Art Adventures Students Make a Good Impression!

Students in April's edition of Art Adventures studied works from the impressionists and post -impressionists in an exhibition on loan from the High Museum.  They compared the different styles possessed by the famous artists as well as studied the techniques they used in their paintings. They were inspired to return to the studio and create their own masterpiece using tempera paint and oil pastels. The session ended with an informal critique with the students making quite a good impression on parents who stopped by early to "sneak a peak" of what was going on in the Art Adventures studio at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens!

En Plein Air Painting in the Cummer Garden

En plein air (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ plɛn‿ɛʁ]) is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors, which is also called peinture sur le motif ("painting on the ground") in French.

Students ages 6 - 12 years old took part in an exciting garden tour then painted plein air, or in open air in the Cummer Museum Garden honoring the annual celebration of Garden Week! What a glorious day it was!

March Edition Art for Two: Print Like Our Japanese Friends

Students ages 3 years to 5 years and their adult friends studied the art of ancient Japanese as they visited the Cummer Museum of Art & Garden's current exhibit...

Beyond Ukiyo-e: Japanese Woodblock Prints and their influence on Western Art

Event Details:
December 15, 2011 - August 9, 2012
Location: The Joan Wellhouse and Martin Stein, Sr. Gallery

After a tour of the Japanese Woodblock Prints, students returned to the studio to create prints using modern printmaking materials. In the pictures above you see my Art for Two artists as they create multiple prints of birds seen in the Cummer Garden.

Something's Fishy!

Students in Art for Two and Art Adventures Saturday art classes learned about Japanese culture and art by exploring The Cummer Museum’s current exhibit of Japanese wood block prints. After a discussion of Japanese culture presented in the prints they learned about the tradition of Gyotaku - the art of Japanese fish printing.

The art of Gyotaku has been used in Japan for more than a century to record catches of sports fish. Fishermen would take their catch, paint their fish then press fabric or rice paper on top of the fish to record the size. The artist’s print showed how large the fish was so there was no doubt that thier “fish story” was true!

The images shown are of our special artists creating their own Gyotaku. The short video shows the process the students followed to create them.

Starry Starry Nights

This month, student artists participating in Art for Two (Ages 3 - 5 years old with their favorite adult) and in Art Adventures (Ages 6 - 12 years old) created beautiful cityscape collages in the style of my favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh. After searching for cityscapes in The Cummer Museum's permanent collection, we returned to Art Connection to study the Art History Timeline. Students were able to make connections with events going on in the world during Mr. Van Gogh's life. After receiving all this background knowledge, my students went into the studio and created some of the beautiful cityscape collages as seen above.

Art Adventures: Watercolor Everglades Landscape

In November's edition of Art Adventures, students studied the everglades paintings of Eugene Savage, currently on display at The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. In an informal scavenger hunt in the gallery, the students were asked to identify plants and animals indigenous to the Florida everglades then create a watercolor painted landscape including their findings.

Before they began their paintings, they viewed a short slideshow of images showing the plants and animals of the everglades. Music featured in the slideshow was Seminole Wind, a song that tells the story of the Seminole indians and their struggles dealing with the inevitable changes in the everglades.

It's Greek to Me!

In September, my Art Adventure students learned about Greek pottery and mythology. After a visit to the galleries at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens to view samples of Greek pottery from the Museum's permanent collection, the students returned to the studio to create a collage Greek pottery still life in their own interpretation. This short instructional video deepens instruction and gives my student some background knowledge to be successful in their assignment.