Fingerweaving Frenzy

Many Mason Ridge families have been spotted in the yarn aisle of Joanne's and Michael's lately. Fingerweaving has taken over the school like the fidget spinners of last spring!

Check out this fingerweaving project by a 4th grader. She took her fingerweaving strands and knotted them together!

What is a contour line drawing?

Have you ever seen a coloring book? Then you have seen a CONTOUR LINE DRAWING!

A contour line drawing is basically an OUTLINE of something. It doesn't have many details, and it has NO SHADING.

There are different kinds of contour line drawings.



This one is a "basic" contour line drawing. I would like you to practice this today. It's hard to not shade, isn't it?

Here's a famous contour line drawing by Picasso of one of his friends. This man looks a little odd...can you tell me why? Picasso was a very good artist. Do you think he exaggerated parts of his friend on purpose?



This is a continuous line contour drawing. It's a basic contour line drawing, but the catch is is that you cannot lift you pen off the paper!



This is a blind contour drawing. This is one of my favorites because you never know what you will get! Basically, you look at the object or person but NOT at your paper and pen!

Today I would like you to draw a contour line drawing of yourself. Use a black Sharpie. YOU WILL MAKE MISTAKES...work with them. Embrace your mistakes. They add character to your drawing!

What is printmaking?

A print is a copy of something. If I put marker on my finger and then press my paper against the paper, it creates a FINGERPRINT. If I put my hand in paint and press it against paper, it creates a HANDPRINT. Do you see a common word?

There are many ways to make a print.

You can make it with bubblewrap and get a neat texture.

We can only get ONE copy from bubblewrap, so we call it a MONOPRINT. "Mono" means "one". So, 1 print!

There are ways you can get several copies...

You can draw on styrofoam and make many prints.

Sometimes printmakers carve into wood, metal, or linoleum.

Here is a printmaker at work. He is able to get many, many prints from this method.

People have been printmaking for a very long time. Here is a Japanese print.

Of course, we still do printmaking. We make art, posters, invitations, and other paper goods. Here are some cool things I found from now.

Where does your eye go? Emphasis and Contrast

When you look at a piece of art, you might look at a PART of it first before looking at the rest of it.

I bet you didn't know that the artist planned you to look at that part first!! They tried to create EMPHASIS.

What is the emphasis here?



We can create emphasis in our own artwork...it makes it look better!
Here's an easy step-by-step way to create emphasis:
1. Choose what you want people to look at first.
2. Create that thing you want people to look at first.
3. Surround it with the opposite! Create CONTRAST. Contrast is just a fancy word that means different.

Here's some examples of ways to create emphasis:
Color Contrast (a different color)


Size Contrast (a different size)


Put everything in one corner/area


Surround light things with dark OR dark things with light



Lines around the emphasis



Do you always have to have EMPHASIS?
Nope. Jackson Pollock was a successful artist who didn't use emphasis.

What is a graphic designer?

A graphic designer is an artist who uses words and pictures to convey a message. You can find graphic design everywhere, even in this room.

Examples of graphic design:
-label on a paint bottle
-book cover
-poster
-the "Google" logo
-the Mason Ridge logo
-food packaging

...the list goes on and on!

Graphic design surrounds us. It helps us everyday, though many adults don't even realize it! Can you think of some graphic design in this room?

You can grow up to be a graphic designer. How? 
Start by:
-taking as many art classes you can
-trying to learn about using computers (you do graphic design on computer programs)
-when you see something, ask WHY? (why is this bottle of women's vitamin's purple? why did they choose a font that looks like cursive for an invitation? etc) You need to think about the world and why people think like they think!

Here is a video about what graphic design is. 5th graders' bricks are examples of graphic design. You are trying to convey the message of who YOU are with words and pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTi5SNgxE3U

What can art "do"?

What can art "do"?

Art has been around forever, but...why? Here are a few reasons why.

Art keeps us hopeful
A lot of art is PRETTY. Yes, pink flowers, beautiful sunsets...it makes your brain feel good! The top selling art postcard in the world is this picture by Claude Monet.

Have you ever had a bad day and then looked at a picture of a cuddly puppy or a beautiful sunset? You might feel better after you do. "Pretty" art helps us remember that life can be kind of amazing/beautiful/poetic when it doesn't seem so.

Art makes us feel less lonely
This kind of art is the opposite of "pretty" art. Sometimes we feel sad. It's easy to think that you are the only one in the world who feels sad, but of course this is not true. Some art is about BEING sad. It makes us feel less weird to know that others are feeling the same things.

Here is a famous piece of art by Picasso. He was very poor and hungry at the time. What does this picture make you feel? Why?



Art makes us pay attention to things we usually don't pay attention to
I went to London this summer and saw a beautiful painting of fruit. I stood and looked at it for 10 minutes at least. However, I do not stare at my bowl of fruit at home! I grab a piece and don't give it a second look!

Artists can take something "boring" and make us look at it again. Here is a bunch of oranges by Vincent van Gogh. Look at all the details and colors in his oranges. What do you think? Have you ever noticed your oranges' beauty??

Art tries to convince (tell) us something
Sometimes artists want to tell us something. It might be a feeling or idea. Here is a famous piece of graphic design art that is trying to convince people to join the army. It has our "national mascot", Uncle Sam. 


In 2008, a graphic artist created this poster for the presidential race. Many people liked this poster and it became famous. It was created to tell people to vote for Barack Obama for president. What does it make you feel when you look at it? What does it have in common with the one above?

Just Flange It!

Have a tube or something else that just won't connect? Flange it!

A flange is something that connects one thing to another. It is usually circular in shape. People use them on objects to strengthen the connection between two objects. Here's a metal flange.
'
I'm going to show you how to make a paper flange!

1. You should have a paper roll and flat piece of paper.


2. Get a pair of scissors and cut slits into your roll. Do this evenly...here I did it about every 2 inches. (You don't have to be exact--just estimate where your next cut should be!)


3. Next, fold back the sections.




4. Now it's time to glue! Get yourself some glue and glue the underside of the flange.


5. It's time to attach! Make sure you hold down your flange to make sure it sticks!