St. Lawrence Art 2017-2018

Inspired by MCREST's presence in our school last week, we began our art endeavor with a book called "The Can Man" written by Laura E. Williams and illustrated by Craig Orback. Artists shared their knowledge of MCREST and discussed how we may be able to contribute with our artwork. Our hope is that we may donate some of our collaborative works to families who have found new homes with the help of MCREST. We are keeping in touch with MCREST to hear of new families that have found homes. The remainder of our works will be available for purchase at our end of the year art show and profits from the sales will be donated to MCREST. Our works of art are being made on 12x18in. canvases and are inspired by themes of happiness, calm, love and hope.

As a class, artists discussed changes in the weather and changes in the activities we participate in. For spring, artists worked from life, painting flowers we'd brought in to remind us of the life that blossoms in the spring. For summer, artists considered their favorite part of the season, what they love most. For fall, we were inspired by the changing colors of Michigan's trees. For winter, we were inspired by the beauty of snow or the activities we enjoy when the snow falls. Artists were inspired by works created by Marc Chagall, Norman Rockwell, David Hockney, Becca Stadtlander, Lawren Harris, Kathleen Elsey, Gordon Harrison, Tom Thomson, J. E. H. MacDonald and Gary Bunt. Each artists unique style found its way into their calendar. As the years pass, our artists will see how their styles change and how they stay the same.

After discussing how different colors, shapes and lines made us feel, artists practiced expressing emotions in a non-objective way (without any recognizable imagery). On day 2, artists practiced their skills of collaboration to join their ideas with a partner's to create a unique work that could express an emotion. Images for inspiration included:  Fire In The Evening by Paul Klee,  Blue and Grey by Mark Rothko,  Color Study. Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky,  Number 18 by Jackson Pollock and  Bop by Elizabeth Murray.

Mixing the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) to secondary colors (orange, green, purple) might be magic... To begin our learning, our artists became magicians, created new colors, and transformed back to artists to create self-portraits. Along the way, we learned about the colors of our skin with some help from the book "All the Colors We Are" written by Katie Kissinger. Our very own special shade of brown for our skin became our color mixing challenge for this work of art.

Our first project this year was "Art for Someone." Artists considered who they would like to make art for, what this person would enjoy and how to layout their composition for their work of art. Artists worked with oil pastels to create colorful, creative and thoughtful works of art for their intended recipient.