In September, the Elementary students began studying one of the fundamental elements of art: color! The students were very excited to dive right in on the first day by mixing primary colors and discovering and discussing the color wheel. In Art History, we observed the effects of color through the colorful square paintings of Josef Albers. Albers was a pioneer in both modern color theory and art education. Upper Elementary students created their own square color studies inspired by Albers' work.
Mixing paint is an easy, fun art exploration to do at home with your children. Kids of all ages never seem to tire of this open ended activity, and it's a fun challenge to try and come up with names for all the colors they create!
In addition to creating color we also explored where color comes from - light and pigment. By viewing the light spectrum through prism glasses the students were able to visualize Sir Isaac Newton's prism experiment, proving that light itself contains a spectrum of color. Our prism glasses experiment prompted so much enthusiasm we were able to launch into very productive discussions of the subject!
The other main topic we explored this past month was individual expression.
Lower Elementary children created their personal pinwheels to celebrate Peace Day and studied Picasso's artistic contributions to the Peace Movement. We also compared how different artists have depicted the subject of trees over the course of history. Lower Elementary had an opportunity to create a composition featuring their own vision of a tree.
Upper Elementary students have been sharpening their analytical skills in our Art History discussions. We continue to review the fundamental elements of art and they are learning to relate these fundamentals to their observations of artworks and how artists choose to express ideas. Each Upper Elementary student created a personal Logo as an exercise in individual expression. We then launched into our first major color assignment by making complementary color collages featuring leaves.
We have had an eager and enthusiastic beginning of the year both in Art History discussions and studio creations. We will continue to explore the possibilities of color this semester. Meanwhile, please enjoy the following images of assorted creations in Art this past month.