Kindergarten

=The Art of Kindergarten= In Kindergarten we strive to provide an environment in which students feel encouraged and supported to explore new materials/media. We place an emphasis upon using personal experience as subject matter, allowing the student to also explore their feelings, impressions, thoughts and theories about their worlds. In this way we hope that students become evermore comfortable and familiar with the visual arts as another language with which they can communicate and express themselves for the rest of their lives.

**Family Portraits**
Our first exploration is a Family Portrait. The students were asked to construct a portrait of their families using crayons and pencils. We studied several historical examples of portraiture, discussing what constitutes a "portrait" and what information (objects, arrangement, details) about the subjects the artist included within the portrait. We also discussed the "setting" (inside, outside, a meaningful location or activity) of our portraits and its relevance to what we wanted to say about ourselves and our families.


 * ==Color Mixing/ Shadow Exploration==**

Recently the students completed an exploration of their shadows coupled with an investigation of color mixing. In small groups of 2 to 3 the students were asked to trace their hands and arms with oil pastels onto large sheets of white butcher paper using one of the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. The students then colored-in each tracing with the same primary color. We encouraged the students to overlap their tracings to create an interesting design and to discover what happens when two primary colors mix. The students discovered that the primary colors created the secondary colors of orange, green and violet. Finally we invited each group to trace their shadows onto their papers using the projector for the Smartboard (this project happen to coincide with an uncharacteristic string of overcast days, otherwise it would have been the sun). The students soon began to mix colors freely on their papers, creating secondary colors of varying intensities.




 * ==Life-sized Self Portraits==**

Now the Kindergarten students have begun Life-sized Self Portraits. Each student was paired with a partner who traced their outline onto a giant piece of whit paper. Each student is busy coloring in their shape and creating a background that places them in a distinct space or place that is significant to them.

**==Matisse Animal Cut-outs==**

The kindergarten students created animals out of construction paper based upon the work of French artist Henri Matisse. With this project the students explored shape and complimentary colors. First each student drew an animal of their choosing focusing on animals that have unique shapes or body parts. Next the students created a collection of textured construction paper using textured templates and crayons. The students were asked to pair their construction paper, based on its color, with the paper’s complimentary-colored crayon (violet paper = yellow crayon, red paper = green crayon, etc.). Then the students cut out the various parts of their animals from their paper and glued the pieces onto their drawings. Lastly, the students painted the background of their projects and coated them with Modge Podge (a clear protective glaze).