Second Grade Art Experiences

• Second graders began the year reviewing the element of line creating drawings based on the different families that make up this element such as angle lines, curved lines, straight lines, spirals, dots and circles.
• We observed pictures of animals and broke them up into smaller fragments of the line family and then recomposed them to create their own drawings of horses, lions and birds. At first using pencils and then moving on to the richer medium of oil pastels where they explored different techniques of application such as blending, color mixing, layering, scratching, side stroke and coloring.
• Next we explored tropical birds of all sizes and colors and created a stuffed bird mobile using feathers, pipe cleaners, wobbly eyes and magic markers!
• The element of color continued as we discovered a wide range of special colors to be mixed starting from the white, black, turquoise and magenta families. These were applied to a whimsical composition of the alphabet arranging its letter side by side, up side down, over and under each other!
• Finally as an interdisciplinary study between science and art students explored insect anatomy creating tiles in relief from plaster to show head thorax, abdomen, wings, legs and antenna. Insects facts were amazing to learn such as: there are over one billion different types of insects and only four thousand different types of mammals!
• Fancy Victorian portraits were a hit alongside the children’s studies of England. These silky, feathered, jeweled portraits were typical of the Victorian Era when ladies, gentlemen, children and pets of noble rank were depicted by commissioned artists!