Stormy Seas

First grade students began their first big project of the school year with painted paper collage. 

Here is Burlington, we are lucky to live along the gorgeous Lake Champlain, so bodies of water were a natural inspiration.

Artists brainstormed creatures that live in the various types of water across our planet. We came up with quite a list, including creatures that dwell in waters warm and cool, fresh and salty.

Students also created lists of things that we would find on the bottom of the water, floating on top, on nearby land, or in the skies above. 

Students practiced being able to cut shapes that they can draw. This is actually a pretty sophisticated skill, and a lot of first grade artists are still approaching the ability to cut the curves that their pencils can so easily render.

Artists began these collages by making painted papers for their water and skies. For the skies, we talked about how the colors and shades of color give information about the time of day. In the water, color, line, texture, and movement tell the viewer about the mood and weather of the water.

Artists cut the top of the paper painted as water to show the calm or the waves, and some added white oil pastel to show additional currents and movement in the water, using wavy or curling lines.

Students can use artwork to tell stories, and often work such as this comes with a specific narrative the student has created to move the work forward, such as the artist of the work below.

"A submarine and ship crashed, and are sinking."

In it's simplest form, collage is gluing materials to a flat surface. The things that makes it so flexible is that students can make lots of mistakes in that process, and simply choose not to glue those things down if they don't feel satisfied. My goal is for students to feel comfortable and confident with these materials and skills

In addition to the painted papers, students added wiggle eyes, sequins, and rhinestones to add interest, texture, and dimension to their work.