Welcome to Big Woods Art! This blog is designed to show off all of the wonderful art created by the amazing students at Big Woods. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

4th Grade Proportion Studies





The 4th graders are starting a unit studying proportions of the human body. We learned that proportion can be broken down into two words: pro and portion. Pro in this case means "really good" like a professional athlete. Portion means "amount". So proportion means "really good amounts." When we draw proportionately the head is not too big for the body and the arms are not too long, the feet aren't too tiny, etc. When we draw proportionately everything should look realistic because the every part is the right size when compared to another part.
Here are some pictures of us practicing drawing with wooden drawing dudes. We are trying our best to make them in the correct proportions. Nice work 4th graders!

Friday, January 15, 2010

2nd Grade Clay!




The 2nd graders had a great time creating clay pinch pots. We learned about the element of form and talked about how form is 3-D. That means the art pops out at you, it is not flat! After mastering the concept of form, we used clay to make a pinch pot and then glazed them. The 2nd graders are so proud of their artwork, and so am I!

3rd Grade Positive/Negative Space Masks


The 3rd graders have been learning a lot about the element of space. We've learned that it is the area we can create art in... it goes from side to side, top to bottom and from the front of the picture to the back of the picture (depth). We learned we can create depth by overlapping objects and also by using scale. We have now added one more thing to the element of space: Positive space and negative space. Positive space happens where objects have been added to a piece of artwork. Negative space is the empty space left over. In order to explore positive and negative space a little more, we created masks! The students had to be good direction followers and great listeners in order to get theirs to turn out right. Can you tell which spaces are positive and which spaces are negative?

Finished Penguins!




I am in love with these penguins that the 2nd graders have finished! They look incredible! Nice work 2nd grade!

3rd Grade Oaxacan Animals




The 3rd graders have been stellar art students while learning about Oaxacan (pronounced wa-ha-can) animals. The Oaxacan people who live in Oaxaca, Mexica have been making these colorful creatures for generations. Traditionally the animals are carved out of wood and then painted. In art class, we made them out of clay and then glazed them. The bright colors we used were inspired by Mexican life, nature and traditions! We loved seeing all the bright colors they use!

4th Grade Pottery







Good News! The 4th graders have finished throwing and glazing their pots. It has been a long process, but the kids have been patient hard workers. One of the incredible things about the Big Woods art program is that we have six potter's wheels for the kids to use. Each student gets to experience throwing a pot and then glazing afterwards. All of the pots look great! I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed making them :)