Art Room at St. Albert the Great, Kettering, OH 45429 US - Home

It's hard to believe the first quarter is already behind us!  This is a busy time in the art room as projects are in full swing.  Here are some highlights:

8th Grade -- They recently toured the Dayton Art Institute, seeing about 14 of their "90 Treasures"  in honor of the museum's 90th anniversary.  They viewed some glasswork by Dale Chihuly and have used that inspiration to create "glass" pieces of their own.  These are being used to create a "Chihuly" chandelier.  Look for it coming soon!  They are now working on Christian-themed mosaics.  Both of these two project are very "green" in that they used recycled pop bottles and magazines!

7th Grade -- It's been a long time coming, but I think the 7th graders have finally completed their rotating tessellations, inspired by the work of M.C. Escher.  This was a complicated project that involved both math and creative art skills.  They are quite amazing!

6th Grade -- The 6th graders are finishing their Degas figures, made from pipe cleaners, aluminum foil, and plaster wrap.  They are working on the final details of their figure in some sort of motion.  We will soon have 3-D figures including cheerleaders, golfers, swimmers, and many others.  Next up:  Still-life drawings. 

5th Grade -- The 5th Grade recently completed colorful jungle scenes made from oil pastels on transparencies.  This project tied in a study of Henri Rousseau.  They are now busy creating mandalas, which are radial designs of a drawing rotating back and forth around a circle.  They are amazed by how this process works to create an intricate piece of art.

4th Grade -- The 4th graders are finishing up collage creatures made from designed papers.  As always, this group has a great imagination which they are always ready to let loose. 

3rd Grade -- The 3rd Grader just completed their Picasso witches, portraits of witches inspired by the great Pablo Picasso. They had a wonderful time mixing up their eyes, noses and mouths to create a witch resembling the crazy portraits done by Picasso.

2nd Grade -- These students love to paint!  They've been working on creating a Starry Night picture similar to Vincent Van Gogh with lots of thick paint and swirling brush strokes.  We added a little glue to the acrylic paint to make it even thicker so they could show movement in their painting.

1st Grade -- Get your frames ready!  These young artists are in the final steps of their large pastel flower drawings on black paper and they are beautiful!  Their drawings were traced in glue on black paper to create a different look and they did a wonderful job with the chalk pastels!  Their lesson tied into a study of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe and her beautiful flower paintings.

Kindergarten -- Our youngest art students are finishing up another page for their Art Book that focuses on warm and cool colors.  It's amazing how quickly they learn!

In the meantime, the yearbook is underway, with the 8th graders taking the lead in creating an original cover.  Their deadline is quickly approaching. 

As for art shows, it looks as though the show held at the University of Dayton will not happening this year.  Instead, look a show here at St. Albert's in late January as part of Catholic Schools Week.  I also am in the process of securing a location for the spring show at the end of the year.  We hope to return to Town & Country Fine Art Gallery at the Town & Country Shopping Center here in Kettering.  I will be sure to send out more information as the time approaches.

Here's to a beautiful year!

Mrs. Lisa Becker