Art & Music

"Hyper" by Briauna

"Energetic" by Shania

"Hyper" by Jada

"Energetic" by Zariyah

"Calming" by Jenaryea

Stamping with homemade paintbrushes

This project was a lot of fun!  I decided to go out on a limb and try something new for our St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Picture the Music Art Competition.  First, we all listened to a musical composition and brainstormed some colors, shapes, and lines that would go well with the music.  The students used oil pastels to create an abstract work of art that best represented the music.  Next, for some added interest to their drawings, we made our own paintbrushes/stamps using pipe cleaners.  Each student got 5 pipe cleaners, twisted them together, and spread out the bottom ends to create a 'star' shape.  Students then used their new 'paintbrush' to stamp colorful shapes on top of their drawings.  This was  a lot of fun and gave the students the chance to think 'outside of the box' or 'outside of the painting' for once!

Squish Painting

This was a very fun experiment I did with my 6th graders yesterday.  I call it Squish Painting.  Basically, this is an experiment in color mixing.  They take a scoop of paint and put it on their paper, place the wax paper on top, and squish the colors together until the whole background is filled up.  And you may be thinking this is a bit too young for 6th grade.  Yes, it probably is, but I was looking for a fun way to add color to the background of their paper so we can do more surface work next time.  We are currently participating in the Picture The Music art competition for the St. Louis Symphony.  For the contest, students are asked to create a work of art that represents a certain piece of music the Symphony has selected.  Before we began, we discussed the different moods and feelings you can get by listening to music and the moods that certain colors can portray.  Students were to choose colors that they think best represented the music and squish them under the wax paper to mix them together and make new colors.  I'll post pictures of our finished art next week...

Picture The Music art entries

Here are a few of the FABULOUS works of art created by my very own students for the annual Picture The Music art competition for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.  It was a difficult task to narrow down 333 works of art into a mere 7 entries/school allowed into the competiton.  I based my judgement on how well the student executed the art medium, how well the composition is arranged, and how well the mood or feeling of the work best represented the music.  I hope (and pray) that we have several winners this year!  This is my 5th year entering artwork into this local competition and I have had more than 1 winner each year that I have entered.  So, I am confident my students will have the honor of winning this prestigious award!

By Charlie 6th grade 

By Jada 2nd grade

By Madeleine 4th grade 

By Chad 4th Grade 

By Diamond 4th Grade