Lesson & Photos from the Art Studio | Nursery School | Washington University in St. Louis

School Year 2024-2025:
Lessons and Photos

September Lesson:

Focal Artist: Rose Wylie, British
Focal Element of Art: Line
Definition of Line: a mark with greater length than width. Lines can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal; straight or curved; thick or thin.
Read: Straight is a Line: A book about lines by Sharon Lerner
Provocation: What is a line?
Supplies: white paper, markers, imagination

School Year 2023-2024:

May Lesson:

THE ART STUDIO WITH MS. SUZY

FOCUS: DRAWING WITH SCISSORS

FOCAL ARTIST: HENRI MATISSE, FRENCH

PROVOCATIONS (AND QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOUR ARTIST): -WHAT DOES THE WORD ABSTRACT MEAN?

1. DEFINITION OF ABSTRACT: FINE ARTS.

OF OR RELATING TO THE FORMAL ASPECT OF ART, EMPHASIZING LINES, COLORS, GENERALIZED OR GEOMETRICAL FORMS, ETC., ESPECIALLY WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO ONE ANOTHER.
OFTEN ABSTRACT. PERTAINING TO THE NONREPRESENTATIONAL ART STYLES OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

READ:
-A BIRD OR TWO: A STORY ABOUT HENRI MATISSE BY BIJOU LE TORD -HENRI MATISSE: DRAWING WITH SCISSORS BY KEESIA JOHNSON & JANEO’CONNOR
-MATISSE: IMAGE INTO SIGN BY THE ST. LOUIS ART MUSEUM

MATERIALS:

CANVAS ,COLORED PAPER SCISSORS, GLUE, IMAGINATION

ARTIST RESOURCE LINK: HTTPS://WWW.BRITANNICA.COM/BIOGRAPHY/HENRI-MATISSE
VIDEO LINK: HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?APP=DESKTOP&V=FX_JQ0C4 1VU

April Lesson:

March Lesson:

THE ART STUDIO WITH MS. SUZY FOCUS: TEXTURE
FOCAL ARTIST: ANNI ALBERS, GERMAN

PROVOCATIONS (AND QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOUR ARTIST):

-WHAT IS TEXTURE?
-WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY DO YOU FEEL TEXTURE WITH? -CAN YOU SEE TEXTURE?
-CAN YOU HEAR TEXTURE?

DEFINITION OF A TEXTURE: AN ELEMENT OF ART THAT REFERS TO THE WAY THINGS FEEL OR LOOK AS IF THEY MIGHT FEEL IF TOUCHED.

READ: LINES THE WIGGLE BY CANDACE WHITMAN AND STEVE WILSON

MATERIALS:

DRAWING PAPER TEXTURE MATERIAL GLUE
COLORED PENCILS IMAGINATIONJ

ARTIST RESOURCE LINK: ANNI ALBERS HTTPS://NMWA.ORG/ART/ARTISTS/ANNI-ALBERS/

January/February Lessons:

FOCUS: CONTRAST
FOCAL ARTIST: FAUSTO GILBERTI

ARTWORK BY SUZY OLIVER FRILLMAN

PROVOCATIONS (AND QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOUR ARTIST):

-WHAT IS CONTRAST?

DEFINITION OF CONTRAST: JUXTAPOSITION OF DISSIMILAR ELEMENTS (SUCH AS COLOR, TONE, EMOTION, SIZE) IN A WORK OF ART, OR OTHERWISE. DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LIGHTEST AND DARKEST PART OF A PICTURE.

DISCUSSION: WE TALKED ABOUT THE MEANING OF CONTRAST AND LOOKED AT THE COMPARISONS & DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOUNDS, ROCKS & COLORS. NEXT YOUNG ARTISTS WERE GIVEN MATERIALS TO CREATE A HIGH-CONTRAST PAINTING. THE PAINTING COULD BE AN ABSTRACT, DESIGN OR REPRESENTATIONAL IN NATURE.

BOOKS:

–LOUISE BOURGEOIS MADE GIANT SPIDERS AND WASN’T SORRY BY FAUSTO GILBERTI –YAYOI KUSAMA COVERED EVERYTHING IN DOTS AND WASN’T SORRY BY FAUSTO GILBERTI

MATERIALS:

BLACK CONSTRUCTION PAPER WHITE ACRYLIC PAINT Q-TIPS
IMAGINATIONJ

ARTIST RESOURCE LINK: HTTPS://WWW.WORLDKIDS.ES/THE-CREATIVE-WORLD-OF-AUTHOR- ILLUSTRATOR-FAUSTO-GILBERTI/

December Lessons:

Teddy Bear and Bear Cubs

FOCUS: COLOR
FOCAL ARTIST: LEO LIONNI

PROVOCATIONS (AND QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOUR ARTIST): –

-WHAT ARE THE THREE PRIMARY COLORS?
-WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE MIX COLORS?
-WHAT COLORS DID YOU MIX/CREATE?

DEFINITION OF COLOR: what you see when light shines off an object

READ:
LITTLE BLUE & LITTLE YELLOW BY LEO LIONNI

SUPPLIES:
WATERCOLOR PAPER
ACRYLIC PAINTS IN PRIMARY COLORS Q-TIPS

IMAGINATIONJ LINKS:

LEO LIONNI- HTTPS://KIDS.KIDDLE.CO/LEO_LIONNI

Big Bears

FOCUS: COLOR
FOCAL ARTIST: FRIDA KAHLO

PROVOCATIONS (AND QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOUR ARTIST): -WHAT IS ARE THE THREE PRIMARY COLORS?
-WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE MIX COLORS?
-HOW DID YOU CREATE YOUR SKIN TONE COLOR?

DEFINITION OF COLOR: what you see when light shines off an object

DEFINITION OF SELF-PORTRAIT: While a portrait refers to any painting that depicts a human figure, a self-portrait refers to a painting that depicts the artist that produced it. Self-portraiture, whether produced in the medium of painting or of photography, is its own distinct genre of art, like that of the landscape or the still life.

READ:
FRIDA BY JONAH WINTER & ANA JUAN

SUPPLIES:
WATERCOLOR PAPER
PENCIL
EARTH/SKIN TONE PAINTS
MIRROR
PAINTBRUSH

LINKS:
FRIDA KAHLO- https://nmwa.org/art/artists/frida-kahlo/ LEO LIONNI- HTTPS://KIDS.KIDDLE.CO/LEO_LIONNI

November Lesson:

PROVOCATIONS (AND QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOUR ARTIST):

-WHAT IS A PATTERN?
-HOW DO WE MAKE A PATTERN? -WHERE CAN WE FIND PATTERNS?
– HOW CAN WE DESCRIBE A PATTERN?

DEFINITION OF A PATTERN: A PATTERN is anywhere a design that repeats and can be found

They can be made by repeating shape, line, or color. Patterns can be simple like a checkerboard or complex like the branches of a tree. In art, pattern is used in organizing and decorating designs.

READ: –ALMA’S ART BY RODA AHMED PICTURES BY ANITA CHEUNG
-YAYOI KUSAMA: COVERED EVERTHING IN DOTS AND WASN’T SORRY BY FAUSTO GILBERTI

MATERIALS: WATERCOLOR PAPER ACRYLIC PAINTS SPONGES, Q-TIPS, ETC. IMAGINATION

ARTIST RESOURCE LINK:
ALMA THOMAS: https://nmwa.org/art/artists/alma-woodsey-thomas/ YAYOI KUSAMA: HTTPS://WWW.DAVIDZWIRNER.COM/ARTISTS/YAYOI-KUSAMA

October Lesson:

FOCUS: SHAPES
FOCAL ARTIST: FANNY SANIN, COLUMBIAN

PROVOCATIONS (AND QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOUR ARTIST):

-WHAT IS A SHAPE?
-HOW DO WE MAKE A SHAPE?
-WHERE CAN WE FIND SHAPES IN OUR ENVIRONMENT?

DEFINITION OF A SHAPE: WHEN A LINE BECOMES AN ENCLOSURE OF SPACE, WHERE THE LINE FORMS THE BOUNDARY AND THE SPACE WITHIN IS THE SHAPE. TO PUT IT SIMPLY, A SHAPE IS ANY TWO-DIMENSIONAL SPACE. SHAPES DO NOT HAVE TO BE CREATED WITH LINES.

READ: MUSEUM SHAPES BY MOMA

MATERIALS:

COLORED CARD STOCK, VARIETY OF SHAPES IN DIFFERENT MATERIALS, GLUE, MARKERS, IMAGINATION

ARTIST RESOURCE LINK: FANNY SANIN: HTTPS://NMWA.ORG/ART/ARTISTS/FANNY-SANIN/