Pittsburgh Kids Art Classes!

"Mom... Dad... Can I please take more Art Classes?!"

Does your child LOVE art? Work on their art for fun? Want to learn more about art?

Recently, I have been asked by several parents about where their children could take more art classes outside of their school art class. Well I have researched Pittsburgh and found several great options! They offer many different children's art classes, that vary in days of the week, times, and costs, as well as ranging in ALL types are materials. I If you have any questions, please contact me.

North Hills Art Center

3432 Babcock Blvd.

Pittsburgh, PA 15237

(412) 364-3622

www.northhillsartcenter.com

(Find it under Registration > Children Classes)

-Classes for the Fall include: Drawing, the Art of Imagination, Cartooning I & II, Animal Sculpture, and Fun with Clay I & II. 

There are 6 sessions, times range from 1-2 hours of class, classes are available after school and Saturdays, and they have great prices ($55-$90). 

Sweetwater Center for the Arts

200 Broad St.

Sewickley, PA 15143

(412) 741-4405

www.sweetwaterartcenter.org

(Find it under Classes > Register for a Class > then Search)

-Classes for Fall include: Wheel Throwing for Kids, Painting, Cartooning, After school Art Club, Creativity through Drama, Paper Shadow Sculptures, Metal Name Plates, Recycled Art Workshop, Leaf Printing, and many Holiday themed workshops.

Classes vary in repetition, some are one day lessons and others are once a week for 4-6 weeks. Prices are very reasonable considering class duration and materials supplied ($25-$130).

Carnegie Museum of Art

4400 Forbes Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

(412) 622-3131

www.cmoa.org

(Find it under Kids and Families > Saturday Classes)

-They offer Saturday classes that vary in subject, including Drawing, Painting, Clay, and more. Times are from 10:30am - 12:30pm and cost about $75.

Wash Arts

70 South St.

Washington, PA 15301

(724) 222-1475

www.washarts.org

(Find it under Classes > Children)

-Offering After School Art classes that include Digital Music Making, Children's Pottery, Drawing, Simply Music, Altered T-Shirts, Creature Double Feature, Art Explosion, Rock Lab, and Jewelry Jamboree!

 - Classes extend for about 7 weeks. Different classes are different days of the week, whether Monday - Thursday, and each class takes about 1-2 hours. Again, great prices ($75-$130) for the time spent creating and learning with a trained art teacher, and the materials that are supplied. 

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

1047 Shady Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15232

412.361.0873

http://pittsburgharts.org 

(Find it under Education > Children Classes > Studio Classes)

-Classes for the Fall include: Draw/Paint/Sculpt, Art Stories, Wizard School, Pittsburgh Pop, Modern Watercolor, Ceramics, Inventions & Innovations, Drawing, Making Marks, Art Adventures Together, Clay Play, Fashion Design, Manipulating Metals, Modern Mind, Playing with Patterns, Pop Art, and many more! There are also classes you can take as a family. 

- The classes range in repetition. Some classes are specific weekday nights, Mondays-Friday, that repeat for about 4-5 weeks, and others are one or two day classes. Prices are all very reasonable, ranging from $70-$140. I think this place will have many options that will work into any busy schedule. 

Goodbye 2013-2014, Hello 2014-2015!!

The end of the year flew by with many exciting things happening at FCCDS. The 1st Annual Art Walk was a huge success! Many parents, grandparents, family friends and community members made it out for the big night. We had our ribbon cutting for the brand new, and colorful, computer lab. I had so much fun painting this but even more fun watching the kids expressions and reactions to this work of art.

So as the year came to a close, with so many exciting events and activities, my Coloring Country Day blog was sorely neglected. But as the summer is coming to an end and our next year is a quickly approaching, Coloring Country Day needs a much needed pick-me-up! Like these great pictures from last year that will encourage FCCDS students about the fun we have in art class!

March 2014

1^st Grade Rodrigue Dogs

First grade students learned about the “Blue Dog “of Gabriel Rodrigue. After learning about his New Olean’s heritage, we discussed how surroundings and traditions influence artwork. We deconstructed Rodrigue’s Blue Dog in order to better understand what shapes and techniques were used to create his Blue Dog. Students then drew their own dog. They chose their own color for the dog and created its environment. These are currently on display in the front hallway. Rodrigue’s Blue Dog was also the inspiration for 1^st grade’s Benefit Rocking chair! 

4^th Grade Underground Railroad Quilts

During 4^th grade’s Underground Railroad unit, Mrs. Abercrombie and I created an integrated lesson in which students learned about the purpose, use, and importance of Underground Railroad quilts. Students observed and analyzed the symbols used and their meaning. We discussed issues that the slaves may have encountered while on the Underground Railroad and important markers to highlight along the way. Students were then tasked with designing their own quilt, complete with their own unique symbols and a story guide to detail their quilts path. Students used printmaking to create their quilts and created individual printing plates for each symbol. Then they printed their plates together to create a printed quilt that would serve as a map to guides their travelers to safety.

3^rd Grade Monochromatic Paintings

Third grade students learned about value and monochromatic artwork, including the definitions of tint, tone, and shade. They learned how to mix paint to create varying values of tints, tones, and shades, and used them to create an abstract monochromatic painting. Students took their time to repeat and overlap a basic shape and then paint each new space with a different tint, tone, or shade. Not only has this lesson taught art vocabulary, it also worked on paintbrush technique and painting skills.

Kindergarten Matisse

Kindergarten students learned about the life of Henri Matisse. We observed and discussed his abstract paper-collage artworks, including the shapes, colors, and patterns he created. Students then created a long paper-collage artwork inspired by Matisse. They learned several different cutting techniques that would create texture and interest, such as spirals and positive or negative shapes. These creations are currently on display outside of the library.

Kindergarten Spring Collage Birds

With spring in sight, Kindergarten students created birds inspired by the paper collage style of Eric Carle. Students began by painting a whole piece of paper without any imagery or words but purely focusing on the fun of filling the paper with paint. Next class, we observed the shapes used to create a bird and students then cut those shapes from their painted paper. We discussed texture when creating the wings, using small overlapping pieces to give it the appearance of feathers. We hope these colorful flying works of art will motivate spring and bring some sunshine!

FCCDS Art Room Welcomes 2014!

After a busy December and blistery winter break, we are back in school and it is time to update everyone on the creative happenings in the FCCDS art room!

KINDERGARTEN MONDRIAN 

Kindergarten learned about Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. We discussed his use of primary colors, shapes, and lines. Students were given basic guidelines for the project, and were able to interrupt them in their own manner. Students were guided to layer primary-colored shapes, mainly squares and rectangles, on top of one another. After adding the primary layers, students used the edge of cardboard boxes, dipped in black paint, to add basic black lines wherever they thought the lines “fit best.” They did a wonderful job and I was very impressed with their thoughtfulness and individual interpretation of the project guidelines.

FOURTH GRADE SNOWMEN

Fourth grade students embraced the snowy weather and created snowmen. However, instead of showing their snowman from just one angel, we discussed perspective and the many different ways in which we can observe snowmen. Students were tasked with demonstrating their understanding of perspective by presenting 4 unique views of their individual snowmen. They focused particular attention on overlapping, shadows, and perspective details.

5th GRADE GRID ANIMALS

Students learned how the use of a grid can be helpful in the art room. We studied and analyzed the artwork of Chuck Close to begin this lesson. Close, being paralyzed and having limited mobility in this arms and hands, employs the use of a grid while rotating the canvas to create his lifelike artworks. Students chose an animal that they wanted to recreate and started with the task of creating two grids, one on their printed animal photo and one on their large paper. They had to use basic math division to figure out how to expand the small photo and grid onto the larger paper and grid. Such as, how many times can your small photo fit into the large paper dimensions?

Once their grids were equal and finalized, students began with a basic pencil sketch of their animal, while paying particular attention to work block-by-block. Next, students began using oil pastels and worked in the same block-by-block sequence, focusing on the colors they saw in their photos and not what they necessarily believed. For example, even though Will’s Labrador puppy was yellow and white, there were reflections of greens and browns. When they were complete, we had a class critique that focused on the use of grid, color, craftsmanship, great ideas, and creative choices. These may have taken 3 weeks to complete and discuss, but it is totally worth the students’ artistic dedication, use of mathematics in art, artist exploration, and overall experience with this lesson.

Senior Pre-K Penguins

Senior Pre-K students were given basic guidelines to create penguins, which allowed each penguin to be as unique as each student. Students used basic shapes and sponge painting to create their winter penguins, while practicing their cutting, glueing, and basic art skills.

1^st grade Organic Forms

As a class, we discussed the word organic. Students were familiar with the use of the word in terms of organic food and produce, but not in art terms. Organic shapes are natural in form and have less well-defined edges that are flowing and curvy. After discussion, students were tasked with continuously drawing organic lines on their paper without lifting their pencil for 10 seconds. Students had to use their imagination to create different patterns and/or textures within each new shape created. New shapes were filled in continuously over several weeks in between the completion of other projects. Once finished, we cut into our organic forms and glued them so that they would pop off the page to create a 3-dimensional form. This project focuses on several key terms including organic shapes, pattern, texture, and 3-dimension form.

Side view to further display students' 3-dimensional abstract artworks. 

Senior Pre-K Snowmen & Snowflakes

Keeping with the wintery weather, students created snowmen winter scenes using a variety of materials. Some students applied cutout snowflakes to their paper, and then used a spray bottle, filled with diluted liquid watercolors, to create a silhouette of their cutout snowflakes. Other students drew snowflakes on their paper using oil pastels and then sprayed the liquid watercolor directly on their paper, creating an oil-water resist. In the next class, we practiced specific skills by drawing and then cutting out basic shapes to create our snowmen. Students added details to their snowmen and then glued them onto their snowflake scenes.

Junior Pre-K Winter Trees

Junior Pre-K students created their winter trees using basic shapes and patterns. Students discussed how they could make trees by using simple shapes, such as triangles and rectangles. We then discussed the importance and purpose of tree trunks. Students chose their favorite patterns and used these patterned triangles to create their tree. Using white paint, we made it snow on our winter trees. Each student made trees that were unique in size and shape, as well as their use of white paint for the snow.

Kindergarten Snow Clothes

With the cold weather upon us, it is important to remember the essential cold weather garments. We created a wintery background for our cold weather garment portraits by completely covering the watercolor paper with watercolors. The students added salt to the wet background and they learned that it would absorb some of the watercolor, similar to why we put salt on our icy sidewalks (keeping with the cold weather theme). Once dry, students created self-portraits of themself wearing their cold weather gear to complete their artwork. These beautiful artworks are currently on display in Mrs. Smith’s office.