The TK students from Mrs. Trocha’s class had a blast learning some of the fundamentals of art this year. We made a lot of beautiful messes and even more mini-masterpieces! I hope you enjoy this peek into the art room!
Please click on the images in the galleries if you would like to view them larger.
KANDINSKY
We kicked off the year with a lesson inspired by Kandinsky, creating pastel concentric circle “tiles” that will form a larger mural to be installed at McKinley. We talked about how even something as simple as as circle can have symbolism–even more so when color is added– and each ring on the work became an element of the student. These individual circle “symbolic self portraits” come together to create a larger piece that represents the community at McKinley.
MONDRIAN
Next, we explored the work of Piet Mondrian and his geometrical, rhythmic De Stijl pieces. Mondrian was inspired by the energy of New York City and boogie-woogie music, so we listened to jazz as we created these collages. Students learned that the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue, and came up with interesting and unique arrangements, incorporating “rhythm,” pattern and layering.
EMOJI PAINTINGS!
We started off the new year (and new decade!) learning about the art of Emoji, and how we can use simplified images to express human feelings and emotions. We looked at examples of emoji and designed our own large scale versions using tempera paint!
Quilts of Gee’s Bend
All McKinley student artists learned about the Quilts of Gee’s Bend in February. The quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama create colorful, abstractly-designed quilts utilizing recycled materials and created memorable “scrapbooks” of sorts along the way. Students learned about the history of the people of Gee’s Bend, who were once slaves, and how non-verbal traditions can be passed along through many generations. They learned how their practical quilts became recognized in the 1990’s for their artistry, and can now be seen in museums. For this project, each student designed a quilt section that would connect with the others’ sections from their class, creating their own beautiful “quilt”.
IN RAINBOWS
While we did not know it would be our last art lesson of the year, it was a fitting one. TK students began learning about the weather this year, and we had a lot of fun creating these rainbow paintings — even spraying them with blue “rain” paint that they were able to create their own stormy skies with sponges.
