From the Art Room:
Kenji Hasegawa
In Kindergarten we discussed the Abstract artwork of Paul Klee, focusing on his
piece “Castle and Sun” 1928. Kindergarteners discovered how shape and color could be
arranged and manipulated to create something from life. We then used Klee’s work as
inspiration to create tissue paper cities. By brushing on glue and water children were able
to construct buildings using shapes like rectangles, squares for windows, and triangles for
roofs. We discussed how tissue paper can even be overlapped to create new colors. They
did a wonderful job.
In First Grade we revisited a technique known as “Monoprint.” In Kindergarten
the children learned how to paint on the clear plastic of a cd case, and print it on paper.
“Mono” meaning one and “print” being the stamped image, children discovered a new
way to get paint on a piece of paper. For this new monoprint project we worked with the
symbol of the heart, coinciding with Valentines Day. Children were able to use acrylic
paint in white and primary colors and were challenged to mix to create secondary colors
like green, orange, and purple. Pink being a popular heart color was created by mixing
white with red, also known as a tint. 1st graders delighted in trying out several prints in
different color schemes. Lifting the cd case and discovering the print was a lot of fun for
the children.
In Second Grade, we have completed a very fun project. First we looked at the
hilarious poetry of Kenn Nesbitt who was our guest on Author’s Day. We focused on
two main poems, “Hooray Hooray! It’s New Years Day,” and “The Marvelous
Homework and Housework Machine.” These poems were rich with imagery like “riding
a dinosaur,” “ learning to fly,” and even how there is a machine that does housework and
homework. We talked about illustration, creating images for words in a book, and then
children created their own illustrations for Nesbitt’s poetry. Several of the finished
illustrations were hung in the front of the building as a welcome for Kenn Nesbitt!
In Third Grade we in the midst of the ever popular loom weaving project. After
setting up our looms with warp string, we have taken time to estimate the amount of weft
string needed to create a row running left to right. Students have created beautiful
patterns that can be repeated throughout the weaving. Students use their fingers to weave
over and under the warp string, or they can even use tools like a needle or shuttle which
speed to weaving process. The children are having a great time and we expect to
complete them in the near future.