Department Highlight: Art!

Elementary Art

Kindergarten and first grade students explored literature-inspired art through Drew Daywalt’s, "The Day the Crayons Quit* and Melissa Sweet’s, "Balloons over Broadway." They also practiced warm and cool colors while cutting and pasting construction paper fish, strengthening fine motor skills. First graders learned about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade puppeteer, Tony Sarg, then created city streetscapes featuring balloon animals.

Older elementary students explore art history while developing their individual styles. Second graders used oil pastels to reinterpret Franz Marc’s *The Foxes*. Third graders created Cubism-inspired portraits influenced by Sandra Silberzweig. Both grades are beginning autumn projects featuring hedgehogs and squirrels.

Fourth graders recreated Paul Klee’s, "Castle and Sun" with chalk pastel and white paint. Fifth graders created oil pastel interpretations of Monet’s, "Bridge Over a Pond of Waterlilies," emphasizing light, shadow, and gestural strokes. Students also virtually visited Paris’s Musée de L’Orangerie to view Monet’s murals.

Middle School Art

Students exceeded first-quarter benchmarks while exploring drawing, painting, color theory, and varied media. Projects included watercolor “Color Wheel Eyes,” graphite toilet-paper still lifes demonstrating five shading techniques, and realistic architectural drawings using the grid method.

Students now explore Expressionism and abstraction through self-portraits inspired by Amedeo Modigliani’s elongated features and abstract oil pastel drawings influenced by Sonia and Robert Delaunay.

Witnessing our artists’ growth and imagination is a privilege. Thank you for supporting the arts at VCS!

LaWonna Udo

lawonna.udo@go-vcs.com

Art Teacher