Art at Home for the Week of May 18

This week's theme is all about learning about famous artists.   Scroll down to find the lesson for your grade level.  Don't forget, you can send me your artwork for our virtual art gallery!

Concentric Circles 
Inspired by Alma Woodsey Thomas
For Grades K and 1

Alma Woodsey Thomas was born in 1891 and died in 1978. 
She was an African-American Expressionist painter and art educator. 
She is best known for her colorful abstract paintings. She lived and
worked mostly in Washington, D.C.  

Look at the paintings below by Alma Woodsey Thomas. 
Can you find the circle in the center? 
How many rows of circles go around the middle circle in each painting? 
Those outside rings of circles are called “concentric circles”. 
You will be making a piece of artwork showing concentric circles
just like Alma Woodsey Thomas. 
Hers are made by painting, yours will be made tearing or cutting bits of paper.

Materials:

Paper of many different colors for cutting or ripping (if you don’t have construction paper,
you can use wrapping paper, magazine pages, colored copy paper or anything you can find!)

White square paper to work on (if you have rectangle paper, you can cut it into a square).

Glue

Watch this video of Ms. Goldman demonstrating the project before you start!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poksKZ4Y_KQ

Steps:

Cut out a circle from one color and glue it in the center of your square paper.

Tear or cut your first color into little pieces

Glue the pieces in a circle around the center circle 

Tear or cut your second color into little pieces

Glue these pieces in a circle around your last circle

Keep going like this until you almost reach the edges of your paper

Flower Designs Inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe
For Grades 2 and 3

(Second graders, you will recognize and already be familiar with this artist!
When you look at the slide show below, make sure to keep an eye out for the
Red Poppy painting we studied earlier in the year! )

Georgia O’Keeffe was an American painter known for her paintings of flowers.
A single flower was painted large enough to fill the paper! Look at the slides of
her paintings below. Notice the variety of petal shapes and the use of bright colors.

Georgia O'Keeffe Video

Today you will create a flower design!

Materials:

• Paper 
• Pencil
• Small circular object to trace, such as a spice jar lid
• Black sharpie, marker or crayon
• Crayons

Steps:
Using a pencil, draw the middle of a flower in the top half of the paper.
You could trace a circular object, or draw a different shape such as a diamond or a triangle.

One at a time, draw three layers of petals around the middle. The petal layers can
be the same shape or each layer can be different: rounded, triangular, square,
wavy, or bumpy. To prevent petals from bunching up on one side, turn the paper
each time you draw a petal. It’s so much easier!

If your flower is small after drawing three layers of petals, add another layer.

Draw a wavy stem with four lines. Add some leaves.

Using your black sharpie, marker or crayon, trace your pencil lines. 

Add patterns inside the center and in each petal layer of your flower

Finish by coloring the flower design with crayons.

Louise Nevelson Assemblages

For Grades 4 and 5

Assemblage: art made with found objects and cast-off materials

Assemblage art means taking what most people would view as useless

and arranging it in an artistic manner, or placing it with traditional

materials or in a particular setting that elevates it from junk to art.

Art created in this manner is often referred to as “assemblage” and

endless varieties of it exist.

We will look at the work of Louise Nevelson, an American sculptor (who emigrated from Russia when she was three years old) known for her large, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures.

Monochromatic: having or consisting of one color or hue

A very large assemblage by Louise

Another example of Louise Nevelson's assemblages

1.Looking at the photograph below, collect around your home (with permission) a collection of recycled materials or small wooden or plastic or metal pieces and parts that you could make a sculpture with. Find some big, medium and small size objects.

You may find buttons, paper clips, bottle caps, bread bag tabs, pennies, popsicle sticks, broken crayons and pencils, wood scraps, nails and screws and bolts, sticks and rocks from outside.... and so much more!

2. Watch the video below.

video lesson and demonstration for creating an assemblage

3. Lay out your objects before you start gluing. You can think about using different shapes and sizes of objects, and think about using repetition (gluing multiple of the same objects).

4. When you complete your assemblage and if you have a single color of paint, like Ms Nevelson, paint your entire sculpture one color. If you do not have paint, that is fine too.