Check us out on ARTSONIA!

St. Pius V and Holy Rosary Catholic Schools have become members of Artsonia, the largest online student art museum! It is a free and safe program that aims to showcase student artwork, develop students' pride, and involve parents, friends and relatives in student education and accomplishments. So how does it work?

First, you should receive an email from Artsonia inviting you to log on and give permission for your child's artwork to be published. All students are identified by first name followed by a number (ann5234). Their last names will never be displayed. Next, I take photos of your child's artwork and upload it to the website. This generates an email to you, letting you know there is new artwork to view. You may make a comment about the work for you child to see. You may also invite family and friends to become members of your child's fan club so they can also see what is going on in the art room. Any time a teacher, friend or relative makes a comment, you will receive an email, letting you know that a comment is there for you to read and approve before it is published. Finally, Artsonia provides a store that has a vast array of gift items like magnets, coffee mugs, cards, aprons and jewelry that can be embellished with your child's artwork. These make wonderful gifts. This is completely optional and our school will receive 20% of any purchase made to help fund the art program. 

Please click the link below to check out your child's school art gallery.

 Holy Rosary online art gallery with Artsonia

Saint Pius V online art gallery with Artsonia

An Exploration of Color!

I think my favorite element of art is Color. This is hard for my students to believe as they often ask me why I always wear black. First, it goes with everything….EASY, and second, when you are talking about pigment, it is the presence of all colors. Weird right? Because in light, black is the absence of all color. So after we sorted this oddity out, students explored color in fun, age appropriate projects.

First and Second graders experimented with the primary colors, red, blue and yellow. These are the colors that cannot be made by mixing any other colors. When primary colors are mixed together, they create secondary colors. Students mixed red and blue to make purple, yellow and red to make orange and yellow and blue to make green. After mixing colors, they created a garden background and used the colors they mixed to create cute "color mixing ladybugs" with primary color wings and secondary color bodies.

First grader Brayden

Third and Fourth graders explored the difference between warm and cool colors and learned that each set of colors creates a very different feeling in similar works of art. Looking below, which artwork makes you want to reach for a cool sip of Lemonade while the other will have you reaching for a hat and scarf?

Fourth grader Aunesty

Third grader Emarie'

Fifth and Sixth graders conducted a value study as they selected one color and added varying degrees of white to tint and then black to shade the color. They used this range of color to create a moonlit sky, to which they added a painted a silhouette of a tree. 

Fifth grader Keionnah

Fifth grader Jalen

Seventh and Eighth grade students used watercolors as they studied analogous colors, which are any three colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. They selected one set of analogous colors for the sky, one set for the tree background and a final set for the grass. This was a project that took a lot of focus and persistence and the results are beautiful.

Seventh grader J'Niyah

Eighth grader Kenya

Lines, Lines, everywhere are lines!

As an art teacher, I use the Elements of Art and Principals of Design to guide my curriculum choices. Just as a chef uses a set of ingredients to make a recipe, an artist uses as set of "ingredients"or elements of art to create art. The first element we explore is Line. As artist Paul Klee has said, "A line is a dot that went for a walk."
First and Second grade students discussed different types of line such as straight, curvy, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, dotted and zig-zag. They used these different types of lines to paint their Native American Teepees. We also talked about the importance of creating a background for our
work and discussed how the sky should meet the ground, not hover as a blue line across the top of the page.

First Grader Rodaa

Third graders learned that they could use line to depict weather conditions and that by placing objects on a diagonal, it helps to create a sense of movement.  Kyrah is enjoying a windy day as she sets off in her hot air balloon to explore sights unseen!

Third Grader Kyrah

Fourth through Eighth graders used lines to create Gesture Drawings which are quick sketches with little detail meant to capture movement. They further enhanced the sense of movement by using a repetition of contour lines around their 2D figures. 

Fourth grader Chancellor

Eighth grader Karen

International Dot Day Celebration!

In anticipation of International Dot Day, celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 15, students at St. Pius V and Holy Rosary read The Dot, a story by Peter H. Reynolds about a young girl who is challenged by her art teacher to "make her mark". After reading and discussing the book, PreK-3 through 8 graders created their own unique dot which was hung in the "Big Hall" at St. Pius and the Parish Hall at Holy Rosary for all to see. 

First, Second and Third graders were given a white dot mounted on yellow paper and were asked to draw a person, place, thing or abstract design in their dot. Fourth and Fifth graders created a Low Relief Sculpture (creating an image that barely stands out from the background…like the design on a coin) using yarn glued to cardboard rounds which were then covered in tin foil and colored with sharpie markers. Sixth, Seventh and Eighth graders were asked to divide a square into four quadrants, create a different design in each using a black sharpie marker and then create a visually interesting circle in full color to create a nice contrast against the black and white background. This was the first project of the year for students and the all did an excellent job!

First Grader Christopher

Second Grader Aryanna

Second Grader Aidan

Third Grader Aniyah

Fourth Grader Auree

Fifth Grader Javon

Sixth Grader Dannel

Seventh Grader Ayver

Eighth Grader Sabion

Welcome to COLORFUL Explorations!

Welcome to the new art blog for the parents, students, staff and friends of Holy Rosary and St. Pius Catholic Schools. This is a place where I will  showcase the spectacular art created by my students. I hope you enjoy seeing their colorful explorations!