1st grade Grandma Moses paintings

The 1st graders looked at artwork by the American folk artist Grandma Moses (1860-1961) Moses told stories about her life through her paintings. We learned about landscapes and talked about foreground,background and how to draw people The students drew and painted either their favorite season or holiday.

5th grade Pop Art

The 5th graders learned about the artist Andy Warhol and the style of art called "Pop Art.". Students looked at an everyday object - something unexpected as the subject of an art piece - and drew it realistically. I made 4 copies of their drawing. One copy had to be colored to look like the real object whereas the other 3 copies were to be completely abstract in color and design. Pop Art was about repetition of an object, bright unexpected colors and making everyday objects the subject of art.

3rd grade Molas

The third graders learned about a kind of art from Panama called Molas. Molas are layers of fabric sewn together as an appliqué for a shirt. Molas are made by the Kuna Indians in the San Blas islands off the coast of Panama. Usually Molas are animal designs sewn in layers of different colors.
We created our Molas by drawing an animal on colored paper,cutting it out and then glueing it on another color. When cut out again a border was left around the animal to see both colors. This was repeated until there was 5 layers. We glued the animal on black paper and decorated it with cut paper and hole punches.
**This project had a special meaning to me this year as my parents spent 2012 living in Panama. They brought me back a real mola which I shared with my 3rd graders.

1st grade elves!!

The first graders painted these elves right before winter break. They turned out great! I think these could be framed and hung year round!