Debbie Bellia
Art: Pre-K-8th Grade
The students at OLG have had a busy couple of months in art class producing amazing works. They continue to keep up the momentum working very creatively on their projects.
Pre-K, kindergarten and 1st grade have been working on drawing moon jellyfish using black Sharpie pens and colored pencils. They used a variety of wavy and relaxed lines to create jellyfish that are swimming across their turquoise paper. Then they colored the jellyfish blending white, blue and purple colored pencils to make them appear translucent and glowing in the water. The second part of the project was to create a fish that is being block printed as if swimming over the top and along side of their jellyfish. The printing is still in progress and their almost completed works are beautiful. The 1st grade also did a class on Australian Aboriginal painting using little dots and dashes of paint to create authentic replicas of art from that culture. They did an awesome job demonstrating their understanding of Australian Aboriginals taught by Ms. Gazewood as part of their social studies lessons. These works are displayed outside their classroom.
The second grade is working on creating an oil pastel and watercolor Japanese koi pond as part of their social studies lessons on Japan taught by Ms. Hoch. They drew and painted koi fish, water lilies and lily pads using bright and blended oil pastels. Currently they are working on writing the Japanese characters for koi pond in the corner of their work and adding a blue water colored background with blue violet shadows around all of their subjects. They are stunning works and will be displayed soon.
The 3rd grade has been working on a positive and negative space project using cut black paper and colored Sharpie pens to create mirror image shapes. Their work is very inventive and colorful and exhibits great creativity. They created chalk pastel shape drawings showing high light and shadow and used a limited palette that demonstrates balance in their work using color.
The 4th grade class is working on creating salmon block prints. Each student drew a salmon on block printing foam and then cut it out. Currently they are creating water colored streambed paintings of rock, pebbles and plants. In the next class the students will be printing and cutting out their salmon and composing them over the top of their streambed painting. They are doing a great job on all of the details so far and the completed works will be a beautiful example of mixed media.
The 5th grade is working on pond block prints. They began by drawing frogs, water lilies and lily pads in great detail. They will be printing them in blended block printing ink on black paper to give them great definition and contrast. Their works are very lively and well composed and will be displayed when they are completed.
The 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes are creating 6” x 6” in paintings similar to the Tile Club era in art history. They are painting small and highly detailed landscapes typical of that era and using only black paint and water. They are learning about value and are using the paint mixed with water to develop a wide range of gray tones in their work. The goal is to combine the gray tones with black and white to give their work contrast. Their works are truly amazing and will hang in the hall for display as soon as they are completed.
Once again I am in awe of the works our students create and the enthusiasm with which they create them. They so readily take on any challenge I give them and are greatly curious, outside-of-the-box thinkers. It is truly a joy and privilege to teach each and every one of them.
