Rena Art Instructor

CRAZY CACTUS

My Kindergarten art classes are studying line, shape and color.? When a single line bends to touch itself or another line, a shape is created.? Repetition of bending lines that connect and build upon each other in a progression from large to small creates a visual rhythm that like rhythm in music is a unifying force for the overall compostion.? These two basic concepts are the foundation for this playful and even humorous cactus project.? Cactus plants are fascinating in their many varieties.? Descriptive phrases like zig and zag, wiggly like jello, flat like a pancake, shinny like speghetti, purple like? polka dots, help open students’ imagination to the wild possibilities as they draw and color a “crazy” cactus.

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Banyan Trees

My fourth grade students are creating beautiful Banyan trees using tempera paint and oil pastels.? They are studying the importance of negative space, blending and reflection.? There is an unusual and amazing tree that orginates in India called the “banyan tree.” A single banyan tree may cover an area nearly 1.500 feet in circumference and have more than 3,000 trunk-like roots.? This interesting tree from the mulberry family is the subject for this project which introduces the concept of “negative space.”? The interesting pockets of space that are created within the branches and trunks of this artwork are the “negative space” (or space around the object).? Students uses ‘blazing” color (blended oil pastels) to anchor the tree into the picture.? Students also made the tree appear to be sitting in a? pool of water with their reflections added.

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My third grade art students are working on African masks.? They are creating an abstract collage African Mask by using several mediums and objects.? They understand that different cultures create art for several purposes.?Aftrica’s traditional arts like its beliefs, are concerned mainly with spiritual content.??Masks are?created to be worn in tribal religious ceremonies for various reasons: intiation rites, ensure health. teach laws , administer justice, and?embody spirit of deceased.?

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