• Bontempo Rm208

    Instructor: Riley, M.

    In the Art room, all young artists are encouraged to take artistic risks and make mistakes! Through those mistakes and road blocks, we learn so many things, Kindergarten to fourth grade. (Even now I learn something new from my students every day!) By creatively solving problems that arise in our artwork, young artists build confidence in themselves, and in their abilities!
    Each year, your young artists are introduced to new Art vocabulary within each lesson, and are also introduced to a new artist or style. Self-assessment is in full effect throughout the school year, from grades K-4. 
    As a school community, we strive to be respectful, responsible and safe in and out of the Art room; respectful of each other and of ourselves, responsible with our voice and our opinions, and (of course) safe with our supplies!

Announcements

  • April!

    Hello there Artists! Happy (Almost) April to you! Spring has sprung, and it is the busiest time of year in the Art room! All artists at Springbrook school will be creating and finishing up artworks for the S.T.E.A.M. show this month!   On April 11th, there will be a HUGE event called S.T.E.A.M. - and the "A" represents the Arts! EVERY artist in the whole school will have an artwork in this district-wide show! There will be art exhibits, technology experiments, food from the culinary students, theater performances, and so much more! It is a wonderful evening, and I hope to see you there to celebrate our students' hard work!    S.T.E.A.M. event - Where: WHS Ward Building                                     When: Tuesday April 11th from 2-8  *Artwork on display from 2-7*      **Also, April is Autism Awareness month, and there will be an art show on display in the Westerly Public Library's Hoxie Gallery - all of the works in that show are made by friends with different abilities  in our school community! If you're downtown, please stop by the library to see their beautiful artwork!    Hope to see you at the big art show! Keep on creating,  Mrs.…

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  • S.T.E.A.M.

    Our annual S.T.E.A.M. event is coming soon! Save the date! Tuesday April 11th, 2-8 pm Artwork is on display until 7pm Every artist at the elementary level will have one piece in the show - and artwork from K-12 will be on display! Thousands of artworks and a wonderful time! Please come participate in drum circles, hands-on technology demonstrations, walk thought our art gallery, have some award-winning chowder, and so much more! I hope to see you there!  Tuesday April 11th, WHS Ward building…

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    December in the Art room!

    Hello there artists, and happy December! This is a very busy month for all of us, and the Art room will be buzzing with creativity!   Fourth grade artists will be finishing up their foreshortening lessons, and moving on to rotational symmetry! This lesson is tough, but we will learn to be patient with ourselves and trust the artistic process! Its a great project, mixing some Math and Art!   Third grade artists will be finishing up our Klimt-inspired sleeping self portraits, and moving on to Optical Illusion art, inspired by Bridget Riley and M.C. Escher! This lesson requires lot of shading, and we will become experts with colored pencils!   Second grade will be working with painters tape in December, creating Klimt-inspired birch trees! We will be using salt and saran wrap to achieve some interesting textures in our paint!   First grade will be moving on from our pumpkin perspective drawings, and begin Andy Warhol inspired work! We will become master cylinder-makers, creating 3-dimensional soup and soda cans, inspired by Mr. Warhol!   Kinder artists will be moving on from Mondrian-inspired artworks (with vertical and horizontal lines and primary colors!) and moving on to cylinder hats complete with crazy patterns! 3-D shapes are a big deal in the Art room!   We are rockin' and rollin' in the Art room this December! Keep on creating, Mrs.…

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    November!

    Hello there Artists!   This month, we will be focusing on finishing up our lessons from October, and beginning new ones as the leaves fall! November is a very short month for us, but we will be working hard in the Art room!   Kinder friends will be finishing up their Jasper Johns-inspired primary color numbers, and moving on to our first true-color self portraits! We will be working on realistic eyes, noses and mouths!   First and second grade artists will be working on finishing up our self-portraits in November - making sure we are using true colors, and realistic features! First grade will then move on to create pumpkin perspective drawings- learning about fore, middle and backgrounds!   Second grade will be moving on from true self-portraits to drawing real leaves from observation - we will have beautiful fall leaves at each table, and will work on drawing them in great detail!     Third grade artists will be working on their Klimt-inspired sleeping self portraits a bit more, adding detail with sharpie, colored pencil, and paint! This is a very detailed lesson that needs lots of time and patience!   Fourth grade will be finishing up our foreshortening lesson, and moving on to drawing fall objects from observation, and using pointillism to add color! This is a fun lesson, because we use a very odd art supply, inspired by Seurat!   Can't wait to see you in the Art room! Keep on creating, Mrs.…

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    October

    Hello there Artists~ The Art room is in full swing this month!  Kinder friends are finishing up their shape lessons, and beginning our Jasper Johns-inspired lesson! We will be working with primary colors this time around! Red, Yellow, Blue, eyes on you! First and Second grade will be creating beginning of the year, realistic self portraits! We will be looking at and talking about many different self portraits - from Andy Warhol, to Leonardo da Vinci! We will be learning about proportion, and how our eyes, nose, mouth, and ears fit onto our faces! We will also be using true colors. Second grade will be taking it a bit further, and we will be expressing an emotion with our self-portraits! Third grade will be beginning our sleeping self portraits, inspired by Gustav Klimt! One of my favorite artists, his textures and patterns will inspire us to create our own work! Fourth grade will be beginning a foreshortening lesson - learning what foreshortening is, how to describe it, and understanding how it is shown in Art! We will be using our own hands and feet to create our foreshortening artwork! For this lesson, we are inspired by comic books, and photography See you in the Art room! Keep on creating, Mrs.…

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    September

    Hello there Artists!   In September, grades K-4 are getting used to the rules and routines of the Art room, and we all started off with a mini-square to get our creativity flowing. If you had the opportunity to come to open house, you saw those squares were being made into a large display!    After we finish up those mini-squares, we will be moving on to our first large Art lesson of the year.   Kinder will begin with Shape Space, a lesson where we color different shapes, learn to hold scissors and cut, assemble them into something new, and learn to glue too! This lesson covers many skills at once, and lets us practice those skills!   First grade will be introduced to Jasper Johns, and we will be creating alphabet artwork inspired by him! We will be using oil pastels and watercolors.   Second grade will be working on Wayne Thiebaud-inspired cakes! We will focus on drawing cylinders, and cutting a slice out of our cakes!   Third grade will be working on a stacked-cylinder challenge, creating larger cakes with three tiers, overlapping cylinders, and working on a theme for our artworks. Wayne Thiebaud is our inspiration for this lesson too!   Fourth grade will be creating overlapping initial artworks based on Jasper John's more complicated pieces. We will work with oil pastels, and will be blending our own secondary colors!    Thanks for reading, and keep on creating! - Mrs.…

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    Hello!

    Hello there Artists! Welcome to the 2016-17 school year! It's going to be a great year this year, I know it! This year, I am teaching at Dunns Corners School, and Springbrook School! I have every artist in both schools, so we will be creating A LOT of artwork this year! Get your creativity flowing, and I'll see you in the Art room!  ~Mrs. Riley  

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  • Last of 2015-2016

    Happy last day of school!Keep on creating this summer! 

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    JUNE!

    Happy June, Artists friends!   The last few art classes will be dedicated to "Ketchup" Days, and designing our portfolios! When students have a "Ketchup" day, it is an opportunity to catch-up on work that they haven't finished yet! That could be artwork from the beginning of the year, right up until the present lesson!    For the artists who are finished catching-up, they will have the opportunity to design their portfolios!  The second week of June, all students will be taking home their portfolios FULL of artwork! It's is a wonderful week, where the artwork we've created all year is taken home!    Feel free to make an art gallery with all of your work, artists friends! You have worked SO hard this year!! See you in the Art room, and keep on creating! -Mrs.…

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    May in the Art room

    Happy May Artists!     First I have to thank all the friends who went to Arts Alive: S.T.E.A.M. in April - It was a great day filled so many activities and performances! If you came out to support us, thank you! If you couldn't make it this year, hopefully I'll see you next year!     This month, we will be focusing on many different artists and techniques!     Kindergarten will be working on finishing up their cylindrical flower vases, and beginning an aboriginal art lesson using our hands, and another very odd art supply!     First grade will be working on finishing up our cube jack-in-the-boxes, and beginning artworks featuring different lighthouses!     Second grade will be exploring Wassily Kandinsky and Hilla Rebay, creating abstract pieces inspired by their artwork based on emotions!     Third grade will be discovering the work of Georgia O'Keefe, and creating compositions by drawing from observation. I LOVE this third grade lesson, the students always create such detailed work!   Fourth grade will be experimenting with some printmaking - using foam board and a marker/water technique to create multiple prints!    May will be another busy, beautiful month in the Art room! Keep on creating, Mrs.…

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    Thank you!

    This is a BIG thank you to everyone who came out for the Arts Alive: STEAM event last night! It was an amazing night with many things to see and do! Thank you to all who came out to support us! Keep on creating, Mrs. Riley  

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  • ARTS ALIVE April!

    Hello there Artists! April is a big month for us! April 14th is ARTS ALIVE! This year it is being combined with STEM night, making it STEAM! (Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS, and Mathematics!)   It is on a Thursday night  this year, from 2-8pm, and YOUR artwork will be on display until 7pm! I cant wait to see you all there, it is going to be a great show with work on display from Kindergarten students up to grade 12!     In the Art room, we will be working on many different lessons!   Kinder will be focused on cylinder vases decorated with different types of lines as decoration! We will be looking at, and drawing spring flowers in our vases!   Grade one will be working on cubes! The cube is a difficult 3-D shape, but we will be making it fun by making our cubes into our own jack-in-the-boxes!   Grade two will be working on Wayne Thiebaud-inspired gumball machines, with limited color palettes!     Grade three will be working on my most favorite third grade project of the year - O'Keefe skulls and flowers! We will be looking at Georgia O'Keefe's work, then drawing from observation and drawing in "macro" form!   Grade four will be working on sunset silhouettes - a tough but beautiful lesson on blending colors and drawing black silhouettes of animals, plants and other objects!     I hope to see you at ARTS ALIVE: STEAM this year!  Remember: April 14th from 2-8!      Keep on creating, Mrs.…

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    SAVE THE DATE!

    ARTS ALIVE with S.T.E.A.M. is on a Thursday night this year! April 14th, from 2-8pm!   All artwork will be on display from 2-7pm! S - Science T - Technology E - Engineering  A - Arts M - Mathematics  Can't wait to see you there!  

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  • March

    HAPPY YOUTH ART MONTH!!!  

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    February in the Art Room!

    Hello there Artists! Even though February is a short month, things will be rockin' in the Art room!   I am now preparing and gathering work for TWO different Art shows coming up - "Arts Alive" in April, and the "Young at Art" show in Mystic in March! The Young at Art show is for specific works only, 7-10 can be selected, while Arts Alive will have a piece of Artwork from EVERY elementary student in the district! That's a big, fun show!     This month, Kindergarten will be working on finishing up their Swimmy projects - now that we have mixed all of the secondary colors, we will be making fish to swim around in our primary color oceans!   First grade will be working on finishing up their warm/cool cityscapes, and moving on to the concept on "movement", with Keith Haring figures!   Second grade will be working on Picasso Blue Period guitars, combining one of Picasso art-making periods with one of his sculptures for our inspiration. Collage and creative problem solving will play a big part in this project!   Third grade artists will be finishing up their weaving lessons, and moving on to Roy Lichtenstein's  Onomatopoeia's!   Fourth grade artists will be working on various lessons, from using sgraffito with their Ming vases, to creating rotational symmetry using fractions, to Op Art, shading spheres with the value scale!   There's definitely a lot of learning going on in the Art room this month! I look forward to seeing you at Arts Alive!     Keep on Creating, Mrs.…

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    January in the Art room!

    Hello there Artists, and Happy New Year! In January, we will be focusing on a variety of techniques and processes in each grade!   In Kindergarten, we will be focusing in on basic color theory - the primary and secondary colors! We will also take it a step further and learn how the primary colors create the secondary ones in our Swimmy lesson!   First grade will be working on the concept of movement in Art. We will be looking at Keith haring's dancing figures, and creating our own!   Second grade artists will be working with mixed media- creating Picasso guitars inspired by his blue period, and his guitar paintings/sculpture! We will focus on  collage, and creating balance!   Third grade will be introduced to basic weaving - working on our dexterity! We will also be creating our own textured paper to weave with!    Fourth grade artists will be introduced to Rotational Symmetry, and will be using math skills to create an artwork will four identical parts!   2016 will be a great year in the Art room, I just know it! Keep on creating, Mrs.…

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    December in the Art Room!

    Hello there Artists! December is a big month is the Art room! Along with finishing up artworks that we began in November, each class will be focused on beginning one more new project before the New Year!   Kinder artists will be learning about cylinders - where we see them in every day life, and how to draw them! We will then be creating cylinder hats!     First grade will also be working on cylinders. We will be taking our knowledge of the 3-D form from last year, and create a more in-depth project, inspired by Andy Warhol's soup cans!   Second grade will start looking at Gustav Klimt's Birch Trees, and we will be using some odd Art materials to create our own birch tree landscapes! (think tape, salt and saran wrap!)   Third grade will be continuing their work on their sleeping self portraits, with very intricate textures on our blankets, inspired by some of Gustav Klimt's artworks!   Fourth grade will be beginning a pointillism project! We will be using cotton swabs to create a specific texture on our artworks, and will be inspired by George Seurat, the pointillism master!    *If you'd like to go on a tour of Art museums in the USA or around the world over winter break, I have found an amazing resource! It is called "Google Art Project". You can tour some wonderful museums, and see amazing works of art from your own home! Give the link a click and explore with your parents, guardians, and young artists! http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/about/artproject/  One of my favorites is  the Adachi Museum of Art, in Japan.     The Art room is a-rockin' and a-rollin' in December!  Keep on creating,  Mrs.…

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    November in the Art room!

    Hello there Artists! November is a month  for parent-teacher conferences! There will be a lot of art-making going on!      Kindergarten will be focusing on Jasper Johns and his primary color numbers! We will be using oil pastel to hide a number of our choice in our artworks!   First grade will continue working on Pumpkin perspective drawings, and transitioning to Andy Warhol Soup Cylinders, working on developing 3-D shapes!     Second grade will be working on drawing fallen leaves from observation, and using the warm and cool colors to complete their work. This is one of my favorite Art projects in second grade!     Third grade will be focusing on sleeping self-portraits, inspired by one of my favorite artists, Gustav Klimt. We will be focusing on texture and drawing realistic sleeping portraits!     Fourth grade artists will be working on finishing up their Falling for foreshortening project, and continuing on to their pointillism! We will be drawing objects related to fall, and then using the pointillism technique to fill it in with color!   Fall is my favorite time of year, and I hope you enjoy it with some Art in between! Keep on creating, Mrs.…

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  • Art room in October!

    Hello there Artists, and Happy October! This month, Kindergarten friends will be working on coloring, cutting and gluing techniques. We will be working with 4 different shapes, and creating an artwork from those​ shapes!  We will then focus on Miro, an artist that uses line, shape, and primary colors! First grade will be working on the Jasper John's alphabet artwork, focusing on learning warm and cool colors, and working with oil pastel and watercolor. We will then begin pumpkin perspective drawings, where we will be learning that size determines how close-up, or far-away an object appears!  Second grade will be finishing up their Wayne Thiebaud-inspired cylinder cakes (with a piece sliced out!), and then we will begin our Kandinsky emotion project, focusing on the concept that color and shape can convey emotions! Third grade will be working on their stacked-cylinder cakes, and continuing on to Op Art, inspired by Bridget Riley and M.C. Escher. The

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    Back to School!

    Hello there, Artists!  We are officially back to school! The first few weeks in the Art room will be dedicated to learning new routines, remembering our rules and procedures, and establishing a respectful Artist community! The first Art lesson for every grade will be a monochromatic shape. Monochromatic means, "one color (hue) with many different tints and shades". Each grade level will have different goals to meet within the project, but after all are completed, they will be be assembled as an all-school Art display! Everyone will have the opportunity to paint on the first day of Art class! Whoa!  I cant wait to see all of you, young artists! Get ready for a great year in the Art Room!  Keep on creating,  Mrs.…

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    6.26.15

    Happy last day of school! See you in August!  Remember: Keep on creating, I'd love to see your summer artworks when we come back! ~Mrs. Riley  

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    Coming to a close!

    Hello Artists! As the year is coming to a close, you will be working on quite a few lessons! We will be having "Ketchup Days", where you'll be finishing up artworks that were left unfinished in the past year. You'll have to recall the materials you used, and the techniques you've learned to complete those projects! After that, we will be designing our Art Portfolios for at least two Art classes! That is a great time to show your artistic personality, and demonstrate a few techniques you've learned throughout the year in Art!  The week of June 15th-19th is my favorite week, because you receive ALL of your artwork back! Each class is as fun as the next, because we get to see how far we've come from August to June! That week, you'll be going home with your Portfolio full of your artwork! ( I always say, when you get home, spread it out and make an Art Gallery!) The last week of school will be a free-choice Art day. There will be Free draw challenges, Artist Memory, Pass-it-along, Pick 6, and maybe we will even be going outside to create some found-object artworks!  It has been a wonderful year,…

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    Art Quote Week 26

    The biggest mistake you could ever make is being afraid to make one! ~ Anonymous   

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    Art Quote Week 25

    "Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement." - Ken Robinson *This weekend, May 23-24 is the Virtu Arts Festival in Wilcox Park! Hope to see you there!  Click here for details -----> http://public.westerlychamber.org/events/details/18th-annual-virtu-art-festival-7825  

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    Art Quote Week 24

    "If Art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him." - JFK Please take a peek at my Art Education Blog! click on this link--->> http://artfullyeverafter.blogspot.com/  

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