Wacky Watercolor Weavings

Treasure

Imani

4th/5th grade students combined two types of art to create these wacky weavings. First, students learned how to use watercolors in the wet-on-wet method. They brushed water over the whole page before 'dropping in' watercolor and letting the color spread out on its own. Then, we took these colorful, wonderfully random paintings and used them to create weavings.

4th/5th grade artists practiced weaving with smaller paper looms before using the paintings as colorful looms for their own larger weavings.

Daquero

Lavette

Steven

Jasmin

Noelani

Cut it out !

4th/5th grade NTA art students created these awesome designs with nothing more than some scissors and glue ! First, students practiced creating designs with nothing but folding and cutting techniques. As they cut into the folded paper, they soon found that their design would repeat across the whole page when opened up. The simple designs turned out beautifully, so we glued them on black paper as a finishing touch.

Jameriah 312

Jasmin 312

Corey 312

Lavette 312

Joseph 312

Treasure 312

The next project used the mathematical concept of symmetry. Students cut out shapes and transferred them over the line of symmetry to create a mirror image.

Johnnie 313

Brittney 313

Jamal 313

Yanise 313

Tyriq 313

Radial Name Designs

Intermediate students learned about radial design and how to create a design using their names. They also learned about warm and cool color schemes and were challenged to use one on their designs. Check out some of the awesome results ! Can you find the names?

Celebrating Life on the 4th Floor!

Our 4th Floor ofrenda

A traditional ofrenda for Dia de los Muertos

In October, middle school students learned about the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Students discovered that the holiday that is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd has nothing to do with our American celebration of Halloween. Unlike the dark holiday of Halloween, Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of life. This holiday is celebrated in various ways in different areas of Mexico, but is focused on celebrating the lives of deceased family members. One way that family members and friends are memorialized is through an 'ofrenda' or alter with pictures of the person and a few of their favorite things from life.

In art class, middle school students created decorative artwork traditionally used in the celebration. Students created sugar skulls, 'papel picado' or paper banners, and brought in pictures of their own lost loved ones to contribute to our traditional ofrenda.

Below you can see the process of putting the sugar in the skull molds and popping them out. The skulls had to harden overnight before students could decorate them.

After the skulls had hardened, they were ready to decorate. We viewed traditional sugar skull decoration designs before designing our own skulls.

Students also designed cut paper banners or papel picado to decorate the ofrenda and fulfill the 'wind' requirement for the 4 elements of life that must be included in an ofrenda. The four elements of life are earth, wind, water, and fire.

A small group of students were selected to visit the National Museum of Mexican Art in the Pilsen neighborhood to view an exhibit that featured ofrendas. They then shared their knowledge with the rest of their classmates when they returned to class.

Middle school students also helped to share the meaning of the ofrenda with younger students at NTA. Many classes joined us on the 4th floor to learn about our artwork and Dia de los Muertos. Our younger NTA students were fantastic audience members for our middle school guides !

Sketchbook Paintings

At the beginning of the year, all students created sketchbooks to keep art class notes and sketches organized. The front of each students' sketchbook also holds a grade sheet to track daily participation and "I CAN " objective grades, which means that all middle school students always know their grades! Sketchbooks are also a place to practice drawing skills if students complete a project early.

The first element of art that we learned about this year was LINE. NTA artists of all ages learned about many types of line and how this simple element can create amazing designs. Middle school students used various tools (cardboard pieces, combs, etc) to move paint around a piece of construction paper to create line designs for their sketchbooks. Middle school was off to a great start to the year with this project !

All about the Lines ! :)

At the beginning of the year, all students created sketchbooks to keep art class notes and sketches organized. Sketchbooks are also a place to practice drawing skills if students complete a project early. The first element of art that we learned about this year was LINE. NTA artists of all ages learned about many types of line and how this simple element can create amazing designs. Check out some of the drawings of our primary and intermediate students' sketchbooks.

Leaf Texture Rubbings

Art students in 2nd and 3rd grade explored the element of art called texture. They learned that texture is the way that something feels and that as artists we can show texture by creating rubbings with the side of a crayon. Students then used the wax-resist method of painting to add color around the rubbings without covering the crayon with watercolor paint.