The new year always brings out the clay in the Grotto. The chilly wet weather is a good time to turn the kiln on. The students in all the grades have been modeling in clay. The first grade made crocodiles, rolling and attaching coils to each other is a first step in clay construction. Other grades have done slab work, plus using coils in making name plaques and the 6th have made their wall tiles to leave behind on my Grotto wall.
My African trip not only give me a refreshing break but my slide presentation of my wonderful adventure inspired the fifth and sixth grade students in their animal banks. These very cute banks are pinch-pot construction surrounding a balloon to hold the shape as the heads, legs and features are scored and slipped onto the round bellies. More to come out of the kiln….
The Senior class have been studying a famous explorer of the Northwest Passage and in the studio painting that famous ship that made some new discoveries. We will find out more about these explorers, take a look at all of the Captain’s Notebooks and hear of their discoveries on November 20th on Explorer Day in the Senior Building.
The Intermediate artists created Autumn Wreaths. They first drew individual still life pictures of fruit and vegetables then water-colored their drawings. With a frame of grape vine they attached crape paper confetti with string. Then the fruit and vegetables were arranged and glued to the wreath for a seasonal decoration for their homes.
The Art room is looking pretty good. The students have cut, colored, pasted, stuffed and stapled fish together to give an underwater feel to the Grotto.
The First grade artist drew a hermit crab while I read Eric Carle’s book “A House for Hermit Crab” and modeled the story on the board. Their crabby creations were finish in a technique called wax-resist.
Cutting a circle out of construction paper was the first step in making the Jelly Fish. Using the new compasses presented a coordination challenge for the young artists, so we did a practice exercise making overlapping circles on a piece of paper. We found it helpful to tape the paper onto the table first, since the compass needs both hands to use. Now, everyone can make perfect circles any size. The Jelly’s float against the sea on the west wall of the Grotto near the Orca pod.
