The Wonderful World of Walter Anderson



Snails and Crabs and Gators, oh my!
Take a peek at these wonderful watercolor paintings in the style of Walter Anderson, from right here in the South. Anderson was born in New Orleans and lived in Coastal Mississippi making beautiful paintings of all sorts of animals and marsh life.
Kindergarteners and 1st graders grade drew snails, used permanent marker to trace over and filled in with fantastic watercolor. 2nd and 3rd graders used the same method to create blue crabs and 4th and 5th grade made some really gory gators!

Snails by Kindergarten and First Graders

We also listened to a wonderful song while painting....click on the link to hear it!

http://www.songdrops.com/funny-kids-songs-for-children/bob-the-snail-a-fun-kids-song-by-bryant-oden.html



Crabs by Second and Third graders



Happy New Year!

Hi Friends!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Break. I'm looking forward to our second semester of making beautiful art. I have some fantastic lessons planned for the upcoming months, with the kids' (and my) favorite medium, PAINT!
We're going to make some beautiful Walter Anderson watercolor sea creatures, Giacometti's  foil sculptures, Symmertrical snowflake ballerinas, Andy Warhol self portraits, and some yummy cakes in the style of Wayne Thiebaud.
Get your refrigerator doors cleared off...we have some great pieces of art headed your way!
Speaking of clearing out,please remember I never turn away donations! If you have left over aluminum foil, coke rewards codes, any construction paper, liquid glue, and basically, anything that looks like it belongs in an art room, I'll take it!
Thanks for always supporting art in education,
Natalie

Just For Fun

Wishing you a great Holiday Season! Thank you for sharing your artists with me. Enjoy.

A little less conversation and a little more abstraction.

A big goal for educators in Huntsville City Schools this year is to create Professional Learning Communities... basically, working together with our peers to collaborate and teach more effectively and efficiently.
This month, Mrs. Hefner, our music teacher, and I planned a lesson to coincide with each other. The 2nd and 3rd  grade classes are learning about Paul Klee, who was a musician and an artist.
Mrs. Hefner is teaching them about repetition and pattern in his artwork, and music, while I am teaching them about his abstraction of people.

here is an example of my third grade abstract people, based on Paul Klee's Grooms Arrival (above).



Little people making Klee's Little People

How is it kids get more talented and smarter the younger they are?

Check it out, gesture drawings (quick drawing capturing the energy and movement of the subject) inspired by Paul Klee's abstract people. The little ones especially loved "modeling" poses for their classmates.

and the real thing-- if you want to call it that--pretty awesome, right?

Gallery Greatness!

What are your plans for Thanksgiving break? In between football and turkey comas, throw in a little culture and swing by the Huntsville Museum of Art! Highlands and Blossomwood Schools are both featured in the Community Gallery on the ground level. We have 20 wonderful pieces of art by our very talented students hanging there right now!
Break the boredom of turkey sandwiches, grab a slice of pizza from Pan E Vino, ( I would suggest the Matisse Pizza) and take in a little art for the holidays.
http://www.hsvmuseum.org/

Big Cats, Little Jungle

So.... this is one of those lessons I've had in the file cabinet for years, literally, and kept pulling it out each year and just never got around to it....
This year, I finally taught the lesson and I'm so glad I did!
The fourth and fifth graders loved making the 3-D triaramas, and making the leaves, vines and bushes "pop up." We viewed and discussed Henri Rousseau's jungle paintings and the student drew a big cat. The second part of the lesson involved cutting out the cat, and folding the triarama and adding the foliage.

Here's a couple of Rousseau's Jungles.