♥JME♥ART♥

Jim Dine inspired expressionistic art!

2012-01-31T09:45:00.001-05:00

First grade doing watercolor hearts

Get a cool JME ART t-shirt! (or mug, ceramic tile, apron, journal... lots of goodies!)

2011-11-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

Now you can order the following JME design on a multitude of items! T-shirts, mugs, cutting boards, aprons, tiles... you name it. Click on the image to see what's available! And remember... 15% of all sales comes back to the art room in the form of supplies for the students.

JME Book Week!

2011-11-18T15:12:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today's "Book Character Parade."

Here is my son and a few of his classmates. He was, of course, Harry Potter.

Here is the rockin' Ms. Foster as Max from "Where the Wild Things Are."

Josh as Harry. Accio, picture!

Atiana and Isabel looking beautiful!

Ms. Moten et al.

The fabulous Mrs. Blocker!

Quidditch-player extraordinaire... Paul! (along with Julia and Ms. Walker)

Mia (my daughter) as Fancy Nancy, me as Pinkalicious, and Will as Harry Potter. To the right of us... London, Denise and Zanaya! :-)

And last but not least.... Evan!

Kindergarten snowmen!

2011-11-15T11:05:00.001-05:00

Brrrr!

(some of the students have "crazy hair" since it was "crazy hair and socks" day at school!

Barbies as Art

2011-11-11T23:57:00.001-05:00

Well, look who is showing up on the shelves in time for Christmas! I don't like dolls, but these I would buy! They're gorgeous!

Anyone have a wood shop?!?!?

2011-11-10T20:22:00.001-05:00

These would be the COOLEST organizer for our art room! Lids stay put, and the kids know exactly where to put the markers. No more dried out markers!

Of course they cost a small fortune... unless a JME parent or grandparent has a wood shop? We only need 8 of them!

*fingers crossed*

2011-11-10T15:10:00.001-05:00

This is the "Rat Pack" using up leftover paint. (The "Rat Pack" is the group of teachers' kids that scurry from classroom to classroom after school).

Color theory

2011-11-10T08:05:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my enthusiastic - but LOUD - fifth graders!

Blinging Out Our Dia de Los Muertos Calaveras

2011-11-08T09:23:00.001-05:00

1st Grade

McTeacher Night TONIGHT! (Hwy 84)

2011-11-07T06:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, Hinesvillains... come to McD's on 84 and buy food between 5 pm - 8 pm. Joseph mART!n elementary gets 20% of all sales (that's from drive-thru and eat-in). The money will go to field trips. All of us teachers will be there working. I'll be there from 5 pm - 6pmish. Come say hi to me, at least!

Dia de Los Muertos symmetry skulls

2011-11-02T08:41:00.003-04:00

Muy bien!

I taught them how to draw perfectly symmetrical skulls: fold a piece of drawing paper in half, draw half a skull, outline it with black crayon, and then draw on the back with pencil. The wax "transfers" to the other side so that the skulls are perfectly symmetrical.

Random pictures of the past week....

2011-10-15T09:48:00.000-04:00

Happy October!

2011-10-14T06:01:00.002-04:00

I have been so busy with figuring out Artsonia and ending out the quarter (9 weeks already!) that I realized I haven't updated here. I have a ton of new pictures to share! They'll be coming up this weekend *fingers crossed*. But most importantly I added a page (see the page links above) to share our "Wish List" of much needed supplies and our Artsonia online gallery page.

The Artsonia online gallery is a place for parents to see what their students are making. While you're looking, you can also purchase all types of cool products with your kids' artwork on it! (t shirts, bags, quilt squares, etc). The best part (besides seeing your young artist's masterpieces online) is that the JME art program gets 15% of all profit from the purchases. So, please, buy your child's art on something! The holidays are coming up... *hint hint*

Just a note... you will get your kid's artworks back - I promise! On top of photographing the artworks for Artsonia I also have a lot hanging in the hallway, AND I'm collecting pieces for the art show in February. So please be patient with me! One day your JME student will come home with a big stack of amazing art! :-)

Upcoming art projects: Dia De El Muerte... The Day of the Dead! (It's a national holiday in Mexico where they celebrate the lives of their relatives... it's a very upbeat, colorful, and festive despite the morbid name!)

Happy New Nine Weeks!

El Salvador corn husk people

2011-09-14T15:17:00.000-04:00

One of Ms. Hobby's students brought in a corn husk person that her mom made. I have to get this mom to visit our school! How wonderful they are!

Surrealist Dali-esque Ecosystems project

2011-09-14T15:14:00.000-04:00

4th grade is working on ecosystems in science. I decided to tie in their Salvadore Dali surrealist studies into this. They have to choose 3 different types of animals, list their food chains, and then list their ecosystems. Then they take one animal and put it into an inappropriate ecosystem. All of the animals and facts are correct (they are real), but putting them in the wrong context makes them surreal. The students must know the ecosystems to alter them.

Here is the Salvadore Dali painting we looked at to jump start out ideas:

Here are the students working with their partners... they are reading their ideas and discussing the most dynamic, surrealist combination of animal/ food chain/ ecosystem. I can't wait to see these!

By the way - the Writing to Win workshop at the Instructional Summit gave me the idea to have the students write and read their ideas to each other. They really seemed to enjoy the back and forth of ideas!

Robot engineers at work!

2011-09-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

Ms. Stafford's Kandinsky paintings... done!

2011-09-14T15:02:00.001-04:00

Ms. Stafford's projects in the hallway

Blind Contour Drawings

2011-09-14T14:55:00.001-04:00

Atiana's Fabulous Blind Contour Drawings!

Look at all of that concentration!

2011-09-06T12:25:00.003-04:00

A 4th Grader and her finished Kandinsky (watercolor and pastel)

2011-09-02T08:27:00.002-04:00

More finished Kandinsky oil pastel and watercolor paintings

Kindergarten's Take On Mondrian

2011-08-26T15:23:00.001-04:00

Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie

Sooo... as I've stated... I'm not a pro on Kindergarten. I showed them Mondrian and we talked about his use of primary colors and shapes. Above you can see their interpretation (I asked them to show me squares, rectangles, and primary colors). I'm not sure how successful my lesson was... but they are all still talking about "Broadway Boogie Woogie!" LOL

1st Grade Toko/ Klee Cat Comparison lesson (watercolor and oil pastel)

2011-08-26T15:14:00.002-04:00

I have no idea what the students know... and now I know that they're not quite used to watercolor! They painted so thick and heavy that they didn't really capitalize on the watery quality of watercolor paints. I've seen other teachers write about using liquid watercolor.... I'm going to try that next!

Kindergarten Kandinsky's

2011-08-26T15:11:00.002-04:00

I'll be the first to admit it: I"m not quite comfortable teaching Kinders yet. Their lessons need to be shorter. The lessons are more about manipulating materials and the experience than the product. All art should be that way, I know, but for Kindergartner's it's more prevalent than any other grade. After years of middle school and high school "studio" art, I'm still adjusting. Anyway! Here are some of the Kindergarten Kandinsky's:

Here is the Wassily Kandinsky artwork we studied:

Here are the Kinders folding their black construction paper into eight rectangles (we strayed a bit from Kandinsky's circle-in-a-square theme):

Here are the Kandinsky's! Oil pastel on construction paper. I think next time I'll let them pick their background. The black was so faded. It provided a better texture than plain white paper (and looked more finished because there wasn't so much white showing when they were "done"), but the black is so faded ... it bothers me.)

I asked them what they think would happen if they used the black oil pastel on black paper. They all immediately tried... and seemed delighted to discover that black oil pastel is darker than black construction paper! Soooo cool! ;-)

Dead Things!

2011-08-26T12:12:00.001-04:00

My students have only known me three weeks , but they have already picked up on the fact that I LOVE DEAD THINGS! Bones, snake skins, shells, carcasses, insects... as long as it's dead and not smelly - I want it! I, personally, am inspired by nature. The hidden parts of nature are most fascinating to me. Got an empty turtle shell taking up space? Bring it to me!

Empty turtle shell...

Dead butterfly... so fragile!

Lizard carcass!

Her expression is priceless!

2011-08-25T17:05:00.003-04:00

Click here for the next Savannah Derby Devils bout -> SAVANNAH DERBY DEVILS bout... THIS WEEKEND! (I'm biased... it's my team!)

Kindergarten Klee Cats!

2011-08-24T21:04:00.007-04:00

My Kinder's discussed Paul Klee's "Cat and Bird" painting. We looked at the shapes and colors and discussed how we could draw a cat. Most of them said that they couldn't... but when we broke down the shapes and did it step by step, cats appeared on their papers! Amazing! Then they colored them with markers and colored pencils. We discussed how we draw BIG to fill the paper, how we don't scribble to cover space that's empty, and - most importantly - how we THROW AWAY DRIED OUT MARKERS instead of putting them back into the marker bins! Mrs. Lemke only likes juicy markers! ;-)

Here's Paul Klee's "Cat and Bird" that was their inspiration:

Here are their artworks:

Here are the Kinders working on them!

1st Grade Cat Lesson: Cats!

2011-08-24T20:54:00.003-04:00

The art history examples for this lesson were Paul Klee's "Cat and Bird" and Toko's "Cat and Spider". We compared and contrasted everything from the anatomy of a cat in each (the body parts and the shapes the artist used to represent that body part) to what they thought of their prey. The Young Artists had the choice of drawing a more realistic cat (like Toko's) or a CRAZY CAT like Klee's! I can't wait to post these artworks! Like I've mentioned before... this is my first foray into elementary art. I'm not only trying to figure out what the students at this school have already learned, but I'm trying to figure out what each grade is "capable" of. It's been a looooong time since my elementary education practicum experience! The first graders really loved the oil pastel/ watercolor take on this... but I changed it to marker and colored pencil for the rest of the 1st graders. I need to spend a few more weeks on classroom flow before I introduce wet media. Right now we're all getting used to the schedule and each other. But more painting coming soon - I promise!

3rd Grade "Op Art" lesson on lines and values in drawing

2011-08-24T20:45:00.002-04:00

So, I'm new to this elementary art ed thing... I tried this lesson with 3rd grade and after the first day, decided that it was a little too much for them. I tried it with my 5th graders, and it was perfect for them! So, this class of 3rd graders are doing it - but with much assistance. They love it, though! But who doesn't love drawing with Sharpies?!?! They're definitely my favorite!

Speaking of Sharpies... if anyone wants to donate some, we would appreciate it! The ultra-fine ones are what we are using here! Thank you!

4th Graders working on their Kandinsky's

2011-08-24T20:40:00.004-04:00

Yay! Clearance to post!

2011-08-24T20:37:00.004-04:00

I finally got clearance to post pictures of kids! Here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

(These are all Kindergartners during the second week of school... it was dress-down day for school pictures)

THE NEW JME ART ROOM!

2011-08-03T15:35:00.004-04:00

Our room needs student work displayed, but that will take some time since school just started. Here are some before and after pictures (a la "Extreme Makeover" style):

(click on any picture to see it larger)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE

AFTER:

A close-up of the "Art Library"

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The closets before:

THE CLOSETS AFTER:

Some other parts of the room....

This is the brown closet to the left of the classroom door... it's been covered with a zebra-print curtain to hide the brown closet and brooms.

The "Noise-O-Meter"

The sink area

The sink area and art project organization

Sharp pencils and dull pencils (they merely need to swap out)

My desk area:

The back of the $12 bookshelves from Walmart (painted with black acrylic

and restickable dots stuck on... the dots were also from Walmart):

My enticing ceiling!

My work space!

Everything is color-coded by grade:

I hope you've enjoyed the transformation! I can't wait to start posting pictures of the kids' ARTWORK! They're such awesome kids! :-)