Welcome to Art

Welcome to the St. Augustin Catholic School Art news page. I am excited to meet my new students for the 2018-19 school year. Please check out the "About Mrs. Crawford" page to get to know me better. Check back to this website throughout the year for news and updates about what is happening in art at St. Augustin Catholic School.

Art News

     During the first two months of school, St. Augustin students worked on projects for the annual Home and School Fundraiser, Original Works.  Kindergarten students focused on cutting and composition by creating a cut paper collage featuring ladybugs.  They just finished learning about color and color mixing by making a  Play Dough color wheel.  They are putting their knowledge about primary colors to work through creating a composition based on the work of Piet Mondrian, an artist who used only primary colors, black and white. 

     First Graders created a heart painting for Original Works.  They were introduced to the work of Jim Dine, an artist known for using a heart as a subject.  They learned about symmetry by folding and cutting their own heart, then painting it.  Their next project was making a mosaic using beans.  After the class finished, their tiles were arranged to make a larger design.  They are now working on a painting based on Pop Artist Jasper John's painting, "0-9".  Through this painting, First Graders are reviewing primary and secondary colors, and principles of design.

     The Second Grade learned about the symmetrical structure of a butterfly; they drew and colored their own for Original Works.  Students were next introduced to the Hispanic celebration, Day of the Dead.  They made Q-tip Day of the Dead skeletons, after learning about how the body is jointed and moves.  Second Graders are now designing a print for a Christmas card.  They are learning about using a printing plate and how printing creates a reversed image. 

     Third Graders created mixed media snowmen for Original Works.  Their next project focused on the Japanese art form, Notan.  They used Halloween pumpkins as a subject for their Notan design.  Currently, the class is doing a project based on the work of artist, Wayne Thiebaud.  He is an American artist know for his paintings of desserts.  Third graders are learning how to draw a three dimensional form and make it into a cake.

     The Fourth grade was introduced to the cut paper collage of Henri Matisse.  They created a collage using their names as a subject for their Original Works project.  Their next project was learning about making a monoprint.  They used fall leaves and a wet-into-wet watercolor technique to make their monoprints.  Currently, they are learning about the artist, Pablo Picasso,  and will make a Cubist portrait.

     Fifth grade learned about creating movement and using repetition in design in a paper collage done for Original Works.  They used their hand as a subject.  They are now working on a self-portrait unit.  They are learning about the structure of faces, proportion, measuring and drawing features.

     The Sixth Grade drew their house or a building that had significance to them for their Original Works project.  They learned about selecting and transferring information from a photograph to a drawing.  Using a baseline, finding proportion, using comparative measurement and determining angles were some of the skills they learned and practiced.  They used colored pencil to finish their drawings.   They are currently beginning a design project using leaves; they will complete it in oil pastel.