Mrs. Mika Walker

Art Specialist

The Art Room has been positively buzzing with activity for our first trimester! Check out some of the beautiful and inspiring work created by the amazing artists at St. Louise!

Kindergarten started off the year strong by learning about different types of lines. We practiced drawing our lines and then made our lines become 3 Dimensional by creating Line Sculptures. Students learned that a sculpture is a piece of art that you can view from all sides. To make our “lines” stand up on our sculptures we had to give them feet (also known as folded tabs) and add a little glue to make them stay in place. We created wavy lines, zig-zag lines, and even looped lines on our sculptures.

1st Graders learned about Vincent van Gogh and got their hands dirty using chalk pastels to create beautiful sunflowers. We observed sunflowers on our tables as we sketched the basics shapes to form the stem and petals on black paper. All sunflowers were outlined in bottle glue and then once the glue was dry, each artist carefully colored in the different sections. Although pastels are one of the messiest mediums we explore in the art room, they create such a fun tactile experience resulting in vibrant art.

2nd Grade artists worked BIG to kick off our first trimester of art. They learned about Heather Galler, a folk painter, and then created a large vase of stylized flowers. They practiced first in their sketchbooks before using large bottles of ink to draw their compostion on large white paper. To add color to our stunning folk flowers, we used neon oil pastels and a watercolor wash over the surface.

3rd Graders learned how to sew and created adorable stuffed monsters. First, they designed their creatures out of felt, cutting pieces for the body and facial details. They learned a whip stitch and sewed around the edge of their pieces to form the body. The inside was stuffed with batting and the facial details were adhered with fabric glue. Each artist did an incredible job threading their own needle, tying knots and most importantly, working hard to master this new stitch while exploring fiber art.

4th Graders studied Abstarct Art and learned how to make an Abstract face using line, shape and color. We studied contemporary artist, Kimmy Cantrell and viewed his dynamic abstracted clay face sculptures. Pulling inspiration from Cantrell’s work, each student designed their own asbtract face using a varitely of recycled cardboard and bright oil pastels. Lastly, metal embellishments were added to complete these crazy and colorful faces.

5th Graders did an exceptional job creating monochromatic underwater scenes. They combined unique patterns in rolling waves using pencil and Sharpie. We practiced new watercolor painting techniques and painted the page in hues of blue, going from darkest to lightest. We learned how to mix custom colors and exercised patience by “LETTING IT DRY” before painting areas close together in our seascape.

6th Grade took a trip to an alternate universe to learn about the art movement, Surrealism. We studied the work of Salvador Dali and contemporary artist, Jacek Yerka and then started our own imaginative world. Each artist was challenged to pick a mode of transportation and an animal, mashing them together in a fantasy universe. They worked on watercolor paper, using colored pencils and watercolor paints to bring their creative scenes to life.

7th Grade learned about positive and negative space while embossing a stylized letter in metal. They created an interesting font for their letter then picked either the positive or negative space to fill with patterns. Each artist made impressions into a metal tooling sheet and then distressed the surface with paint to accentuate the raised texture in their artwork.

8th Grade studied organic and geometric shapes in this multi-layered printmaking project. Each student created 2 printing plates, one adorned with geometric designs and the other filled with organic shapes. Students learned printmaking techniques and printed both images on top of each other on a single page. When printing the two images they used a transparent ink for the top layer, resulting in an interesting image of lines, shapes, and colors.