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!

Architecture by Children's House

Children's House students learned about a variety of homes in America before constructing their own from wooden shapes and popsicle sticks.  We practiced building homes from images of real houses and creating houses from our imaginations.  Once the students constructed their favorite home they made them permanent by gluing the shapes to heavy paper.  Using primary colors, black, white, and a few neon paints, students were free to mix a variety of colors and design their gorgeous houses!

Piet Mondrian Inspired Collage

Children's House students, my newest little artists, had a great time creating their collages inspired by Piet Mondrian.  Piet was a Dutch painter who eventually came to America, settling in New York City.  Piet created simple compositions, utilizing lines to create a grid-like system, inspired by the city he had moved to.  Students also noticed that Piet used a lot of red, yellow, and blue in his work, which lead us to a discussion about primary colors.  We loved listening to some smooth jazz music, just like Piet would have listened to, while creating our colorful artwork. 

Faith Ringgold inspired Story Quilts, by Children's House!

Earlier this year, Children's House students learned about the artist Faith Ringgold. Faith lived in Harlem, New York, and was influenced by the stories of her friends, family, and neighbors.  She worked hard to earn recognition for African American artists of all types.  Her mother, a popular fashion designer, influenced Faith to create art out fabric.  Faith especially loved to tell stories.  One of her famous story quilts, Tar Beach, was also turned into a children's book.  Students created their own Tar Beach story quilt after reading Tar Beach and learning a bit more about Faith Ringgold's life.
Students created the Brooklyn Bridge and a starry night sky before creating an overlapping cityscape collage.  The final touches were to add fabric for our quilts and each artist flying through the city.