Self Portraits
Inspired by Rene Magritte’s The Son of Man.
One of Rene Magritte’s most famous pieces, The Son of Man, is a self-portrait of a man wearing a bowler hat, with a green apple floating in front of his face. Magritte explained that the painting represents how we always hide part of ourselves from others, no matter how much we try to show.
In this project, students created their own versions of The Son of Man, but instead of an apple, each student chose an object that holds personal meaning to them. Some examples included musical instruments, sports equipment or even food. By placing these objects in front of their faces, we paid homage to Magritte's surreal style while also creating art that is unique.
X-Ray Hands
Fourth and fifth graders learn to show depth with value - the lightness or darkness of a color. First students looked at images of the bones in the hand and forearm and then traced the outline of their hand and drew the bones of the hand with a white pencil. Students then selected a color and used three different oil pastels - a light, medium and dark shade of the color for the bones. The final step was to use a chalk outline to illuminate the hand.
Notans
"Notan" refers to a principle of Eastern art and design that uses the contrast between light and dark elements to create a harmonious, simplified composition. The term comes from Japanese and means "dark-light." It focuses on the interaction between positive shapes and negative space or the background.
Fourth and fifth graders first painted a background using liquid watercolor. After looking at examples of Notans, from the simple to complex, students created their own Notan. They drew their shapes into a black square, then cut them out and mirrored the shapes onto their paper.
Woven Hearts
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Birch Trees in Winter
Fifth-grade students used a layered process to create a beautiful winter scene featuring birch trees. They began by painting a watercolor background and some chose to “sprinkle” white paint over it to mimic falling snow. The birch trees were formed by scraping black paint across their drawn outlines using pieces of cardboard. To finish the project, students built a foreground by tearing white paper for snow, arranging their cut-out trees, and adding soft charcoal shadows for depth.
Van Gogh Inspired Sunflowers
Third-grade students explore the work of artist Vincent van Gogh by studying his famous painting Sunflowers. They make careful observations about the artwork and compare it to real sunflowers. Students then create their own sunflower still life, focusing on techniques such as overlapping petals, blending colors, and composing a balanced composition.
Surrealism Painting
Third-grade students explore the work of artist Vincent van Gogh by studying his famous painting Sunflowers. They make careful observations about the artwork and compare it to real sunflowers. Students then create their own sunflower still life, focusing on techniques such as overlapping petals, blending colors, and composing a balanced composition.
Thiebaud Cakes
6th grade
Candy Shoes
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Sheep Painting
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