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!

 

 

Winter Landscapes

Ask a third grade Georgetown artist about landscapes….I’ll bet they can tell you all about how to create a beautiful landscape!   They may tell you about the foreground, middle ground, and horizon line…or about using warm and cool colors to emphasize different parts of the picture, and maybe even how to choose the right brush when painting a watercolor landscape.  Here are their recent winter landscapes – more can be found in our Artsonia Online Art Gallery.

 

 

This project was inspired by a post on the blog “First Grade ONEderful” and the work of artist Ted Harrison.

 

Artsonia Is Back!

Georgetown’s recent Third Grade Art Project is now featured on Artsonia, the world’s largest kids’ art museum.

Third grade’s “Button Project” was our first art project this year – a little line, shape, and color review.  The pieces uploaded to Artsonia are beautiful and well worth a look!  Third grade parents –  you will be receiving a “Parent Slip” home this week detailing how to access your child’s artwork on line.  You may leave comments for your child, let them enter and artist statement about the piece, and order custom items with the artwork printed on the piece.

The Georgetown Elementary Art Department receives 20% of the sales when you order items printed with your childs’ artwork.  Funds earned will be used to purchase ART BOOKS for the Art Room!

Look for more artwork from your child on Artsonia later this year!

Lemon Juice Froggies

Third graders recently completed these sweet little watercolor frogs – perfect to celebrate the spring frogs that are peeping outside the art room door!

Their watercolor froggies were painted on a background that was brushed with blue watercolor and dabbed with paper towel for some nice texture.

Dots were added to the frogs with lemon juice that was dropped on the frogs and blotted with tissue; this left a lighter “frog spot”.  Interestingly – we used two brands of green watercolor, and one brand would not “blot”…so we improvised and painted on white spots with tempera paint too.

Our final step was to add a lily pad and flower border.

Third Grade Egyptian Portraits

My third grade artists recently wrapped up this neat project that tied in to our study of Middle Eastern Culture.  I took their profile photos and printed them in black and white, and after discussing King Tut and Queen Nefertiti and looking at Egyptian hieroglyphs, they were ready to work!

           

Thanks to MaryMaking  for sharing her Ancient Egyptian Royalty project – my third graders loved it!

Blue Dog Meets Just Write

We’re adding a new twist to Georgetown’s 2012 Just Write Week – art AND writing!  Just Write is a huge celebration of our year long work in writing, with student and staff stories covering every bit of space in our hallways and classrooms.  This year, we’re featuring artwork and poems in our multi-purpose room the week of May 14-18.

Third grade artists created a piece of artwork and then wrote awesome poems about their art pieces.  Our art and writing inspiration is Louisiana artist George Rodrigue and his famous “Blue Dog” series.

George Rodrigue and his Blue Dog

We read Rodrigue’s fun book, “Why Is Blue Dog Blue”, which is filled with great puns and plays on words about color.

Students drew and colored their own “Blue Dogs” in art with Mrs. Brouwer and wrote poems about their artwork in their classrooms.

Here’s a sample of what we created – please stop by the multi-purpose room (cafeteria) May 14-18 to see our Blue Dog Art And Poetry Show!

A peek at our art and poetry display.

You can also find our entire Blue Dog Collection at our Artsonia site!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third Grade Coil Pots

My third grade artists always learn coil pot building for their clay project.  This year I switched it up a bit, and the coil pots became bird nests.  We squeezed “twigs” through garlic presses to finish the tops of our pots – this was a big hit with my third graders!

  glazing our nests

Bird Nests fresh from the kiln.

Of course, what’s a nest without a bird and some eggs?  So we created some sweet little birds from Model Magic to live in our nests.

  We colored the model magic by dabbing it with blue markers, then mixing it until we got just the right shade of blue.

Forming a bird

waiting for eyes and beak to be painted

eggs in nest – cute even without the bird!