MICHELANGELO INSPIRED HAND DRAWINGS

The Renaissance was a “rebirth” of education, science, and the arts. It was a time of humanism, or the study of classical antiquity and its lifelike qualities. The Renaissance looked for realism and human emotion in art. Michelangelo Buonarroti was not only one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance but in all of history as well. He was talented in many fields including sculpting, painting, poetry, and architecture. He studied human anatomy to perfect realistic qualities of subjects in his work such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and statue of David. 5th graders studied their hands and learned how to draw from close observation to depict contours and a range of values to achieve realism. They shaded their hands using a hatching or cross-hatching technique as Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists utilized in their sketches.

4TH GRADE GOTHIC CATHEDRALS

As we finished our Middle Ages Unit, 4th graders learned about Medieval architecture. Gothic architecture was ornate, decorative, and included many features including stained glass rose windows, pointed arches, spires, relief statues, and gargoyles. After viewing several buildings including the Notre Dame cathedral, students created a symmetrical design for their own Gothic cathedral using several of these features. The students used Sharpie to outlines their drawing to create contrast and shaded their rose windows with colored pencils to create a focal point.

   

 

   

ICARUS

3rd graders have created a master study of Henri Matisse's Icarus this quarter. They learned about how Fauvist artists such as Matisse used bold shapes and colors to express a feeling or emotion rather than a realistic portrayal of the subject matter in their work. We talked about how Matisse painted using bright colors and organic shapes which transferred to his later work which he called "painting with scissors." In his old age, Matisse continued to create art by making paper cut-outs even though he couldn't paint anymore. 3rd graders discussed the story of Icarus and how Matisse used a simple but effective design to convey meaning in his work.

The 3rd graders are now finishing Georgia O'Keeffe's Bella Donna, and pictures will be soon to follow!

INTO THE NEW SEMESTER

Greetings Archway Families,

I hope everyone is settling into the new year and enjoying this beautiful, warm January in Arizona. After the week of evaluations and conferences, students took home their portfolios from last semester and created new ones for this semester. They took home all work (mostly from the fall quarter) but not any final projects yet. Most of the work they took home were bell work assignments, practice drawings, art critiques, and other classwork.

During the spring, each Archway campus will be hosting a fine arts week that includes spring choir concerts and the annual art walk. This is a time for students to show off their best work from the year, so their projects will stay safely in the art room until then. Each student will choose one or two of their best artworks to be hung in the halls for everyone to admire. This is an exciting time to see all of the hard work that the students have been doing all year. After the art walk, students will take home all of their projects from the year. More information about the art walk for Trivium East and Trivium West will be coming soon!

New projects will be posted soon as the students are finishing up their work. In 5th grade, we are studying Michelangelo Bunarroti and his iconic Renaissance figure drawings and sculptures. Students are creating a drawing of their hand using close observation like the old masters did to create the illusion of realism. We discussed the importance of drawing from closely looking at details and relationships of shapes to create correct proportions of the hand. We looked at several artists' sketches that are lesser known to appreciate that they all began as art students and studied the human form before they went on to create master paintings that we recognize today. A few of the artists' drawings we looked at are shown below.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam

Pages from Da Vinci's Sketchbooks

Durer's Hand Sketches

Van Gogh Hand Sketches

Phoenix Art Museum is hosting a Michelangelo exhibit that is going on now through March 27th entitled Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane. I haven't experienced this yet, but I am looking forward to visiting the museum soon to view some of the rarest Michelangelo figure sketches, architectural drawings, and memoirs. This would be an exciting opportunity for the students (especially 5th grade) to be able to get a first hand experience of the master artist's sketches and drawings! The Phoenix Art Museum is free Wednesdays from 3-9 pm; there is a small fee for admission into the Michelangelo exhibit (adults- $8 and students- $5, or free for museum members). More information about this event here: http://www.phxart.org/exhibition/michelangelo. Have a lovely weekend!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

New artwork is up at ATW as well! The students worked so hard this semester on their projects and assignments and I can't wait to see what they create next semester! Thank you families for your support and generosity. Have a safe and relaxing winter break, and best wishes to your families for the new year :)

4th grade Unicorn Tapestry drawings in oil pastel

5th grade Renaissance still life drawings in colored pencil

HOW TO LOOK AT ART AND THINK LIKE AN ARTIST

When students become discouraged during an assignment, I remind them that all artists started off in their shoes, learning little by little and making errors along the way. We grow from our mistakes and persevere through tasks that we do not necessarily wish to do, but we may realize that we discover something we excel at and become passionate about! It feels good to produce something beautiful that took dedication, patience, and practice. Even if a student doesn't go on to have a career in the arts, learning "visual literacy" will help them throughout various avenues of their lives.

In class, we often discuss different types of art and the importance of art in our world. We have practiced looking at and formally talking about art, especially how to closely observe an artwork using correct vocabulary. We have discussed how artists sometimes create art to make something beautiful, but sometimes they create art to record something exactly how they see it through close observation. We have practiced the steps in an art critique so that students can become familiar with looking at all different types of artwork, and gaining knowledge through visual perception and critical thinking skills.

Students can go on to be able to critique master artworks, but also their own and even their peer's. A critique is an oral or written discussion strategy used to analyze, describe, and interpret works of art. Critiques help students hone in on their persuasive and creative oral and writing, information-gathering, and justification skills. Art criticism can be used outside of the classroom as well, and would be a good opportunity to practice if you and your child visit a museum or art gallery. They can also bring a sketch pad or paper to practice drawing a part of or the whole artwork using close observation as we have done in class. Sketching master studies helps with the visual organization of objects in the picture and being able to translate that understanding onto their own paper.

The four major areas of art criticism are describe, analyze, interpret, and judge. They should focus on each step sequentially using some of the questions below:

Description

Describe the work without using value words such as "beautiful" or "ugly":

• What is the written description on the label or in the program about the work?
• What is the title and who is the artist?
• When and where was the work created?
• Describe the elements of the work (i.e., line movement, light, value, space).
• Describe the technical qualities of the work (i.e., tools, materials, instruments).
• Describe the subject matter. What is it all about? Are there recognizable images?

Analysis

Describe how the work is organized as a complete composition:

• How is the work constructed or planned (i.e., movements, lines)?
• Identify some of the similarities throughout the work (i.e., repetition of lines, colors, shapes).
• Identify some of the points of emphasis in the work (i.e., specific scene, figure).
• If the work has subjects or characters, what are the relationships between or among them?

Interpretation

Describe how the work makes you think or feel:

• Describe the expressive qualities you find in the work. What expressive language would you use to describe the qualities (i.e., tragic, ugly, funny)?
• Does the work remind you of other things you have experienced (i.e., analogy or metaphor)?
• How does the work relate to other ideas or events in the world and/or in your other studies?

Judgment or Evaluation

Present your opinion of the work's success or failure:

• What qualities of the work make you feel it is a success or failure?
• Compare it with similar works that you think are good or bad.
• What would you have done differently if you were the artist?

Here is a great handout that gives numerous examples of how to think like an artist!

3rd GRADE APPLE STILL LIFE | 4th GRADE UNICORN TAPESTRIES

Here is a sample of some student artwork that 3rd and 4th has completed this quarter from Archway Trivium East!

Looking at light with the Dutch artist Jan Vermeer

The Milkmaid, 1658

3rd grade student work - apple still life in dry pastel

Medieval Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestries

The Unicorn in Captivity

4th grade student work - unicorn tapestries in oil pastel