The Fourth Graders graders start the year off learning about the art of Gustav Klimt. We discuss Klimt's inspirations for his use of geometric shapes and patterns in his artwork. The students create a Self-Portrait based on Gustav Klimt's painting "Baby, Cradle". The baby in the painting has a quilt over them. The students start by drawing a head, eyes, nose, mouth and then decide if they want to put a quilt over their heads or up to their shoulders. The quilt is then broken into different spaces and lines and patterns are added. The lines and pattern the students add are a representation of them - something about them, something they like or are interested in. The final step is to paint with watercolor.
The next project the Fourth Graders work on is radial symmetry. They learn that radial symmetry is a type of balance in which the parts of an object or picture are regularly arranged and radiate from a central point. It appears in both natural (flower, snowflake, starfish) and human made objects (clock, pinwheel, bicycle wheel). The students then work as teams and use materials from the art room (crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors) to create their own radial symmetry design using the table as their background. They then create a design on paper using crayons. After the crayon design is done they paint it with ink or watercolor.
We then work on a landscape with birch trees. The students use different sizes of masking tape to create the trees on a piece of watercolor paper. The different sizes of masking tape are used to create distance on the paper. The smaller one looks like it is in the distance while the larger is in the foreground. The students then paint over the tape with watercolor and add salt - the salt absorbs the moisture and some of the color to create a textured effect. The students peel off the tape and add shading to the trees and shadows on the ground. They add black lines to the birch trees and add white tempera paint applied with a q-tip to make it look like it is snowing.
The student next learn about the artist Grant Wood. They view a DVD called "Dropping in on Grant Wood." Grant Wood was an American artist who painted in the style of American Regionalism depicting life in rural Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. The students then compare and contrast Grant Wood's style of painting to Grandma Moses' style. They notice that Grant Wood's painting have more form and show more distance than Grandma Moses. The students then create a landscape showing distance by using different values of color and different sizes on a paper plate. When the painting is done they then weave a tree on the paper plate.
The next project the Fourth Graders work on is radial symmetry. They learn that radial symmetry is a type of balance in which the parts of an object or picture are regularly arranged and radiate from a central point. It appears in both natural (flower, snowflake, starfish) and human made objects (clock, pinwheel, bicycle wheel). The students then work as teams and use materials from the art room (crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors) to create their own radial symmetry design using the table as their background. They then create a design on paper using crayons. After the crayon design is done they paint it with ink or watercolor.
We then work on a landscape with birch trees. The students use different sizes of masking tape to create the trees on a piece of watercolor paper. The different sizes of masking tape are used to create distance on the paper. The smaller one looks like it is in the distance while the larger is in the foreground. The students then paint over the tape with watercolor and add salt - the salt absorbs the moisture and some of the color to create a textured effect. The students peel off the tape and add shading to the trees and shadows on the ground. They add black lines to the birch trees and add white tempera paint applied with a q-tip to make it look like it is snowing.
The student next learn about the artist Grant Wood. They view a DVD called "Dropping in on Grant Wood." Grant Wood was an American artist who painted in the style of American Regionalism depicting life in rural Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. The students then compare and contrast Grant Wood's style of painting to Grandma Moses' style. They notice that Grant Wood's painting have more form and show more distance than Grandma Moses. The students then create a landscape showing distance by using different values of color and different sizes on a paper plate. When the painting is done they then weave a tree on the paper plate.