Second Grade goes Concentric

Second grade is working on concentric circle prints this week. 

They learned about Kandinsky's famous work of art, "Squares with Concentric Circles" for inspiration.

They are using found objects like coffee cans, cardboard tubes and plastic cups to print with. When the paint dries, they will fill in the rest of the space using pastels, markers and watercolor. 

Here are a few action shots!

Second Grade Works with Oil Pastels

Second graders at Bradfield can tell you a lot about working with oil pastels. Not only are they are so fun to work with, they can produce amazing textures and big, bold colors. They spent the first couple of weeks in art experimenting with pastels, which resulted in these wonderful little works of art!

First, they created a scribble design on their paper. Then, they began filling in each closed off area, or shape, with a different method of using oil pastels.

They mixed, blended, scratched, rubbed, and brushed over the pastels with watered down paint. The challenge was to think of a different technique for each area.

They've done a great job. Don't you agree?

Animals Giacometti Style

Kids are always trying to get away with drawing stick figures in art class. Normally, I send them back to their drawing pads to add some fat to those bony figures; however, when It's time to learn about the artist Alberto Giacometti, they get to go stick figure crazy!



The novelty of foil makes this a fun project for second graders and it is fast too...we finish in one class.

First I show them these Giacometti sculptures of a cat and a dog:




Many of my students are lucky enough to have been to the Nasher Sculpture Center and some quickly recognize Giacometti's artwork. So, we usually spend some time talking about their personal experience with the work. I ask them why they think Giacometti made his sculptures so skinny. I get answers like "...because they balance better that way..." or "...because they are starving..." or "...because he was trying to be creative..." It's always interesting to me to hear their ideas.

Finally, after all of that talk the fun begins! I pass out the foil (after a quick demo on how to shape the head and body) and they get busy. I place images of animals on all of the tables for them to get ideas from. The most important thing is that they DO NOT tear the foil. It must stay in one piece for this to work. Usually, I pass out a little extra for them to use for legs.

...and here are some student examples:

a dog


foil animal stand off



Texas Longhorn


a cat