mrspicasso's art room

In years past (12 to be exact) we have held a K-12 Arts Festival (music, dance, and art) at our high school. This year, however, the middle & high school teachers decided to separate and do their own thing. So, the art show was held this year at our elementary school. Negatives: the parents didn't like having two separate nights, breaking tradition, lack of a large area for me to display artwork all together, new display boards had to be made. Positives: I didn't have to drag everything over to another building, air conditioning, the artwork stayed up longer than one night.

Well, I was hesitant to this change, but I have to say, it went fairly well! The parents were all very supportive and we had a great turnout. So, I am sharing the photos from our latest Arts Festival, with links to any lessons I have blogged about. Click on the photos to make larger. Enjoy!


Golden Gourds made by 3rd grade.



Pop Art Reduction Prints by 4th grade.


Metal Masks & Clay Faces made by 5th gr…

Units:  Color theory - painting - Science (Endangered species)
Lesson:  tempera painting
Grade level: Elementary (I did this with 4th grade)

Resources/Materials: Andy Warhol Endangered Species print set - images of Andy Warhol's other works of art Book: Uncle Andy’s: A Faabbbulous Visit With Uncle Andy by James Warhola Photographs of animals, 8 1/2" x 11" card stock or paper (either white or colored), pencil, eraser, black marker, tempera paint, color theory handouts (vocabulary sheets )vocab answer sheets Watch the video “Getting to Know: Color in Art”
website: http://www.gettingtoknow.com/videos.htm Play Greg Percy's "Pop Andy" available on Songs In The Key of Art, Volume 4
 website: http://www.songsinthekeyofart.com/ Encounter: 1.Discuss color theory basics and principles. View the video “Getting to Know: Color in Art”, which is broken up in to several segments describing color basics, such as: primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary (intermediate) colors, war…

If you have not heard of Steve Harpster and his website Harptoons, you really need to be introduced!


He has created these amazing books for kids that use letters and numbers as the base for different cartoon drawings. We recently had him visit our school FOR FREE and share his talent with the kids. The kids could buy his books and our school received part of the profits from the sales. A great FREE assembly AND fundraiser? Perfect for those of us who teach art!! If you live relatively close to the Columbus, Ohio area, he will travel to your school for the day. I highly recommend looking in to it!












He projected his drawings on to the screen and drew them with the kids on his iPad.













He gave the kids a great background about himself and showed examples of his work. It is great for the kids to see an actual working artist.










The kids loved his graphic drawings, especially the monsters.








Totally engaged students.









The kids wanted their drawings on display for our art show.  





They are still drawi…