I want gumballs!

Are you hungry for some sweet art? 

Last week in Children's House we were inspired by the work of Wayne Thiebaud. Wayne is an American painter still working in California. Wayne has always be inspired by sweets. When asked about his work he once said,

"My subject matter was a genuine sort of experience that came out of my life, particularly the American world in which I was privileged to be. I would really think of the bakery counters, of the way the counter was lit, where the pies were placed, but I wanted just a piece of the experience. From when I worked in restaurants. It was always poetic to me."

Wayne Thiebaud. Three Machines. 1963. oil on canvas.30 x 36 1/2 in.

Before starting our own art I asked the students, Based on your life experiences so far what would you paint most often?

To wrap up our discussion on shapes I  started by displaying a gumball machine. The little ones were quick to describe the shapes that made up the machine. Together we drew a large circle to hold our treats. We then connected a square or a rectangle for our base, added the coin slot, twist knob, and topped it off with the square top. 

As am artist myself, I believe that all students should be exposed to real objects as much as possible when drawing from observation. 

See our work below for a sweet treat!

So many circles

I am tickled to display the finished circle collages. The young artists in the children's house classroom did a fabulous  job, giving their best effort to a challenging repetition procedure work of art. 

This coming week we will follow up this lesson with an artist study on the very yummy work of Wayne Thiebaud. 

Henri Matisse Collage

First grade has spent the last two weeks studying the life and artwork of a well known french artist, Henri Matisse. 

He would then cut beautiful, organic, free-flowing shapes with scissors. He rarely threw away any scraps.

When Matisse was nearly seventy-two years old, he became ill and it was difficult for him to stand and paint. His illness did not restrict his creativity. He began a new technique, which he called, "painting with scissors", which was painting large sheets of paper with different colors using gouache, an opaque watercolor.

Snow Flowers, 1951

He would then cut beautiful, organic, free-flowing shapes with scissors. He rarely threw away any scraps.

The first graders focused on organic and geometric shapes, and fine motor hand development in cutting out each shapes. Check out our fantastic examples below.

Beautiful example of organic shapes

Lovely composition

Well planned out and neat