Greta Beyers Art Gallery

  Description: This art project can be incorporated into any time of year, but for this we did ornaments in class. You start by tracing the circle on your paper, drawing your ornament design, and then taping the paper onto this foam like material. Once it is tapped, you trace your design with a lot of pressure, to ensure that the design gets imprinted onto the foam like material. Once all traced, you will cut out our ornament and head over to the paint station. You will make sure your roller is completely covered in the paint, and then go over your foam design and get it nice and covered. Once covered in paint, you will put the painted foam piece face down on your construction paper, and use a clean roller to press down and create the printmaking image. repeat however many times you want. Then, draw on your ornament strings, write your name, and let dry!  Extension Activity: Have the students present their ornament design and talk about why they chose their designs and how the...

  Description: Students will follow the directions for the teachers snowflake design, and then they can make their own design. Glue all 3 snowflakes down. Then, make a glue design on one snowflake (medium thickness lines). Once glued, you will sprinkle a good amount of salt down to cover all of the glue. Shake excess glue off into the garbage. Then you will take water colors, use more water on your brush than normal, and dab on color over the salted glue. This will give it an icey and crystalized look. Let dry. We also had the class do a gallery walk and write down 3 things they like or found in their peers snowflake designs.  Extension Activity: You can have the kids tie this into a science lesson, and write about the process of how snowflakes are made. The book we listened to in this lesson will also help with this part. Integrated teaching is a smart way to tie subjects together and make use of the limited time we have. 

  Description: This art project is super great for a painting unit and also goes well with the Thanksgiving Holiday approaching. For this, you can start by talking about stain glass within the history of Art, and how it is commonly seen in churches. Then, you start on the project. They had us use brown construction paper, then we use painters tape and tape out the head, and then the diagonal feather lines. Once everything is taped, you will begin painting. Be sure to talk about Primary, Secondary, Cool, Warm, and mixing colors. After you talk about the paints, colors, and expectations, you can let the painting begin! Let the artwork dry until the next class period, and the you can carefully peel off the tape to reveal your cool design!  Extension Activity: You could have the students name their turkey and write a short paragraph about their turkey and how they feel about Thanksgiving. It can be as silly and funny as the kids want, all while also working on the students writing...

  Description: Students learn about different patterns, and practice two of them on the rubric before doing on their actual project. They trace and draw the shape of a pumpkin. Once you have the pumpkin cut out, you will have the students use crayons to draw different patterns and designs in each section of the pumpkin. After that, they will use water color on top, and you will notice that the crayon shows up really well through the water color! After they are done using watercolor they will fill out the rubric and turn it in.  Extension Activity: A potential extension activity could be having students write a short sentence or two about why they chose of their patterns. This is a great way to work on their writing skills as well, along with making personal connections as to why they chose the patten that they did! 

  Description: Students will start by learning about Van Gogh, and look at his famous works such as "A Starry Night". We will talk about what we see in the painting and what elements and principles we see as well. Then, this project is taking tissue paper, tearing it up, and using this white glue-like paste and using a paintbrush to put an entire coat of tissue paper and paste down for the background. Once that dries, students will pick a landscape to glue on the bottom, I chose a city, but you can also do a mountain range, for example. After that, students can take oil pastels and add lines and movement into their artwork to mimic Van Gogh's style.  Extension Activity: Students could research Van Gogh, and write a brief 2-3 paragraphs about what they found out during their research. This also ties in well with language arts! Integrated teaching is the best way to teach efficiently. 

  Description: This activity is great for elementary kids. You can start off the lesson looking at safari or jungle paintings, and talk about things you would see on a safari. Next, you will have the students lightly draw a safari animal of their choice (you can also incorporate the upside down drawing technique). Once they have lightly drawn the animal in a COOL color, they will draw patterns over top of their drawing in WARM colors. After that, you will have them make the red tint glasses, which will reveal the animals drawn underneath the patterns.  Extension Activity: Have the students research about the animal that they drew. They can find fun facts about the animal, where the animal can be found, etc. This incorporates well into language arts or even science.