3D ArtJohn Jasper helped inspire some of our student artists to think in three dimensions as they developed ideas for the National Art Competition, centered on the theme of patriotism. Looking to the work of American Pop artist Jasper Johns—well known for his iconic paintings of the American flag and other familiar symbols—students explored how everyday images can express deeper ideas about national identity and personal meaning.
Using watercolor, students experimented with ways to transform their concepts into expressive visual projects. After brainstorming and refining their ideas, each artist created a piece that symbolized their personal feelings about patriotism and then presented their work to the class. These presentations allowed students to share both their creative process and the meaning behind their choices of imagery, color, and composition.
Working with watercolor offered its own unique challenge. The medium requires patience, planning, and a willingness to adapt as colors blend and flow on the paper. At the same time, it can be incredibly satisfying, rewarding students with luminous layers and expressive results that beautifully capture their ideas.
Students explored the intricate world of Zen art through detailed hand drawings. I was truly impressed by their imagination, creativity, and emerging talent. Each student approached the task with focus and originality, producing dynamic and expressive pieces of artwork.
Their work beautifully reflects the calming, meditative qualities of Zen-inspired design while showcasing their unique artistic voices. The variety of patterns, compositions, and interpretations demonstrates both technical skill and thoughtful creativity.
Students focused their studies on body composition and accurate proportions. To demonstrate their developing skill and understanding of the human form, they chose dancers as their subject matter.
Working with oil pastels, they carefully explored movement, balance, and anatomical structure, capturing both strength and grace in their figures. The richness of the medium allowed them to blend colour and build depth, resulting in expressive and beautifully composed works of art that reflect both technical knowledge and artistic sensitivity.
Students in Three-Dimensional Art explored sculpture by creating expressive hand forms using craft tape as their base structure. Once the shapes were formed, they carefully applied papier-mâché and attached the hands to a box, transforming their initial ideas into striking mixed-media compositions.
To complete their work, students used coloured paper to develop vibrant surfaces, thoughtfully focusing on texture, layering, and visual impact. This hands-on project was both creative and enjoyable, allowing students to experiment with materials while strengthening their technical skills.
Most importantly, they learned the value of developing an idea from concept to completion—refining their vision, problem-solving along the way, and seeing their work evolve into a finished, meaningful piece.
Our students in 3D art had a wonderful time exploring materials and learning basic sewing skills as they created their own snowman crafts. It was so fun to watch their personalities shine through in each unique design—many even gave their snowmen (and snow-women!) creative names.
This month in art, we’re studying the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci, and projects like this help students connect hands-on creativity with the artistic curiosity and imagination da Vinci is known for.
Students worked with charcoal as their primary medium and explored scale, value, and organic form. This project was inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s early charcoal drawings, and students studied her approach before creating their own work. The process challenged them in new ways—some loved it, some found it difficult—but it provided a meaningful and memorable artistic experience.
Foundation 1: Students worked with oil pastels and explored perspective, scale, color, and their own personal styles in their artwork. Our Artist of the Month is Georgia O’Keeffe, celebrated for her beautifully detailed flower compositions. Her abstract, organic forms make her work instantly recognizable and truly unique. As we studied her art together, students were inspired to experiment with abstraction, artistic expression, and creative play in their own pieces.
Ms. Moon showed just like one of Georgia’s magenta flowers—a bright pink-purple🌸 Peonies !
Our 3D Art students did a beautiful job with their recent woodburning project! Each student selected a unique design that held thoughtful meaning and personal symbolism.
They developed their artistic ideas through sketches and drafts, refined their designs, and then brought them to life using woodburning pens. The process was both challenging and rewarding — students focused on achieving consistency and value while experimenting with a soft “halo” burning effect.
The results are impressive, and each piece reflects creativity, patience, and craftsmanship. Wonderful work, students!
In this imaginative art project, students in the drawing class were invited to "Draw Something Wicked"—a prompt that encouraged them to dive into their creativity and design original characters from scratch. Whether spooky, mysterious, or mischievous, each student brought their own unique vision to life.
Once their sketches were complete, students explored watercolor pencils, a new medium introduced for this project. They learned how to blend color with water, creating texture and depth that enhanced the mood of their artwork.
But this project wasn’t just about the visuals—each student also gave an oral presentation, revealing the backstory of their character. These one-picture stories captured emotion, tone, and narrative, challenging students to think like both artists and storytellers.
Throughout the process, students experimented with new drawing techniques, pushing beyond their comfort zones and trying styles they hadn't used before. The result was a gallery of bold, expressive, and wickedly original creations that showcased not only artistic skill.
In the art room this month, students are diving into vibrant traditions and creative expression with Portrait Sugar Skulls using markers and Sharpies! While focusing on facial proportion and balance, students also have the freedom to let their imaginations shine with bold colors, unique patterns, and personal touches.
Alongside the artistic process, we’re exploring the cultural and historical significance of sugar skulls and their roots in Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) traditions. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to learn how art connects us to history, memory, and celebration.
At the same time, we’ve continued highlighting the wonderfully eccentric Salvador Dalí. Students are having a blast exploring surrealism—a style where dreams, imagination, and unexpected ideas take center stage. With Dalí as our inspiration, creativity is running wild!
From melting clocks to colorful skulls, it’s been a fantastic month full of art, culture, and creativity. Stay tuned to see more student work and upcoming projects!
Our Drawing Art students explored the powerful connection between music and visual art through vibrant, expressive pieces inspired by Henri Matisse’s The Music and the bold style of Fauvism. Using oil pastels, each student created a unique artwork that reflects their personal relationship with music—how it affects them emotionally, inspires creativity, and shapes their daily experiences. This collection showcases not only their technical skills but also their ability to translate sound into color, rhythm into form, and feeling into art. We collaborated with the music department to showcase student work at the Music Showcase on September 30th. Hopefully, you were able to attend! If not, these incredible oil pastel pieces inspired by music are still hanging on the bulletin board outside the art room. Please come take a look!
We kicked things off with Paper Mâché Animals! Students selected an animal, designed and sculpted it, then painted their creations. This project taught them how to take an idea from concept to completion, and I couldn’t be prouder of their hard work. They gave an oral presentation on their art piece and described the process they used. WAY TO GO!
To kick off our 3D art unit, students participated in a watercolor warm-up that explored multiple techniques. They experimented with wet-on-wet blooming, dry pulling, splatter art, and added Sharpie details to enhance their compositions.
The result? A vibrant collection of impressionistic pieces, each showcasing a beautiful variety of color, texture, and personal style. This activity helped students loosen up creatively while learning how different materials interact.
We're excited to see how these skills carry into their upcoming 3D projects!
Our students have completed their stunning Zentangle Owl projects! Through this creative process, they explored key artistic concepts such as value, design, symbolism, and linework. Each student presented their artwork to the class, engaging in thoughtful verbal presentations where they received constructive criticism and gained new perspectives from their peers.
This project encouraged not only technical skill but also personal expression and critical thinking. We’re incredibly proud of the effort, creativity, and growth each student demonstrated. Well done, artists!
Students applied their understanding of one-point perspective and spatial concepts such as foreground, middle ground, and background to create vivid landscapes with a strong sense of depth. Using a vanishing point as a guide, they explored proportion, value, line, space, form, and pattern to bring their tempera field paintings to life. Each piece is as unique as the student who created it, resulting in a beautiful and diverse collection that showcases both technical growth and individual creativity.
Chalk Still Life Drawings - Students in Art Foundations II engaged in a focused exploration of chalk as a medium, working on an expanded scale to refine their artistic concepts through still life compositions. This project emphasized both technical proficiency and creative development. We are consistently impressed by the dedication and talent demonstrated by our students, and their work in this unit exemplifies a high level of artistic achievement.
Project Zen Art Landscapes. Focus on art elements of line, value, design, balance, focal point, background, midground and foreground.
Watercolor rabbit
Project heartpillows. Understanding three-dimensional art, sewing, hand and eye coordination while creating a work of art.
Zen Art
Students were applying their understanding of foreground, midground, background, and focal point in their Zen Projects. These art elements with the exploration of shapes and design create beautiful works of art that we were showcased at Summit Academy.
Our landscape drawings helped students work with one of my favorite mediums, charcoal. Charcoal has a smooth yet brittle texture and allows the artist to create stunning visuals with a wide range of shades and textures. I has been fun to watch the students grasp on value and contrast sink in with this project.
We were able to make corn husk dolls with a few classes. These are traditionally Native American dolls. They do not have faces, and there are a number of traditional explanations for this. I told the students one legend that the Great Spirit made a doll out of her husks to entertain children. The doll had a beautiful face and began to spend less time with children and more time contemplating her own loveliness. As a result of her vanity, the doll's face was taken away.
This was a neat way to celebrate Native American Heritage Month and highlight the art form of the dolls and storytelling.
Art Foundations focused on facial guidelines to draw realistic and exaggerated facial feature. Our students created Pop Art Portraits by pairing multiple prints, vibrant color schemes, and classic repetitive designs. They used markers, ink, and learned how to mount their projects on cardstock. Andy Warhol was the artist of the month.
Foundations: Students were taught and practiced two-point perspective. They applied their understanding of two-point perspective in a gingerbread house watercolor drawing. Students incorporated their knowledge of perspective with decorative features, size and proportions. The students were challenged and had fun working with the new medium of watercolor pencils.
Drawing: The last project of the semester was a snowman with cardinal using oil pastels. This was a wonderful piece for students to work on focal point and composition. They used oil pastels to finish the work which was a great way to explore a new medium. Over the course of this semester students have show incredible growth in their understanding and artistic elements.
Draper
