Australia

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Kudos!

Each year, student artwork is selected for display at our Administration Building.  The framed artwork is “on loan” for one year and then returned to the students.  It is always a pleasure to drop the artwork off at the Administration Building – everyone there stops what they are doing and gathers around the art pieces, deciding (with perhaps a little friendly arguing) which piece will hang near their office for the year.

Two pieces have been selected for display from Georgetown Elementary.  Drum roll please….

Fourth Grade Braden’s “Boab Tree”

Boab Tree

Boab Tree

Kindergartener Jordan’s “Lizzy Robot”

"Lizzy Robot"

“Lizzy Robot”

Congratulations, artists!  Be sure to visit your artwork at the HPS Administration Building – 3886 Van Buren Street in Hudsonville!

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Australian Bark Paintings

Third grade artists wrapped up their study of Australia as they explored Australian bark painting.  They viewed Aboriginal cave paintings and learned that the hand print stencil found in many cave paintings can be a symbol of peace;  it is also used as a signature, to show that a person was in that place.

Third graders also viewed bark paintings and learned that the symbols and images found on traditional bark paintings are similar to Aboriginal cave paintings.  While we would have liked to use real bark from the Australian stringybark tree for our bark paintings, we settled for brown Kraft paper and decorative sticks from Mrs. Brouwer’s front yard!

      

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Australian Baru Crocodiles

First grade artists learned about Aboriginal dot painting and some of the unique wildlife of Australia as they created these cool saltwater Baru Crocodiles!

They began by tracing circles with a large marker, coloring the background with Warm Wanda colors, and carefully making white dots with a q-tip.

  

We drew our crocodiles step-by-step with Mrs. Brouwer, then painted them with watercolors, adding dots for detail with the the end of a paintbrush.  Cutting the crocs out was tricky – first graders got in some good practice using scissors!

     

See more of our cool crocs in our ARTSONIA Art Museum!

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Beautiful Boab Trees

Fourth Grade artists are completing these fabulous Boab Trees as part of our Cultural Focus this year – Australia.  They learned that the Boab Tree is also called the “bottle tree” as it stores water in the bottle-shaped trunk to endure harsh drought conditions in the Australian outback.

Our boab trees were inspired by the work of  Australian artist Bronwyn Bancroft, author and illustrator of the book “Why I Love Australia”.

Fourth Graders prepared the paper for their work by first rubbing it with crayons for a bit of color and texture.  Next they painted their boabs with black tempera; when the tempera was dry, color was added with oil pastels.

   

       See more of our beautiful boab trees at our ARTSONIA GALLERY!

 

 

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A Stellar Art Blog!

Just wanted to give a shout-out to a new blogger – my art colleague Jessica has a fabulous blog.  Check it out – here’s the link to her blog:

Art With Mrs. Seitz

I’m loving some of her new projects.  One of my favorites is her Blue Ringed Octopus – this project ties in to our 2013 Elementary Cultural Focus – Australia.

Blue Ringed Octopus – Forest Grove Elementary

 

 

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Edward and Edwina Emu

Second grade artists began their study of the culture of Australia and New Zealand by learning about some of the unique animals found in Australia.  We read two of my favorite books by Sheena Knowles, Edward the Emu and Edwina The Emu.  Second graders were also intrigued to see Mrs. Brouwer’s real emu egg!

We were so inspired by the beautiful drawings in the books (created by Rod Clement) that we created our own awesome Edward and Edwina Emus!  Look for more of our Emu drawings on Artsonia too!

   

 

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The Coolamon Bowl Story

Third grade artists began their study of the culture of Australia and New Zealand by learning about a traditional Aboriginal ceremony.  The Aboriginal people show respect for another’s language, country, and ancestors by performing a special smoking ceremony.  Fragrant eucalyptus leaves are burned in a special bowl, called a coolamon.  The smoldering leaves are used to cleanse the air while participating in the ritual.

After reading Why I Love Australia by Australian illustrator and artist Bronwyn Bancroft, my students were inspired to create their own interpretation of the smoking ceremony, complete with the special coolamon bowl.  Third grade artists also noticed the use of painted dots in Bancroft’s art, and they spent two class periods just making beautiful dots with the handle end of their paintbrushes.

Here are some of our Aboriginal inspired pieces – more can be found on our Artsonia on-line art gallery.

 

   

And a final collage – couldn’t resist!