Spotted throughout the Mini Boulevard: the Lower School Art Walk!
Before break, we celebrated our Lower School artists at our Fourth Annual Lower School Art Walk! It was an amazing day with family and friends from each Lower School grade attending the event with art projects on display that covered a semester of art exploration and creativity!
During their first semester, our youngest Dragons dove into a myriad of art concepts and skills to hone not just artistic skills but also work fine motor skills and build hand muscles! Students explored painting using the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and practiced important studio habits such as holding a paintbrush correctly, washing brushes between colors, and experimenting with mixing paint on both their palettes and paper. As they tackled color mixing, printmaking, shape and composition, and embroidery, our Kindergarteners created wonderful pieces such as clay pots, embroidered art, and colorful collages inspired by Henri Matisse's The Snail!
Meanwhile, our first graders spent the first semester inspired by many different artists! They created pixel-style mosaics based on the work of street artist Invader (known for his mosaics inspired by classic video games) as well as city collages based on the layered style of Romare Bearden (who used collages to tell stories of city life). In experimenting with printmaking, our first graders created art pieces inspired by Matisse and made donut sculptures after studying the tints and color mixing found in Wayne Thiebaud's colorful dessert paintings. In a project to practice sequencing steps, strengthen fine motor skills, and develop patience, they made basket-like textiles inspired by Ghanaian textiles!
Through a series of creative projects that connected to their Humanities lessons, Second Grade artists explored the history and art of Ancient Egypt. Students practiced image transfer using the grid method to draw maps of Ancient Egypt, combining drawing, painting, and tactile design elements to bring the geography to life. To work on skills such as painting, observational drawing, and careful line and pattern work, they created drawings of beetles and pharaohs. As an experimentation with shape, color, and movement, students created their own sculptures inspired by the vibrant, organic glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly. Our Second Grade artists also celebrated Día de los Muertos by designing vibrant sugar skull artworks, embossing patterns and lines onto foil frames. Finally, students explored the bold, repeated imagery of Andy Warhol and created their own bold flower prints.
In the fall, our Third Grade artists were busy observing how a single color can be transformed in multiple ways and learning how adding light and dark areas creates the illusion of volume — these artistic studies produced wonderful tape-resistent projects and snowperson paintings. As they studied the work of Georgia O'Keeffe and her famous large-scale flower paintings, the third graders practiced observation, composition, and color contrast to make their own expressive flower pieces. Students then worked together on a grade-wide collaborative watercolor project inspired by Paul Klee's work, with each student selecting a few words that represent things they associate with school, especially their experiences at Speyer. Finally, our Third Grade artists explored the expressive ceramic masks of Kimmy Cantrell. Cantrell’s work is known for its bold colors, asymmetrical shapes, and playful patterns that exaggerate facial features. Inspired by his unique style, students designed their own imaginative mask drawings, focusing on expressive shapes and decorative details.
In two connected art projects, Fourth Grade students studied the colorful dessert paintings of Wayne Thiebaud. They created their own cake drawings after learning how artists move from drawing simple shapes to creating form, practicing how to construct a cake with a missing slice to show depth and dimension. The Fourth Grade artists then recreated the missing slice from their drawing as a three-dimensional sculpture. Students constructed the form using pre-cut cardboard and masking tape to build the structure of the slice. They then covered the form with plaster strips and Claycrete to create a solid surface and finished their sculptures with paint and decoration. Fourth Grade artists also explored the beauty of geometric patterns in Islamic art, focusing on designs that use radial symmetry, examining how repeating shapes and lines can radiate from a central point to create balanced and intricate compositions. Students outlined their patterns with Gallery Glass leading and filled the shapes with Gallery Glass paint, creating vibrant artworks. Students practiced observation, shading, and color theory through a skull drawing and value study. After studying how background color can affect the mood and depth of a work of art, they completed their drawings with watercolor backgrounds in their choice of warm or cool colors.
From pastel drawings to glow-in-the-dark creations, delicious clay sculptures to fantastic florals, it was a wonderful morning to celebrate the artistic explorations of our students!
Huge shout-out to our Lower School artists, classroom teachers, Ms. Gabrielli, Ms. Martin, Ms. Gordon, the Speyer Facilities and Security teams, and everyone who helped make it happen! And, of course, a rousing standing ovation to Lower School Art Teacher Ms. Ocasio!
