September 2012
Nancy Walsh, Lauren Beard and Katie Murphy
Our new curriculum, Art Connection from SRA, is an exciting visual arts education
program being implemented into Fulton County Art classes. Students in the art class
will:
• Explore the great art, artists, and cultures of the world.
• Develop skills to understand and appreciate artwork.
• Participate in hands-on art activities.
• Develop critical thinking skills by studying other’s works of art as well as their own
pieces. More and more, the arts are playing a vital role in education and learning. Unlike
many other subjects areas, the arts introduce students to way of thinking that are based
upon imagination and judgment. The arts encourage students to think and learn in a
variety of ways, in addition to using language and logic skills.
One of the most exciting aspects of art education for students is creating their own
artwork. A few activities your student has to look forward to this year are drawing,
painting, clay, weaving, printmaking, and sculpture. Students will begin to see the world
through an artist’s eyes and develop critical thinking skills that will last a lifetime.
Art with Original Works
Original Works will be the highlight until mid October. This art fundraiser program allows
each student to show off their very own unique artwork on a large variety of products.
Detailed information will be sent home soon. Deadline for family orders are November
15, 2012.Purchased items will arrive by December 5, 2012. If the order is not complete
or an error has been made, please contact Nancy Walsh at walshn@fultonschools.org
Art with Walsh
Ms Walsh’s art classes began the year discussing the questions: What is Art? The
classes will discuss the Elements and Principles of Art for the first 9 weeks.
Kindergarten - Students are exploring Elements of Art: line, shape, color, pattern.
Snail with pattern collage – Student will be focusing on different kinds of lines, shape
and pattern is used to add details to Art. A colorful snail collage will be created with
focus on line variety, geometric circle, and pattern.
Mehndi Hand – Students will be introduced to beautiful Mehndi hand painting designs
from India. Student will concentrate on creating line patterns to decorate a contour line
of student’s hand in crayon. For completion, the exciting technique of watercolor resist
will enhance the pattern design of the painting.
First Grade – Seascapes – Students will be introduced to Winslow Homer seascapes
and his love of the water. Students will focus on contrast of color using warm and cool
color scheme to create watercolor resist painting.
Second Grade – Action Stick Figures – Students have fun drawing action figures
showing movement. Students discuss how directional lines create movement and when
color is added a visual rhythm is seen. Students will draw stick figures showing
proportion. To accent the body, color markers are used to trace the movement to create
a ripple effect using warm and cool color schemes.
Third Grade – Crazy Cactus – Students will design bright and colorful prickly pear
cactus found in the desserts with detailed patterns. Students explore and review color
schemes found in the color wheel that will be seen in their drawings. Look for these
different color schemes: analogous, primary, warm, cool, and secondary.
Fourth Grade – Human Figures in Action – Students will design and create a chalk
drawing showing the human figure showing movement. Each student will assemble a
proportioned moveable paper figure using geometric shapes with tag board and brass
fasteners. Each paper figure will be used to show different ways of the human figure
moves daily.
Fifth Grade – Optical Hand - Students will discuss and explore the art movement in the
1960’s called Op Art and the famous artist from London, Bridget Riley. Riley art worked
with the simple line and shapes that became alive to the eye on paper or canvas.
Art with Beard
This is Ms. Beard’s first year teaching at Lake Windward Elementary School. Ms. Beard
is thrilled to have the pleasure to work in such a wonderful school, and she has already
started teaching the students meaningful art lessons. This year, students will explore
and learn vast amount of artists and cultures, and will learn to create using various
techniques and mediums such as watercolors, ink printing, hand-building with clay,
graphite drawing, etc.
Kindergarten:
The Kindergarteners are beginning the year by learning how to draw and name different
types of lines, such as, zigzag, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, spiral, wavy, and so on.
Later, we will learn the difference between primary and secondary colors and how to
mix them using paint.
1st Grade:
First graders are beginning the year by reviewing the different lines, and then learning
about an artist named Jim Dine. He is famous for making bright colorful paintings with
hearts. Later, we will learn about the warm and cool colors. We will paint a seascape
with the warm and cool colors, and learn about a seascape artist, Winslow Homer.
2nd Grade:
Second graders are beginning the year by learning about a famous Atlanta-based artist,
Kara Walker. We are learning about silhouettes, positive and negative space, and then
applying our knowledge to paint a cityscape! Later, we will learn about the artist, Henri
Matisse, and create a cut-paper collage using geometric and organic shapes.
3rd Grade:
Third graders are beginning the year by learning about a famous still-life artist, Wayne
Thiebaud. We will paint a dessert, just like the artist, and learn about using tints and
shades in the painting to make it look more realistic. Later, we will learn about desert
landscapes and create an artwork using different color schemes such as,
monochromatic, complimentary, analogous, and so on.
4th Grade:
Fourth graders are beginning the year by learning about the famous Molas, made by the
Cuna Indians. We will make a reproduction of a Mola, using animals as our theme.
Later, we will learn about Georges Seurat, Impressionism, and create a painting using
the method of pointillism.
5th Grade:
Fifth graders are beginning the year by learning about logos and learning about the
famous Illuminated Manuscripts from the Middle Ages. We will create our own personal
illuminated letters and add logos that represent us.
Adaptive Art
The Adaptive Art program at Lake Windward is off to a wonderful start. We have an
exciting fall planned with activities centered on classroom themes, seasonal changes
and holidays. We will explore many art mediums while introducing art concepts and
terminology. The art class will work closely with other classroom teachers in providing
reinforcement to academic skills being introduced across all areas of academics. Art
will provide students the opportunity to further develop fine motor skills, increases
vocabulary, observe the environment around them while providing an avenue for selfexpression. We have an excellent year planned and can't wait to get started! Please
enjoy each of the wonderful art pieces that arrive home and PLEASE talk to your
children about their work.
Katie Murphy
Adaptive Art
Art sites to visit:
www.alarion.com
www.artograph.com
www.artvideostore.com
www.allartsupplies.org
www.arrowmont.com
www.artsandactivities.com
www.cartoonconnection.com
www.caryola.com
www.museumstamps.com http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/art_center.html
Adaptive Art Website: www.geocities.com/mrrobinson1975/adapative_art.html