Intro to Art students have been learning about elements and principles of design during the first six weeks of the school year. Students have recently finished their monochromatic paintings.

Monochromatic means using only one color in different tints, shades and tones to create your art work.

Students had to mix the paints to create contrast and depth in their tree paintings. The end result of their paintings creates a lovely mood from the moon glow to the sometimes spooky trees!


Check out our Monochromatic Gallery on Artsonia and leave some encouraging comments for our budding artists!

Cooler air has blown into Houston over the weekend and we are celebrating by blowing some fall trees into our world. Students are using India Ink and a brush to paint in the trunk and roots then blow the organic lines of the branches out where the wind my take them! We are learning to not be afraid of those magic moments that might happen in art when we allow the medium to take over. The branches are more natural and less structured than if they mechanically drew out each branch.
After the branches were created we are going back into our painting with watercolor techniques to add the bright fall colors.

The first cards for our ATC Exchange have started to arrive
at Space Center Intermediate!
We are all excited for the offical swap of our year long exchange.
We hope more schools will join the fun as the year continues. If you would like more information on the themes, size requiremens, deadlines, etc
 please jump over to our ATC page!
Our first theme is : All About ME: Introductions and Goals for Year
Students were asked to share a bit about themselves, their interests and possibly their goals for the year. It is always nice to start fresh at the beginning of the year and IMAGINE the possiblities. On a small 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" rectangle students are sharing their visual voice with students across North America.

Over 22 schools have signed up to send us their creative responses to the themes... here are a few of the cards that have made their way to our mail box so far this week!

Space Center Intermediate has been looking up lately! Within two weeks we had quite a show of multiple fly overs by the Space Shuttle Endeavor then started our Friday morning with a surprise evasion of hot air balloons joining the Ballunar Festival this weekend.

Space Center Intermediate student body all participated in celebrating International Day of Peace on September 21, 2012.

Over 1200 pinwheels graced our front lawn for the day. The students decorated a pinwheel template from the Pinwheels for Peace website during their advisory classes. Students added color, text, and symbols all sending up wishes for a peaceful school, community and world. Art students took on the challenge and completed the pinwheel creation in under 4 hours! The assembly line process brought all students together in creating a wonderful art installation in front of our school. By lunch we were creating a giant peace sign made out of pinwheels in front of the school.

It was wonderful to see the students so proud of their joint accomplishment and impressed by the overwhelming size and quantity of pinwheels during dismissal at the end of the day. I watched as students stopped by on their walks home to walk around multiple times until they found their pinwheel. Many took photos and posed with their pinwheels to share with family and friends.
The project really brought our students together in mutual goal of peace!

My preAP art students were give a series of drawing challenges including drawing with charcoal at the end of a dowel rod. The idea was thanks to several wonderful art teachers in my district. We started with adding elements of magazine and newspaper elements to a piece of paper. Once dry we painted the textured paper with a white base and with an accent color of choice. A still life was set up in the room and the students put their papers to the floor and were each given their LONG artist tool. The students were challenged to draw from observation while not being able to have the comfort and control of a "normal" art material. Once completed students went back into their image with charcoal to add contrast and value.
The image results were quite surprising and forced students to self evaluate their art work throughout the process and make adjustments. Perspective and building contrast were challenges for many students. Students were asked to step back and look critically at their own art work and tell me what they felt they needed to do to improve on the piece. After this assignment many students will surely look at an artistic elephant with new appreciation for their challenges in creating with such a great distance between them and the canvas!

AOur art room is full of color and ready for a great year ahead! I have tried to add splashes of color around the room to give us a fresh start to the year.One of my biggest jobs was painting the old stools with a fresh coat of paint. The stools had previously been painted on the seat with famous paintings yet had been warn away to be unrecognizable in many spots. Painting the stools in groups of four I have created visual ways to denote different table groups.
Beyond the stools I have also added visual color above the tables with our artist inspired paint cans. Each can has an Artist label and color tissue pouring out to the table below.
Around the room I have quotes from artist's and several drawn portraits representing different artists like Warhol, Kahlo and others.
Our storage closet had a multiple week makeover and is now very organized and makes finding materials for class a breeze.
Around the room there are little touches that give our Art lair personality! I am a fan of Doctor Who so my office door was turned into an "Art Box" Tardis. Yes, its bigger on the inside! I have plans for the Art Box later in the year! (teaser)
Pinterest has served as inspiration with my new Thinker poster. I saw the T.H.I.N.K. posters and added the art reference with the Thinker statue. It is a nice visual to remind kids to "think" before they speak and keep art critiques in a helpful tone.
Here is to a colorful year at Space Center Intermediate!