Marc Chagall

Today we talked about Marc Chagall. Chagall was born in 1885 in Russia. He came from a poor Jewish family and he bounced around art schools until he was inspired to go to Paris by one of his teachers. There he learned about Cubism and Fauvism. From his experiences he developed a very surreal and fantastical look. The kids were encouraged to draw from their own dreams to inspire their works. We used pastels help enhance the dreamy imagery.

Whoa! Long time no see!

So, I've totally been ignoring my lesson plan this time around and I am sooo sorry. I'm normally much more of a stickler for what I've planned. My younger class doesn't really care about being taught the details of any singular artist. So, I've kind of been flying by the seat of my pants depending on how enthusiastic they are about one medium or the other. Otherwise, we might have spent the entire 10 classes sketching and drawing. I'll have to pay closer attention to the variety of mediums when I schedule my next set of classes.

For our class the week before Valentine's Day, we learned about Henri Matisse and made construction paper pieces, as well as construction paper Valentines. When we came back from break, I had just gotten back into to town and didn't have a chance to make it out to the store, so we went with a lesson on "stained glass." We used black construction paper, scissors and tissue paper for our "stained glass" pieces. Last week, we learned about the great fathers of Pop Art, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.

This week, for St. Patrick's Day, we learned a little about Celtic Knots and how to make them. Then we practiced making pinch pots, slab and coil built clay pieces using modeling clay.

We only have a couple classes left. Next week, we're going focus on Marc Chagall and learning how to use pastels!