemporary Art on May 29th.  Ms. Kaiser and I are very excited to show off their work!

Until next week…

Putting in Grades

With midterms being handed out this week, we were busy getting work finished up this week…

The 3rd graders are continuing to work on their Joan Miro inspired animals. We talked about how he painted in a style that was totally different from how people were painting during the time he was an artist. His work was very child-like and energetic. In the artwork we looked at as a class, he used only primary colors, lines, and shapes. The students finished up their thumbnail sketches of their animal and then drew their final animal on to a larger sheet of paper. Now, they are using markers to add colors to their animals.

The 4th graders have finished painting their characters. The characters are on Art Sonia now, and I will be hanging these in the hallway next week. The students are also writing about their character. We have talked about how a character with strong personality traits and a good story  can make a well painted character really come to life. Next week, we will begin making three-dimensional characters based on the paintings they just completed.

The 5th graders are continuing to work on their context pop-ups. They have finished painting their three important items and the background for their items. Next week, students who are finished painting will begin to put together their pop-ups. For our trips, each class had slightly different schedules this week. Mr. Rowell’s class took their trip to the Hyde Park Art Center this week. While they were there, they created scroll paintings. Above, you can see some examples of their work. They took their third trip to the museum and selected the artwork they will write about and present during the Smart Museum final event. Ms. Kaiser’s class took their fourth trip to the Smart Museum. They continued to write about their artwork and begin to practice presenting their artowrk. The final event for Ms. Kaiser’s class wil be next Tuesday, May 12th at 6:30. We hope to see many of you there.

The 6th graders have finished their photomontages in Photoshop based on the work of Scott Mutter. Above, you can see some of their completed work. These will be hanging in the hallway sometime next week. Next week, we will begin working on their final project as 6th graders…monochromatic portraits.

In technology, we are in the middle of getting the 4th graders ready to make their poem videos. This week, we have tried to record as many students as possible, and we have allowed students to finish finding pictures and music for their video. Next week, we expect the students will be ready to put their videos together in Adobe Premiere Elements.

Until next week…

Finishing Before Starting

With midterms around the corner, we are finishing some work in almost every classroom. Here’s the break down…

The 3rd graders have completed their initial letters based on illuminated manuscripts. Although, Mr. Brown is still trying to collect some of the work from students. Above, you can see some examples of their work. Now, we are working on animals inspired by the work of Joan Miro. Last week, we talked about how artists see things differently. This week, we looked at how Joan Miro used to paint in a very child-like, energetic style. When he created animals, he painted them with lines, shapes, and primary colors. This week, the students began creating thumbnail sketches of animals in the style of Joan Miro. Next week, they will finish the sketches and then begain to work on a final animal using markers.

The 4th graders are almost finished with their painted characters. Above, you can see some examples of their work. They are also writing about their character. I plan to have these on Art Sonia and hanging in the hallway in the next week or two.

The 5th graders are at different places right now with the Smart Explorers program. In classe, we have talked about context and how the circumstances and events surrounding an artist can impact the artwork that they make. The students are creating pop-ups to learn more about how context impacts artwork. They need to draw three things that are important to them now and create a background for these images. Mr. Rowell’s class did not take a trip to the museum this week, but Ms. Kaiser’s class went to the Hyde Park Art Center and the Smart Museum this week. Above, you will see the scroll paintings they created at the Hyde Park Art Center. At the museum, they chose the artwork they want to write about it, and eventually give a presentation on. The final event at the Smart Museum for Ms. Kaiser’s class will be on Tuesday, May 12th from 6:30 to 8:00. For Mr. Rowell’s class, it will be on Monday, May 18th from 6:30 to 8:00. Please look for an invitation to this event this week or next week.

The 6th graders are almost finished with their photomonatages created in Photoshop. We will spend one more day in the computer lab on this next week. Then, the students will do a short activity in the art room about their man-made and natural images during the second class period of the week.

Finally, I am collaborating with Ms. Finke and Ms. Gorman on the poem video project. We have worked on this project the past 2 years. This week, the students have selected their poems and have begun to find images on the Internet. Next week, I hope to record the students reciting their poem. The students will also begin to find music to accompnay their poem.

Until then…

Updating…

Let’s get right into it…

The 3rd graders finished up their initial letters inspired by illuminated manuscripts this week. Some students have to take them home over the weekend to finish them up and return them to Mr. Brown on either Monday or Tuesday. We also began a project this week looking at how different artists see animals. We talked about different artists who created artworks based on birds and how these artist each “saw” birds differently. Next week, we will be looking at Joan Miro and how he decided to paint the things around him.

The 4th graders are beginning to finish up their character paintings. Next week, I expect all of the students will finish them up, and they will be writing a paragraph describing their character.

The 5th graders have taken their second trip to the Smart Museum. In class this week, we did two short activities that helped us to learn about the elements of art. We talked about line, color, shape, value, texture, line, form, positive space, negative space, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional. We talked about how the students should only describe what they see in an artowrk instead of what it “looks like”. The elements of art help us to describe what we see. Above, you will see a few more pictures of the students at the museum.

The 6th graders are just beginning to create their photomontages based on the work of Scott Mutter. They are taking man-made and nature images and putting them together in one image. In Photoshop, we are learning how to specifically select parts of a picture, copy it, and then paste it in to another picture. We are also using layers to edit different parts of a picture. We are taking small steps to learn all of the different steps, but I am confident the students will get the hang of it soon.

Until next week…

Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation

The above is just a quote from a song that I’ve always really liked. A lot of positive energy has been created in the art room recently, and it is really reflecting in the students work.

The 3rd graders are almost finished with their initial letter inspired by illuminated manuscripts. We have spent a lot of time talking about coloring correctly. It is something the students learn early in life, but it takes years to fully master. The students will finish these next week and then begin a project inspired by the work of Joan Miro.

The 4th graders began painting their characters this week. Like drawing and coloring, painting is a skill the students learn early in life but it takes years to fully grasp. We have talked about mixing paint correctly, holding the brush like a pencil, and bracing their hand against the paper to get more control. I’ve been impressed with the students attention to detail as they get their character “right”.

The 5th graders began the Smart Explorers program this week. Both classes took their first trip to the museum this week. Above, you will see some pictures from our visit. We prepared at school by taking about the terms museum, gallery, collection, exhibition, curator, docent, and interpretation. We also looked at museum labels so students know how to read the labels at the museum correctly. All of these tools are helping to build their visual langauge and increase their ability to speak intelligently about art. Next week, we will take our second trip and continue to prepare for these trips in the classroom.

The 6th graders are officially done with their Frank Lloyd Wright inspired tiles. They are on Art Sonia and hanging in the hallway near the media center. Above, you will see some of the final pieces.

Our next project is inspired the photomontages of Scott Mutter. An example of his work is above. He combined man-made and natural items together in his work. We will be using Photoshop Elements to create photomontages. We will learn about some of the basic but important tools in this program.

Until next week…

The New and Old Blog

Welcome to the new home of my blog! It does not look as good as the old one…yet. Over the break, I plan to get it looking more like the blog of an art teacher.

The 3rd graders have begun creating manuscript illuminations this week. The students learned how books used to be handmade in the Dark Ages. Since they were handmade, they were very rare and expensive. In these manuscripts, the first letter of a section was very ornately designed. You can see an example above. The students are taking the first initial of their name and creating a design in the style of these manuscript illuminations. We will be continuing with their initials after the break.

The 4th graders are continuing their character designs. Above, you can see some examples of their final ideas. They are taking these ideas and transferring them to larger sheets of paper. After the break, we will be painting their characters. I’m really looking forward to seeing thse completed because their work has been excellent!

The 5th graders began the Smart Explorers program this week. The Smart Museum has an excellent description of this program:

smART Explorers is a multi-visit tour program. Through weekly classroom discussions and museum visits, art-making activities, writing, sketching, and gallery talks, students explore art and build their critical thinking capacities and communication skills. The program culminates with a final event during which students discuss their selected artwork in the Museum’s galleries with an audience of classmates and family members.

In order to support the program at the museum, we will be working on a number of activities in the classroom. Plus, the students will be introduced to a number of terms that will help them as they discuss the work at the museum. If your child has not turned in their field trip slip, please have them return when we return from break.

The 6th graders have almost completed their Frank Lloyd Wright inspired tiles. We will be finishing these up after break. Then, the students will start a photomontage project using Photoshop.

Have a great spring break!