Smart With Art - Distribution

A few students came in to finish artwork at lunch recess. Thank you, Jenny M., for distributing the artwork to classroom teachers! -Carl Clausen, Art Teacher

Catch-Up Day! 6-5-12

The student artists put forth some good effort to finish-up projects. The primary focus was to complete the monochromatic painting started last week. Today, students worked on their foreground by adding black to shade the purple base color. Most students finished and most paintings are in the drying rack in the Art Room. Other students finished their charcoal still life drawings, chalk pastel cityscapes, and/or non-objective watercolors. Anything that did not go home today will go home next week. I plan to be at Phantom Lake next Tuesday at lunchtime for students to stop by the Art Room and pick up artwork. Our wonderful volunteer, Irene, will make sure any artwork left behind after next week gets back to each student's classroom teacher.

It's been a pleasure presenting art experiences to the children! I received many nice "thank yous" from very polite children. Look for new and different experiences being offered next year. 'Smart with Art' provides enriching experiences that connect history, cultures, artists, techniques, and materials. Art is a journey, not a destination.  
-Carl Clausen, Art Teacher

Monochromatic Landscape in Purple!

Greetings! Today, the students were introduced to monochromatic painting. Students were able to ascertain the difference between a tint and a shade of a color. After the discussion of tints and shades and being shown examples of monochromatic art as well as an explanation of atmospheric perspective, students drew a landscape idea they wanted to interpret in purple. Using purple and white acrylics, students started their paintings on canvas board. All finished a sky and mountains. Next week they'll add black to the purple to complete the middle and foregrounds of their paintings. We ran out of time to finish previous projects, so NEXT WEEK we'll "catch up" on all unfinished work and send it home. According to my directives, NEXT WEEK is the last session before school is out. -Carl Clausen, Art Teacher

Phantom Lake Smart With Art 5-22-12

On Tuesday, May 22nd, students started a symmetrical non-objective project utilizing watercolor pencils. The previous week, students viewed a PowerPoint presentation to see examples of objective and non-objective art and were able to distinguish between the two as well as identify bi-lateral symmetry. Mrs. Lerwick was the "guest teacher" for me this week as I was out of town. Next week, students will (hopefully) complete unfinished art from previous lessons. -Carl Clausen, Art Teacher

We have color!

Check out the progress of their chalk cityscapes! On Tuesday, students were introduced to the next project which is creating a non-objective composition showing bi-lateral symmetry using watercolor pencils. Students were shown a PowerPoint presentation where students were able to differentiate between objective and non-objective (abstract) art. This is a project that student will start after completing their chalk pastel cityscape. Two students completed their cityscapes and started on their non-objective designs. Some still need to finish their charcoal still-life drawings. Their charcoal and chalk projects will be coated with a “fixative” that will limit the amount of smudging inherent in the medium. Again, thanks for sending an afternoon snack with your child. -Mr. C.

Cityscapes in Pastels

After a review of last week’s lesson, students were reintroduced to shapes, overlapping, repetition, pattern, perspective, horizontal, and vertical as they apply to the new project. Today students utilized their drawing skills to create a cityscape. After initial planning, their ideas were transferred to black paper where colored chalk pastels were applied. Like last week, this is a work-in-progress and we plan to allow time for completion of these and their charcoal still-life drawings next week. We added more students to our group and again, many thanks to our parent volunteer, Mrs. Kirby! Art inspires.

Discovering Charcoal

Today students learned about drawing with charcoal. Charcoal drawings remain an essential skill for budding artists. Working with charcoal serves the dual purpose of building artistic creation skills and developing art appreciation skills. Students worked with vine charcoal along with kneaded erasers and blending stumps to create a still life (bowl of fruit as subject matter). They practiced drawing shapes, overlapping, and shading. After a review of the historical context charcoal was used for, students learned about the properties of charcoal and how to work with this material. They discovered that erasing charcoal creates light areas; smudging charcoal creates value; and drawing lightly with charcoal creates contour lines. These initial drawings are a work-in-progress to be completed in the next couple week. Next week we'll introduce a new project using chalk pastels. Stay tuned to this blog for future developments!