Mrs. Edwards' Art Class

Yes, there is more wonderful pieces of art to see!!

• Students planned out a picture they could create using dots.
• We used water colors and Q-Tips to make our colorful dots.
• Students learned that dots closer together would create a darker shade, and the spaced out dots made lighter shades.
• No lines were allowed at all! Only dots!
• If you squint, you may be able to make out the object of our pointillism paintings!

This pointillism pie looks good enough to eat! By: Rachel- 6th Grade

Nice looking sunset! By: Noah- 5th Grade



A baseball complete with light source and shadow! By: Nathaniel- 5th Grade



Two little apples hanging from a branch! By: Bryan- 4th Grade

We hope you enjoyed these creative pointillism pictures! We worked very hard on these! Come back soon for more art!

Welcome back to the art blog featuring the most talented artists: GCS elementary art students! Make sure you catch up on everything we have been doing in art class for the past few weeks!!

We have been talking about the life and work of famous artists and this week we discussed the troubled, yet talented artist Vincent Van Gogh. We learned about his quite crazy personality, his missing ear, and also his posthumous fame. Although we think he was a great painter, we definitely do not want to act like him!!
This week, art students in grades 1st-6th created beautiful landscapes using chalk pastels. These are sure to take your breath away! Here’s how we made these masterpieces:

• We learned that landscapes should show both the land and the sky.
• Each student had to choose between a warm or cool set of colors.
• We used Van Gogh’s technique of blustery, windy, and wavy lines to make the sky.
• Next we used our finger to blend the colors together by slightly smearing the lines to create a windy or sandy effect.
• Some students used dark construction paper to create the land with a foreground shadow while others used pastels to draw the land.

This is a pretty city-scape in cool colors! By: Abby- 6th Grade



This warm-colored desert looks nice and sandy! By: Bryan- 4th Grade



I would love to visit this warm-colored beach! By: Lena- 2nd Grade

This night-time landscape is eerily beautiful! By: Dana- 4th grade

This cool color landscape reminds me of a breezy night! By: Lilly- 2nd Grade

We hope you enjoyed these vibrant landscapes! Come back for many more pieces of artwork!!

We keep having this little glimpses of spring recently! I absolutely love the breezy weather, bright colors, and green goodness of spring! God is such a wonderful Creator to have given us these gifts of beauty! Can't wait til spring is here to stay!!

"Red Poppy" by Georgia O'Keeffe

Last week art students created breath-taking watercolor paintings of huge and colorful flowers. We learned about artist, Geogia O'Keeffe who is famous for her larger-than-life flowers. She used a variety of colors and sometimes abstract designs to make unique and exciting pieces of art. We painted lovely flowers with petals bursting off the page, and I have to say I love the results! Enjoy!

Welcome Friends!
Week 5 of our study on Careers in art led us to the Craft Artist. For those interested only in their child's artwork, feel free to skip down to heading Our Adventures as Craft Artists. For those with some extra time or interest in my viewpoint on crafts, read on!



Cut and Paste Activities

 Craft vs. Art
I generally do not teach crafts, because they often float away from the ideas and elements of art. We have all seen the Sunday School cut and paste activities that have pre-designed pieces that are basically glued together. While there is nothing wrong with these types of crafts in certain situations, I try to stay away from these in art class. I prefer to teach students how to take the basic elements of art and create their own work out of their own ideas. The problem with the 'cut and paste activities" used as an art lesson is: it does not allow for individual creativity! The whole point of art class is for students to learn skills that will help them come up with a design that is unique to them! Gluing together a print-out of a pilgrim is not exactly unique... especially when every other student is cutting out that same pilgrim! There is such a thing as a artfully-crafted craft! That's where Craft Artists come in! Here is a great explanation of a craft artist from this site:

"Craft artists create a wide range of objects typically by hand. They strive to create unique art pieces such as clothing, jewelry, pottery, mosaics, candles, furniture, quilts, stained glass, and tapestries. They work with a variety of materials such as wood, ceramics, metal, glass, paper, and textiles. ... Many craft artists also employ fine art methods including painting and printing to improve the appearance of their creations. Some craft artists use recycled objects to create their art. Craft artists often display and sell their creations at craft shows, fairs, studios, galleries, museums, and retail outlets."

Our Adventures as Craft Artists
So as you can see, craft artists take their skills to create a handmade item that is unique! Art students at GCS did just that by creating funny and sweet Valentine Cards out of construction paper, glue, wooden sticks, string, and markers. Students had to create a self-designed Valentine centered around hearts. They also had to include a funny or sweet message that creatively captioned the picture. Your heart will melt when you read these mushy, lovey Valentines!!

Hello again!!

During Fashion Design week, 6th grade art students took on the job of designing a new and exciting pattern! We learned that fashion design is not intended for clothes only. We created beautiful patterns for many items such as wallpaper, bedspreads, and lawn chairs! The possibilities are endless!


Check out the nicely planned designs!

Great work 6th grade! I love your creativity!

As for this week... let's hope the snow stays away for now! I would really love for every class to have art this week! Thanks for visiting!