"Faces of Oconomowoc" Art Show

This past weekend, Oconomowoc High School hosted an art show in their school art gallery. This show displayed portraits created by students in grades K-12 from the school district. I entered several portraits created by my 5th grade students. They used a photograph and grid to create the outline of their "Matisse-inspired" portraits. Then, they used a primary (red, blue, yellow) or secondary (green. orange, purple) color scheme while painting. 

Congrats to all of the students who had work entered!

Great turnout for the show!

Koi Fish

5th Grade Class

With this project, students learned about the traditional ways that koi fish have been painted in Japanese culture. Koi fish were traditionally painted in Japan by fishermen who wanted to record the fish that they had caught, and they have been painted for hundreds of years. Koi fish remain popular in Japanese culture and symbolize wealth and good luck.

Students drew their own koi fish with permanent marker and painted them with watercolor paints. They  then chose Japanese characters that they wanted to write and painted those on with acrylic paints.