George Meets Jackson

Third grade artists have been creating artwork inspired by two artists – George Rodrigue and “Action Jackson” Pollock.

First they drew dogs in the style of well-known Louisiana “Blue Dog” artist, George Rodrigue.

George Rodrigue Blue dog

Next they did some spatter paintings like abstract artist Jackson Pollock.  Getting messy and printing with paint drippy string is an all time favorite for third grade – it never gets old!

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We put everything together and painted a black swirly frame.  Ooh-la-la, beautiful art is made when George meets Jackson!

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I Can:

Identify the work of George Rodrigue and Jackson Pollock; Explain what abstract art is; Create art in the style of Rodrigue and Pollock

Blue Dog Portraits

Third grade artists created these beautiful “Blue Dogs” after learning about Louisiana artist George Rodrigue and his fun “Blue Dog” paintings.

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Coloring our Rodrigue dogs with oil pastels and painting the background with tempera paint.

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A few of our colorful dogs – one of the things the students enjoyed the most was giving their dog a special name and putting it on the dog collar!  See more of this project on our ARTSONIA on line art gallery!

Learning goals:

I can tell a friend two facts about artist George Rodrigue.

I can draw a “Blue Dog” in the style of Rodrigue.

I can use color in a creative and thoughtful way to complete my dog portrait.

What’s New in the Art Room

We are busy starting new projects….and finishing up some pieces for display in our hallways.  First grade artists continued exploring pattern and got to do a little painting as they created these fun pattern fish.  They found out that a fish is pretty easy to draw, too!

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Third grade artists learned about two important American artists – “Action Jackson” Pollock and the creator of the Blue Dog series, Louisana artist George Rodrigue.  Their colored pencil dogs are framed with our version of a Jackson Pollock drip painting, created with string dipped in paint.  They really enjoyed the painting process; to quote one of my third graders: “This was the best project ever!”

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Painting in the style of Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm”.

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Parents…this “Blue Dog” project can be found on our Artsonia on-line art gallery.  Students have also written artist statements about their work, so be sure to check them out!

 

 

Big Shoe Review

Third grade artists have been reviewing their curriculum in a fun way…the Big Shoe Review!  After drawing a giant tennis shoe, they illustrated the shoe with images and information about one of their favorite artists.  We learn about many artists throughout the school year, and we focus on three artists at each grade level every year.  This year, third graders learned in depth about “Action Jackson” Pollock, Leonardo DaVinci, and the creator of Blue Dog, Louisiana artist George Rodrigue.  I was impressed that they were also able to recall some of their second and first grade focus artists as well – Henri Matisse, Vincent VanGogh, and Pablo Picasso.

After showing everyone how to draw their giant shoe, I hung posters of our artists on the board and set out many art books for them to peruse.  Check out some of the cool shoes!

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New Blue Dogs

Third grade artists are finishing up their study of Louisiana artist George Rodrigue, creator of Blue Dog.  They drew awesome dogs using oil pastels, and placed their dog on a background inspired by Van Gogh’s famous Starry Night.

 Blue Dog – cutting it out

 Starry Night Background

Four dogs – aren’t they great?!

   

 

See more Georgetown Blue Dog Projects here!

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Art Making Machine Keeps Churning On!

Well, the school year may coming to a halt soon, but we are still  creating art in the art room!  Here are some of our recent projects.

I just love this book: Only One You by Linda Kranz – the little stone fish paintings are fabulous, and her message about reaching for your dreams inspired my 3rd graders to create some special art pieces.

We created some waves with tempera paint and learned a little more about mixing tints – always a thrill!  Then we brainstormed advice and words of wisdom for the art room to add to our artwork, and finished up with some sweet little rainbow scratch paper fishies.

I was so impressed with the jewels of advice that my kiddos came up with to add to their work:

Be enlightened!  Make things work!  Be brave!  Treat art like GOLD!  BE the way you want to be treated!  Honor your artwork, hang it up!  Make your art colorful!  Say good things to your table mates about their art! Fill up your paper, make things BIG!  Try to make your OWN thing!

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Third Grade artists have also been learning about the artwork of George Rodrigue and LOVE his book, “Why Is Blue Dog Blue?”   Usually I like to do a George Rodrigue project when we study color – but time got away from me this year, so we did little doggies and colored them with crayons – so cute!  AND, since we are celebrating Just Write week at school, we decided our Rodrigue Dogs have something to say….and the thought bubbles tell us everything on the minds of our dogs!

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And – a little something from the Kindergarten Crew too!  We’ve been reviewing all the shapes and lines that we’ve learned how to make in art this year….and put them on our turtle shells that we drew this week!  Then, just for fun, we painted a bit with water on top of our water base markers….and, viola!  Instant watercolors!  We were thrilled to learn this new technique to make a little more color!

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