Drawing from your imagination vs. Drawing what you see

Drawing from your imagination. Children see things in symbols or shapes.  When thinking of a sail boat you may see a triangle for the sail or a half circle for the bottom of the boat.  Students then progress onto seeing things as forms like cylinders, spheres, cones, and cubes.  For instance, being able to visualize the forms that create an airplane.  Other strategies we use are from our observations of the world around us.  This leads us to using size, overlapping and value to make our drawing 3-D or like the world around us.

Drawing what you see.  Contour drawing techniques are the best way to draw what you see.  Students trace with their eyes and use their peripheral vision to keep track of their drawing hand.  You can also build the basic structure of the objects with shape or form and then use your contour drawing techniques.  The concept of a how to draw book works the same way.

Students struggle with proportions or size relationships.  When size relationships are inaccurate the drawings become distorted.  A drawing grid is a great way to enlarge a drawing or to make sure the  proportions and size relationships. are correct.  This can easily be done by drawing a plus sign on the image and on your drawing paper.  The next step is drawing what you see box by box.  This helps the artist focus on the size and placement of the object one box at a time which produces an accurate drawing.

How to Create an Original Work of Art

Art Club students are creating original works of art for the Collin County Youth Art Show.  Often times students are excited to create a work of art with their paper and supplies out on the table ready to go but have difficulty coming up with an idea.  In Art Club we went over Art Criticism, Subjects in Art and Themes that will help students develop a solid idea and get them on the path to creating an original work of art.
  Art Criticism allows us to "read" a work of art.  Art critics DESCRIBE what they see, ANALYZE what elements and principles of art the artist used, INTERPRET to see if a story is being told and JUDGE by saying if they like the art or not and explaining why.  Many artists have started out by using the characteristics of their favorite artists.  That could be everything from Pop Artists that use bright unnatural colors and black outlines or Picasso that used a monochromatic color scheme during his blue and rose period paintings. Being able to "Read' a work of art allows you to be an art critic but also help you create your own art.

Students can begin a work of art using a Subject in Art like a Portrait, Still-Life, Landscape, or Abstract art.

Themes are a great way to start a work of art.  Often times Themes can have significant meaning and tell a story that allows the viewer to connect to your art.  There are thousands of themes from upside down world, your favorite character, or discovery.  Once you've decided on the theme you can then write down the objects or what your background would look like and start drawing.

Art Competitions/Exhibits

ELEMENTARY ART COMPETITIONS/EXHIBITS

2014-2015

                GRADE           

D/C         DATE         COMPETITIONS/EXHIBITIONS                    LEVEL       CONTACT

C	Sept	Dallas is Diversity- Registration Open	K-12	Organization
C	Oct	PTA Reflections Due	K-12	Campus PTA
D/C	Dec 3	Arts in the Square Poster Contest Due	K-12	FISD
D/C	Dec 18	State YAM- Capitol Exhibit Due	K-12	FISD
C	Jan	Collin County Youth Art Show- Creative Arts Div	3-12	Organization
D	Jan-May	District Vertical Show- see vertical calendar for show week	K-12	FISD
D/C	March	State YAM Capital Exhibit Celebration	K-12	Organization
C	March	Wimberley Butterfly Contest Due	K-12	FISD
D/C	March 28-29	Arts in the Square Event	K-12	FISD
D/C	March 28-29	Empty Bowls Due	K-12	FISD
D	March 28-29	Chalk Walk Event	K-12	FISD
C	April	Rough Rider Playball Contest	K-8	Organization
C	April 18	Wimberley Butterfly Festival	K-12	Organization
D/C	May 14	TASB Show Artwork Selected for show in Sept	K-12	FISD
C	May	Dallas is Diversity Contest Due	K-12	Organization

D= District Wide Contest or Exhibit

C= Community Wide Contest or Exhibit

Red= Mandatory

Blue= Mandatory to choose at least one from this category

Green= Mandatory to choose at least one from this category

Black= Optional

Collin County youth Art Show

4th and 5th grade Art Club students will be entering the Collin County Youth Art Show. Today we explored Art Criticism, Subjects in Art, Themes and Styles in Art.  These are all great wells to draw ideas from to begin a work of art.  Next week we'll be going over various drawing strategies and techniques to draw what we see or from our imagination.  A big Thank You to all of our Art Club Students that created this years Veterans Day Murals.

Artsonia online art gallery

All 4th and 5th grade Art Club students can now upload their artwork to the Artsonia Online Art Gallery.  Students can upload artwork that they've created at home to the Art Club Art Journal Gallery.  I'll be adding new galleries for the various projects and contests as the year progresses.  The Reflections Art contest Gallery will be coming soon.

We are currently working on two projects in Art Club.  We worked on our Reflections Art Contest Entries this week.  The theme this year is "The World Would Be a Better Place If....."
We discussed how art can be used to bring awareness to important causes.  It can also be complete fantasy and imagination.  Each student had the task of interpreting the theme for themselves and then develop their ideas.
Art Club students will begin work on the Veteran's Day Murals on Monday October 6th.  The students are super excited and I will most likely have to hold a lottery or an epic game of Rock Scissor Paper to determine who will get to participate.  No worries though with plenty more opportunities to paint murals this year.

ART CLUB

We have close to 50 students that have signed up for the 4th and 5th Grade Art Club. Each Art Club student will have the opportunity to compete in over 14 different art contests and art shows within FISD and the community. There will also be plenty of opportunities for Art Club students to paint Murals to promote or celebrate school events like Veterans Day, Earth Day, or the Smith 5th Art Fest. Each art club student will have a digital portfolio that will be available for viewing at Artsonia. You can always check out whats going on by visiting our Blog page. This is also a fantastic opportunity to provide personalized art instruction that the students have expressed interest in. From the initial survey it appears that we will be working on various sculpture techniques this year from Paper mache mask making, soft sculptures, wire sculpture, and clay sculptures. Students will have access to all art supplies and mediums. The focus is to provide a free spirited environment that will allow students to express their ideas and creativity through visual arts.