St. Mary's Art & Music Show!

On April 10th 2014, St Mary's hosted it's Annual Art & Music Show!  This year the students transformed the upstairs hallway into a tropical rainforest.  I must admit, I think we surprised ourselves, take a look!

5th Grade Toucans

View of Hallway

1st Grade Painted Paper Butterflies

2nd Grade Painted Paper Spiders

One of the many Mini-Murals created by our 4th & 5th grade artists

Snakes were a favorite!

Students created foliage and animals of the Rainforest

Some of our fabulous 6th graders showing off their beautiful Chameleons

6th Grade Colorful Chameleons!

4th Grade Kings of the Jungle! (Lions don't actually live in the rainforest, but they were fun to draw!)

7th Grade created these amazing chalk pastel Tree Frogs

8th Graders were given the challenge of basing their compositions off a Henri Rouseau painting.
The results were stunning!

Another 4th grade Mini-Mural

All of the Art on these walls were created in groups.

Breathtaking Waterfall painted by our 8th Graders!

Thank you to all the students for their hard work and our faculty for their patience as we took over the walls of St. Mary School! My main objective in creating this themed Art Show was to give the students the opportunity create something bigger than themselves they could be proud of.  Every student created an individual piece of art as well as worked in groups to draw & paint the amazing tropical rainforest leaves, flowers and animals that make the jungle come to life! Our students came together as a community to create a truly beautiful work of art. So Proud!

St. Mary's Art and Music Show!

It's that time of year again and this year is going to have more artwork than ever!  The students here at St. Mary School have been hard at work for the last few weeks painting up a storm!  This year student's artwork will be hung art gallery style in the downstairs hallway of the school.  But, come to the upstairs hallway to be transported to a Tropical Rainforest!  Experience the animals as well as the surroundings of this very special place on our Sacred Earth.

In July 2013, at the World Youth Day event in Brazil, Pope Francis made a plea to the the world for the amazon region and it's people.  He calls for "respect and and protection of the entire creation which God has entrusted to man." This creation, he said, should not be "indiscriminately exploited, but rather made into a garden."

Students not only have been learning about artistically creating the plants and animals of the rainforest, but biodiversity and conservation of the region as well. A donation bin will be available at the show to raise enough money to symbolically adopt one of the endangered species of the rainforest.  Come and See Us!

Students working together to create the rainforest

3rd Grade The Cat in the Hat!

March is Dr. Suess Month! Our 3rd graders did an amazing job of drawing their version of Dr. Suess' beloved, Cat in the Hat. The students were shown how to approach the drawing using directed line and then added their own flair to it.  We kept the painting simple, just the red stripes & bow tie, and lastly created bold backgrounds with chalk pastel on colored paper.  These drawings bring a smile to everyone who views them!  Great job third grade!

Lesson Inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

1st Grade Dr.Suess Fish

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!

The 1st graders were busy getting ready to celebrate Dr. Suess' Birthday by drawing these whimsical cartoon fish.  We first looked at Dr. Suess' drawings in the book, One Fish, Two Fish and talked about the animated features, the big eyes and fanciful curling tales of his fish.
The students were asked to choose one color for their fish, just like in the book, and then drew them on large paper in chalk pastel.  The final step was to outline in black oil pastel.  They certainly had fun drawing these!

Lesson inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

6th Grade Holy Spirit Mosaics

Mosaics are one of the oldest and most beautiful art forms known to civilizations.  Dating back over 4000 years to ancient Greece, they are basically the art of creating patterns with glass, tile, stones and other similar items.  The 6th grade looked at and discussed various types of mosaics before we began our project.  As the 6th graders prepare this year for the sacrament of Confirmation, we thought it would be fitting to create their own mosaic, depicting the Holy Spirit.

These mosaics were created by colorful cut paper on black backgrounds.  The results were spectacular!

1st Grade Valentine Hearts

Our 1st Graders wanted to show just how much they love St. Mary's School this past Valentine's Day, by created these beautiful painted hearts.
Keeping with our reds pinks & purples, we talked about colors that are along side each other on the color wheel and how to create tints of colors by adding white.  The rest was just plain fun, swirling the paint around the paper, creating their own unique designs. We Love St. Mary's!

Lesson inspired by painted paper

7th Grade Northern Lights Paintings

The seventh graders painted these striking landscapes depicting the Northern Lights. The paintings were based loosely on the work of painter Ted Harrison, a painter known for his use of line and bright color, who paints the Yukon landscapes where he lives.  The students were asked to create tints and shades of the bright colors selected for their paintings and use them in creating the abstract landscapes you see here.

5th Grade Winter Barn Paintings

Our 5th Graders did another spectacular job on these painting of winter barns in the snowy countryside.
The students were shown several different ways to draw barns and asked to make it the main focal point of their composition.  Foreground and background concepts were used and the color plalete was kept simple so as to emphasize the red barn.

Lesson Inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

4th Grade Polar Bears

The 4th Grade learned a little about the Northern Lights before we even started on the mixed media painting of Polar Bears.  They created the backgrounds of the artic landscapes with chalk pastels on beautiful colored paper. The students were asked to include the Northern Lights in their artwork.
Then they drew their own unique polar bear, (no tracing here!) on a separate paper and cut out the inside of the bear, creating a stencil - very difficult to do!  Finally, they placed their stencil on the composition and sponge painted the polar bear onto the paper.  Details were added with black oil pastel.

Lesson Inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

3rd Grade Marvelous Moose!

The 3rd Graders created a multi-media collage of a northern moose in a snow scene.  First they painted their backgrounds depicting the snowy countryside of northern Canada.  Then we drew our moose on brown construction paper & added features and textured fur with oil pastels.  The antlers were cut out separately and purposely enlarged for effect. After viewing many pictures of moose, we realized just how big those antlers are!  The last step was to glue everything down.  Happy, marvelous Moose!

Lesson inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

2nd Grade Snow Angels

Our 2nd graders had a blast creating these collages of snow angels.  First we painted the backgrounds, creating the shadow for the angels.  We laid on the floor pretending we were making our own snow angels in the snow to get the sweeping motion of the arms & legs.  Then they cut out the pieces of our person, - coat, gloves, boots, face & hats.  Put them all together and finished it off with some white splatter paint to look like it is snowing down on us!  Fun!

Lesson Inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

1st Grade Peaceful Winter Trees

The 1st graders painted these beautiful and serene winter trees during a snowfall.  The students were asked to paint one or two small red accents somewhere in their paintings.  Little did I know that first week of January, that these painting were a foreshadowing of our weather to come!

Lesson Inspired by Deep Space Sparkle

Life in St. Mary's Art Room

I thought I would post a few candid pictures of what goes on in our Art Room on a typical day.
As you can see for yourself, much creativity and lively spirits fill these walls!

3rd Grade busy painting their Canadian Moose!

5th and 6th grade enjoying the creative process.

7th grade painting the colorful yet serene Northern Lights

8th grade worked together in groups to design & create unique "Whoville" type Gingerbread Houses.
Unfortunately, due to snow delays and Christmas activities, many of their amazing design never got completed before Christmas.
Never fear, it is the creative process that is important!

5th Grade Blessed Mother and Child

The 5th graders did such a beautiful job on their oil pastel drawings of our Blessed Mother and Child.
The students were given very brief instructions on how to draw St Mary, then drew her in black oil pastel on black paper.  They colored in with oil pastels, leaving some paper showing through.  Gold and silver metallic paints were used to create the halos.  I believe this is my favorite art piece done so far this year!
I have left the art hanging upstairs long after the Christmas season has past in honor of our patron saint,
St. Mary.

7th Grade Whimsical Christmas Trees

The 7th grade students amazed themselves once again with these fun whimsical Christmas Trees, reminiscent of trees that would be found in Whoville.  Simple chalk pastel drawings on colored backgrounds made for some striking artwork!