Where are the pumpkins?

October is upon us and the 1st nine weeks is coming to an end. You won't be seeing any pumpkin art this year because we are busy exploring people and architecture.

3rd graders are designing tree houses.  This multi-media project has been so much fun. I think every kid dreams of a fantasy treehouse!

2nd graders are exploring castle architecture along with printmaking.  They had fun stamping a brick pattern using sponges and paint and then collaged details with paper. 

Look for these amazing 1st grade painted self-portraits in the main hallway.  I love how each one has personality!

Introducing Artsonia!

Something new this year in the Mt. Bethel Art Room is the use of portfolios.  Every student has a portfolio to hold finished work, sketches and works-in-progress.  Managing over 1,000 student's artwork is quite a challenge and portfolios serve to help as an assessment tool.  It will also help when we prepare for the April art show because students will have an assortment of completed artworks to choose from.

Because I am not sending work home on a regular basis anymore, you may be wondering what your child is creating in art.  For 1st, 3rd and 5th grade I have started an Artsonia gallery.  Artsonia is the largest online student art gallery. When your child's art is uploaded, you will receive a code to log on to the website to access your child's art work. Many of the 3rd grade classes have already received these notes going home in backpacks.

It is a tedious job to catalog art, and I am always looking for volunteers to help.  Please email me if you are interested.

The link to Artsonia is:
Artsonia

Enjoy!

PTA Reflections Contest

The deadline to the PTA Reflections is right around the corner.  October 13th the last day to turn in all entries for the contest.  Students may drop work off at the art room any time before school. A signed Student Entry Form must accompany all entries.  Below is a link to the form.

2014 Reflections Student Entry Form

I encourage all students or parents with any questions about Reflections to stop by my art room or email me at:

rachael.astorga@cobbk12.org

Good luck to all artists, writers, photographers, dancers and musicians!

Portraits of all kinds

I have started the 5th graders off with the challenging task of drawing a self-portrait from life, using only a pencil, paper and a mirror.  It's easy to draw what you think a face looks like, but it's a greater challenge to really study your face for it's shapes and shadows.  I think they are doing a fantastic job!

2nd Grade is beginning to paint their wonderful family portraits. Learning to overlap figures was a tough concept for these young artists, but with a little guidance during the early stages of drawing, they mastered the concept pretty well. I can't wait to see these beautiful paintings when they are finished.

Celebrate Creativity,

Courage & Collaboration!

International Dot Day is September 15

International Dot Day is named for the classic Peter H. Reynolds storybook The Dot.  The book shares the story of a girl who begins a journey of self-discovery after a caring teacher challenges her to “make her mark.”

• Follow on Twitter (twitter.com/DotClubConnect) !
• Visit the Dot Day Facebook page (facebook.com/InternationalDotDay) to see what others are doing and to share what you are doing on International Dot Day and every day.
• Use the hashtags #DotDay, #Makeyourmark.

The Dot Club

To be in kindergarden again.....

These kindergartners have no inhibitions when it comes to painting! This week we expanded our palatte and used primary and secondary colors to finish our line and shape paintings.  Where lines come together, a shape is formed! Check out the amazing results.  Look for these colorful pieces to soon adorn the walls of the media canter and the hallways. (Please remember that the art room is a messy place. Dress your child appropriately for art day...paint happens!)

People and Places!!!

We are busy, busy, busy in the art room! Our theme this year in art is People and Places.  We will spend the year exploring self-portraits using a variety of materials. We will draw underwater portraits, royal portraits, Lego portraits and sculpt clay portraits.  People visit places, so we will also explore the exciting world of architecture. We will draw castles, cities, bridges, monuments and learn perspective drawing.  All grades will use clay, tempera paint, a variety of printmaking methods, chalk pastel and oil pastel. It gets messy!  I am looking for new smocks, so if you have old shirts, please donate them to the art room so that I can "up cycle" them into art smocks.

The art room received a shiny new digital kiln this summer! Now I have assurance that our amazing clay masterpieces will be fired to the perfect temperature.

To kick off our People theme, on the first day of art,

every student in the school created a small mono-chromatic (one color) self-portrait that will soon be mounted together as a mural of 1, 020 unique and colorful faces! Here is a sneak peak of the beginning of the mural...

1st graders are working on self-portraits from head to toe, 2nd grade is beginning family portraits, 3rd graders have started underwater self-portraits, 4th grade is beginning fantasy castle drawings and 5th graders are drawing self-potrtraits with mirrors. Kindergarten is beginning a basic line painting. Here are a few snapshots from the week.