Inspiration is Everywhere! Reaching out to Williams-Cone Artists

Dear Williams-Cone Artists,

Inspiration is everywhere you look! 

Every day, everywhere you look,

Robin Brooks, Bowdoin Mill, watercolor and pencil on paper, private collection

I'll bet you can discover something wonderful. 


Getting Started: Have a look around your house. See what you have at home. 

***Make sure to ask permission from an adult before you take something for 

your art project. Now gather your materials. Find a place to work.

Even if you don't have paint or fancy materials on hand, there are many other

things to find and use. 

You can even paint with leftover black tea or coffee! 

Do you remember when we painted with leaves and 

feathers instead of paintbrushes? 



Clean Up: At home, like at school, please clean up 

your work area.  

put things away and clean up your mess. 


Now Share! I have been sharing some WCS "at 

home" artwork here on my Choice-Based Art blog. ***Hint--I would love to 

hear from my students in grades 3, 4, and 5! I would love to include your 

artwork too, so have a family member email me some pictures of your work.

I hope you will continue making art during this time at home. 

Thank you to the families who have been sending me pictures. Please keep

them coming!

Ms. Brooks 

brooksro@link75.org.  

Being an Art Detective--Looking Closely at Three Artworks

Marc Chagall, Russian-French Artist of Jewish ancestry, oil painting

What does comparing one piece of art to another one have to teach us? 

Here are paintings by two famous artists

and one artwork by an anonymous artist.

(Anonymous means we don't know the 

name of the person who made it.) 

This is an invitation to use the Studio 

Habit "Observe" to look closely at each 

work of art. 

Begin at the top with Marc Chagall's 

musician. After you have looked 

closely at all three works of art, 

scroll down to the bottom for next steps.

Georgia O'Keefe, American, Canna Lily, oil painting

Kantha embroidery, colored thread on fabric, India

This is an example of  Kantha embroidery.

*Note: Kantha is a type of embroidery craft from the 

eastern regions of the Indian subcontinent, specifically

 in Bangladesh and in the Indian states of West 

Bengal, Tripura and Odisha. (definition from Wikipedia)














Next Steps:

1. Notice your feelings. The words "I like it" or "I

 don't like it" might pop into your head. Put these

feelings aside to explore a little more.

2. Observe things in the three artworks that are similar. 

For example, there are flowers in all three

artworks. Can you find the flowers?

Is there anything else that all three artworks have in common? A color or colors? example: red, white

A line? example, curved lines

A shape? example; rounded shapes

3. Now you can focus on things in the artworks that are different.

How can you talk about the differences?  What is each artwork about? We call that "subject matter?"

What colors do you see? Does the artist use a color family like warm and cool?

How do the artworks make you feel? Now you can come back to the feelings you had at the start.


 Note: If you would like to be on my blog, please write some comments in the comment box below. 

I would love to hear how you liked this "seeing" exercise. What did you learn from doing it? 


Another note: You can do this "seeing" exercise with any two (or more) works of art.  

By noticing what is similar and what is different and finding words to describe what you see, you will

no doubt start seeing more! 


The more you see, the more you will understand about art and the ways that artists use the *language 

of art to express their ideas and feelings.  *line, shape, color, texture, form, space, movement, etc.


PS You can improve your "Art Detective" skills by looking at lots of artwork in books, on line, and in

 person! You might even have some art at your house to study.

Have fun being an art detective! 

Ms. Brooks

Many kinds of art by one artist

                                Many Kinds of Art by One Artist

There are some artists who only like to draw or paint or build. But many artists work in a variety of

ways with different materials. Art is a way of exploring the world, noticing cause and effect, and

making our mark.

We can learn from other artists or just from experimenting.

This young artist has done both in her first week of art at home.

What a great set-up for snow painting!

From J's mom, "We have been drawing with Mo Williams every week day so we have 7 under our belt.  We are 

sending over some of our favorites.  Yesterday, we painted on snow for an activity and talked about the Aurora 

Borealis and watched a video about the colors to inspire us."

J's Aurora Borealis snow colors

J with her sketch pad

A doodle with the first letter of her name

Parents, If you think your child would enjoy doodling and drawing with Mo Willems, the children's 

book author and illustrator and Kennedy Center Artist-in-Residence, check out this 

link: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/

Thanks for sharing your art, J! Happy doodling! Ms. Brooks

What happens when an artist takes a walk?

What happens when an artist takes a walk?

We can find materials for art everywhere, inside our homes and outside in the world. Nature can be especially fun to play with. Sometimes the materials themselves suggest an idea and other times we use the materials to express something we can imagine or see in our "mind's eye." I hope O and Em's art from nature inspires you to collect some things for your own art!

Their mom said, "O and Em went to the beach today to collect items to make art.  O has decided on a "crab/lobster hybrid" and Em is still unsure what hers will be.  Here they are at the beach! "




And now for their creations...


Here's our art!  

O made  two creatures that are having a battle, he labeled the winner.

Em's rock in the middle she painted yellow is the moon, everything else are stars in the sky, and the sand dollar is a planet.  

Meet Our First Featured Artist

I am happy to Introduce our first Williams-Cone Featured Artist: K,  a student in Mrs. Hayes kindergarten class. 

He took up the art challenge to find materials from the recycling bin at home. Look what he made! 

It's a tow truck. Doesn't K look proud? 

K with tow truck

 K said he used tape to hold the parts together.

A shout out to K's mom who did a great job of photographing

 K at work and his tow truck 

construction from different angles.

Boys and girls, I hope you feel inspired to check out what is available for building in your house. 

If you don't have tape on hand, what other ways might you find to join the parts together? 

Now I am wondering what K will build next?

Your friend in art,

Ms. Brooks



PS WCS families--Please email student artwork to brooksro@link75.org. I will only use your child's image and art on this blog with your permission.
    

K-5 Visual Art Guidelines for At-Home Learning

K-5 Visual Art Team, MSAD #75

Dear Families,

We can do a lot with basic materials--a pencil, some paper, our five senses, and our imagination! 

The visual arts teachers, Mr. McPherson, Ms. Brooks, Mrs. Arno, and Ms. Tombarelli

PART 1: MAKE SOME ART

Get permission from an adult before using any supplies or leaving the house! Note how you feel before and after making the art...do you feel better or worse? All the art will be different, be creative with what you have. Make a little or make a lot! It’s your choice.

Idea Prompt 1: Use 3-4 pieces of junk mail to make art

Idea Prompt 2: Draw things you can see: the view from a window, your hand, your foot, a toy,

Idea Prompt 3: Make a sculpture from recyclables or food packages that are empty (cereal boxes,    

                         frozen food boxes). How can you attach things creatively?

Idea Prompt 4: Draw a comic strip of your future life

Idea Prompt 5: Make art about your favorite song

Idea Prompt 6: Go for a walk and collect items you find, make art with them

Idea Prompt 7: Follow along a 'how to draw' video on Youtube,

Idea Prompt 8: Give yourself a super power for Art

Idea Prompt 9: Kids Hub has many excellent videos!

Idea Prompt 10: Take a digital landscape picture and send to your art teacher:

Bowdoin Central and Harpswell: arnoe@link75.org   Bowdoinham: tombarellin@link75.org    Wiliams Cone:  brooksro@link75.org   Woodside: mcphersonb@link75.org 

PART 2: WEBSITES FOR FAMILIES TO EXPLORE

Metropolitan Museum of Art  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/videos

National Gallery of Art -  https://www.nga.gov/education/kids.html

Learning about Ms. Brooks and Her Art

A few months ago, I received an email from an art teacher in London,. She has a website called The

Arty Teacher and she was interested in writing about my painted paper landscape collages and how I

make them. Here is the result! 

The Arty Teacher introduces Robin Brooks: Painting with Paper

Did you know that your art teacher is also an artist? Maybe my artwork will inspire you!

                                          Robin Brooks, Where We Swim, painted paper collage

Williams-Cone Student Artists Work from Home

Just because we're at home doesn't mean our art and creativity are over. Far 

from it! In fact, this is the time for us to assess just how much we have learned

to learn in art class. We can be artists anywhere. 

Let's see what our friends and classmates have been up to. Please email me 

(Ms. Brooks) photos of your projects and artwork and I will add them to the 

blog roll. 

You can title your work and write a sentence or two about what inspired you. 

We call that your "artist statement." Keep on creating! You are wonderful 

artists.

Stuffy Bear, Cherrystone Bear, and Bob the Seagull puppet all say "Hi!"