PTSA Reflections, West Milwaukee Intermediate Panther Artists.

A BIG congratulations goes out to our panther artists who participated in the annual Parent/Teacher/Student Assoication's Reflections contest.  This contest challenges students of all ages to reflect and create personal artworks a central theme.   This year's theme was "Diversity Means...".  We had six talented Panther Artists who submitted artwork for the contest.  These artists had to create their artworks at home with no help from adults whatsoever.  All of our artists' works will be going on to be judged at the state level.    

A very nice ceremony was held at Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate School and the winners at the local level were announced.  It was fabulous to see a few of our own West Milwaukee families there. 

Libby B. with her artwork.

Brian J. standing by his art work.

The winner for the visual arts for the middle grades was our very own sixth grader, Austin K.!!!  He did a fabulous job working on this project and we're all proud of him.  Congratulations Austin!

Austin K. was the winner of the middle division

To learn more about local and national PTSA sponsored art contests please go to:http://www.ptareflections.org/

Assemblage/Collage Boxes

Mrs. Styza introduced a really fun project to the seventh grade classes.  The students learned what assemblage and collage are, and how different artists, like Joseph Cornell, use them in their artworks.  They were then challenged to create a personalized assemblage/collage box for themselves or to give as a gift.  They were all given a generic, 5"x5" cardboard jewlery box, and were encouraged to bring photos, magazines, and found objects from home to create their projects. 

7th grade Line Drawings

Seventh graders worked hard (and long) at creating these line drawings. They learned about the descriptive quality of lines, light and shade, and analogous colors.  I love how they all look combined together and we've been getting lots of compliments about them. 

6th Grade Dia de los Muertos Celebrity (or Character) Skeletons! And welcoming Mrs. Styza!

The sixth grade art classes did a fantastic job of making their Dia de los Muertos celebrity skeletons.  They studied the human skeleton and used models to understand how bones moved.  The objective was to create a character that we could identify based on just a few simple details like hair, accessories, clothes, or poses.  I love how different each one turned out.  

In other art news, we have a fantastic addition to our art room.  Mrs. Samantha Styza is a student teacher from UWM.  She will be working with us for the remainder of the semester.  We're very excited to have her here and look forward to some awesome lessons with her.

6th Grade Silhouettes

 

The more I get to know our new sixth grade students, the more I am impressed with their creativity.  The students spent a couple of weeks creating these identity silhouettes.  I began by tracing each student's silhouette.  They then had to fill the silhouette with symbols, objects, and words about their interests.  They used good marker techniques to make the work look professional.  This was a great beginning project as I got to know a lot about each one of them during the process.  Great work 6th grade!

7th grade Dia de Los Muertos Skulls

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the seventh grade art classes have been studying El Dia de Los Muertos, or as it's known in English, The Day of the Dead.  Students did readings and had discussions about how El Dia de Los Muertos is not Halloween, and compared the differences in how artists have used the symbols of skulls and skeletons for the holiday.  They then applied their knowledge into making a plaster skull.  The classes spent time exploring the shapes of their own skulls and then recreating those.  Each student had to work hard to think of different decorations and themes for their calaca (skull).  The end results are quite stunning.

If any families are interested, Milwaukee has an incredible Dia de Los Muertos parade this Friday (how convenient that the kids are off!).  This could be a great, FREE cultural opportunity.  Please visit the following website for times and locations:

http://diadelosmuertosmilwaukee.yolasite.com/

Adaptive Art Blowfish

 

 The Adaptive Art class has been working very hard for the past three weeks.  They've been studying oceans and ocean creatures in their classroom, so we extended the learning to a hands-on project.  Using plaster, balloons, newspaper, and paints the students  each created their own blow fish (or puffer fish as they're sometimes known by).  I think the students became really attached to their creations.  One young man addressed his daily as "son".