This year, our Art Department was fortunate to, once again, receive an Arts in Education Grant from the Lafayette Cultural Arts Commission. My 5th grade students are working in teams to build sections that, once fired and glazed, will be then be stacked to form four, six foot tall, clay totems around the theme of "The Diversity of Life in Lafayette". These photos show one of my classes hard at work on their group designs. The Installation of the completed totems, in front of our school, will take place over the summer.
In fifth grade Art classes, we discussed the use of symbolism in Art and how Art, throughout history, has often been used as a powerful tool to communicate ideas and transform societies. Based on that philosophy, each of my fifth grade artists designed a 16"x 20" painting around the theme of Martin Luther King Jr.'s " I Have a Dream" speech. The tempera painting results are stunning. I am so proud of these wonderful kids!!
Each year, my 5th grade artists are given the assignment to design a sculpture which incorporates a "face" . They begin by building a form, in plaster, the size of a human face. From this common beginning, their creative designs go in many different directions! (For more "Face" sculpture examples from previous years, click on the post label plaster sculpture in the list See Our Art by Medium )
