Winter Landscapes with Grandma Moses

Anna Mary Robertson Moses, known by her nickname Grandma Moses, began painting at the age of 78.  Grandma Moses loved to show her paintings at county fairs in New York state as she sold her famous fruit preserves.  An art dealer from New York City came across her work, and soon she was showing work in NYC galleries.  Grandma Moses spent her whole life on her family farms, which took up most of her free time until her children had grown old enough to help out.  Her paintings mostly depict landscapes, and often the activities of the people in her work tell a story about life on the farm.  Grandma Moses is considered a folk artist, as she had no formal art training.
Children's House students created a background by choosing a color of paper for the sky, then drew a horizon line on white paper.  Next we cut along that horizon line, taking the top portion off, and glued the snowy ground onto their colorful paper.  We focused on creating space in our landscapes by drawing large, close-up objects in the foreground with items becoming smaller as they make their way up the page to the background.  Students also learned to draw people using simple shapes, and were encouraged to let the people in the art tell a fun winter story.  Ask your child how we used a toothbrush to create a snowy sky!

Henry Matisse: Painting on Paper or Painting with Scissors?

Henri Matisse is known for his bright, cheerful paintings, as well as his collage work, which he called "Painting with Scissors."  Matisse discovered his love of painting as a young man, while spending time in the hospital for a serious illness.  Afterwards he spent most of his time in France, painting outdoor scenes from his windows, interiors of his home, and portraits of various family members.  He was especially known for his creative use of color (bright, cheerful, and unnatural) and for this reason was associated with a group of painters known as the "Fauves," meaning wild beasts.  As Matisse aged, he was riddled with health issues once again.  When he became too ill to stand at a canvas and paint, he began working with collage, cutting organic shapes from bright paper and gluing them together to create vivid works of art.  He referred to his process as painting with scissors.
EI students were able to choose between drawing/painting or collage and began working after creating a few sketches.  Check out the amazing art they created!

Object Study, Leonardo daVinci Style.

After learning about the very famous Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, EII students took an in depth look at da Vinci's many drawings.  Da Vinci recognized the connection between mathematics, science, art, and invention.  He studied objects, animals, and people, drawing them over and over until it seemed he knew them inside and out.  We were able to see how this practice would have aided da Vinci in creating his paintings and planning his imaginative inventions.
We used this opportunity to learn and practice many different drawing techniques.  Students chose one object to study and draw using various techniques while showing different viewpoints.  We tried out contour and blind contour drawings with pencil, ink drawing techniques (hatching, cross hatching, stippling), charcoal drawing, and finally choosing a media to create a color drawing.  Students then selected their favorite drawing from each category and carefully arranged them together to create one display of their work.