Op Art Cubes

Weaving on a Cardboard Loom

After watching an instructional video on weaving, created by a colleage of mine who teaches in the Detroit Public Schools, the students tried their own hands at weaving. We all learned that weaving takes practice, patience, and perseverane, but the end result is very gratifying!

Join us for the CCA Biggby Art Show!

What: an OPEN HOUSE night to showcase CCA k-6 visual art.
Where: Biggby Coffee in Big Rapids, MI
When: Friday, January 28, 6-9

**In addition to joining us to support the student artists, Bigbby Coffee is donating $1 from every purchase to the CCA Art department in order to buy much needed art supplies. We hope to see you there!

(Posters created by 4th Grade CCA Students)

Watercolor Resist Snowflakes

The first grade students viewed microscopic images of snowflakes, and they noticed that every snowflake has six sides and its own unique shape. The students designed their own snowflakes, traced them with white crayon, and applied watercolor.

Winter Cardinals

The first grade students learned how to draw a bird composed of simple shapes. We all agreed that the colorful cardinals bring a lot of joy on bleak winter days.

Sumi Ink Trees

The kindergarteners blew air through a straw to move sumi ink around on their paper in the shape of a Japanese Maple tree trunk. After the "trunks" were dry, the students applied red paint for the leaves.

Grouchy Ladybugs

The Kindergarten students were inspired to create these collages after reading Eric Carle's fantastic book!

MLK memorial plans

After viewing the following video clip that shows a detailed plan for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial project, one of my students exclaimed, "This is WONDERFUL! It's like Martin Luther King Jr. cuts through the rock and lets all the people walk through freely." This is one of the many extremely rewarding moments that occur in teaching visual art.



In response to the video and a brief slideshow showing and describing MLK's biography, the students created pencil drawings:







Students were given the opportunity to share his/her drawings and to describe how we can act justly and promote peace without our own communities.

Relief Printing

The fifth grade students have been working dilligently on planning, carving, and pulling relief prints. The images are carved out of Speedball SpeedyCut blocks, which work great for this grade level because they are very soft.

Initially the students answered the following questions in order to thoroughly plan their prints:

Planning a Print

Printmaker Tom Killion spent a large amount of his time creating sketches and planning his prints before the artwork was completed. Planning is a very important step in the printmaking process, and the success of your print will depend, in part, upon the time and effort you invest in planning.

1.Tom Killion created prints of the natural landscape because it is what he loves and what he finds to be beautiful; nature is what inspires him to create. Likewise, what inspires YOU to create? What do you love? Make a list of 6 things that inspire you (My list is: animals, homes, travel, maps, modes of transportation, and geodes!)
1._______________________________
2._______________________________
3._______________________________
4._______________________________
5._______________________________
6._______________________________

2. Pick four items from the above list and create 4 sketches of them in the
Space below:







After completing the planning worksheet, the students learned the safety rules and proper techniques used in carving. They carved away negative space in order to leave their desired image. Next, the students learned how to properly apply ink to the block by rolling it on with the brayer. Lastly, the students learned how to properly title, number, and sign the prints. I was impressed by the creativity of some of the titles (i.e. "I have no fear my sister is here").