Audubon Plates

  John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, & painter. He documented all types of American birds with very detailed illustrations. 4th & 5th graders observed the fine details in Audubon's work, and created incredible pencil sketches. (click on images for a closer look)

Using a black permanent marker, students traced their own

artwork onto the back of a clear plastic plate. 

Color was applied to the back of the plate (reverse painting) with 

acrylics or permanent color sharpie markers. The results were stunning.

 

Some students explored reverse painting on recycled CD cases.

 

  

ART ROOM tips & strategies

The Toucan

By Chloe R.

Second grade started a toucan project representing the natural habitat and colorful bird for earth day. The habitat is the rain forest in South America. Tree cutters are cutting down the natural resources, trees which are also the habitat of toucans. A toucan is the bird we picked also because it’s very fun to draw. The toucan has a lot of steps to it but it's easy! It has a lot of shapes that you can follow from looking at the bird’s amazingly shaped beak and tail. Ms. Palefsky will show you the shapes and outline if you ask her to show you. The reason you should ask her the shapes is that it can help you picture it in your mind. It’s an amazing bird to draw because of its habitat and its colorful beak including its dark body which makes it stand out a lot because of the contrast. This bird’s habitat is just leaves if you think about it! You can add details to it like rain because it’s the rainforest!

Nicole H.
My favorite art lesson was the Toucan lesson because our wonderful art teacher Ms. Palefsky taught how to draw toucans. The reason that she taught us how to draw a Toucan is because she said they were endangered animals and she said that we should draw them because she said they would give us inspiration on drawing. I thought they were really fun to draw because once we did a pencil sketch we got use so may art materials like paint, oil pastels, chalk pastels, chalk, crayons and anything in the art room. Everyone's in my class was really colorful and some were really creative. When we looked at them we looked at them like they were a real photo because anyones artwork can be a real photo. Toucans were a great challenge for second grade and even thought they were hard to draw I know I will never give up.

(click on images for a closer look)

 

 

  

Nick C. illustrates the canopy layer of the rainforest, where toucans make their homes.

Keith Haring

By Zach H. 5-H
In art, we were working on a Keith Haring project. He used bright, flat colors, motion lines, and contour lines (the outline). The contour does NOT have details in it. For example, no face, clothes, hair, fingers, and toes. Also, Keith Haring was inspired by Aztec Art and used detailed patterns and designs. Lastly, Keith was inspired by proportion (human body is roughly eight heads high). 
When Keith first started painting his artwork, he decided to put it in a popular place - in a train station. Then, when he got older, Keith expanded his artwork into the city (New York). Like for example, Keith designed his people at wall balls, playgrounds, and on sides of buildings. Keith was drawing on wall balls to protest on kids using drugs. Keith’s artwork was shown in art museums for people to see how he was inspired by Aztec art. 
Sadly, in 1990, Keith Haring died of AIDS. But his artwork will always live forever. Today, his artwork still lives! His artwork is on Google. People in my class made samples of his artwork. This was one of my favorite art classes because I had fun!

By Ethan V. 4-A
Keith Haring (1958-1990) was a phenomenal artist who started by drawing in the subway in New York City. Maybe you might know him for his big art masterpiece: the Crack Is Whack mural on a cement wall in a NYC playground. This showed how Keith felt about drugs. Keith had a very funky style and was greatly influenced by the bold patterns and line design in Aztec art. All in all we had an awesome time making Keith Haring drawings! :) 

(Click on images for a closer look)