Square 1 Art begins!

Dear Families,

We are kicking off our art classes with one of our annual fundraisers, Square 1 Art! Students will design a unique artwork that can be printed onto a variety of different products like mugs, t-shirts, aprons, and jewelry. Orders will be shipped in December just in time for holiday gift giving! ALL students receive free stickers featuring their design, but please know that RVCS earns 33% of all orders, which goes to in-school enrichment activities.

Another nice feature about Square 1 Art is that you can order products up to 7 years later. Broke that mug from Kinderhaus? It's possible to replace it! Want to give your 8th grader their favorite third grade art on a pendant? Check out the gift options!

Students will be working on their Square 1 Art in the art room and will not be taking the forms home; however, they may bring in any special reference photos they'd like. We will be encouraging high quality designs along the themes of nature, winter, animals, family and favorite activities in the mediums of marker and paint.

If there are any parents that would like to create a Square 1 Art themselves or with a younger-than-Kinderhaus student, please call or email K.Lee or Alana as we can set aside an extra form just for you in the lobby! If you have any other unique circumstances or concerns, also feel free to contact either of us.

Go to http://www.square1art.com/ to see products and FAQs.

Look forward to ordering info in October.

Thank you!

K.Lee Mock, art teacher, kmock@rivervalleycharter.org, 978-465-0065 ex 237

Cross Cultural Connections

Yesterday in Germaine and Barb's E1 class, the creativity at the stations grew larger than I could have expected. 

Here is a simple dough and cookie cutter station, where a group of girls created an imaginary French bakery called " La Boulangerie Bakery." Their designs were inspired from a class work on France and one girl's trip there. 

Can you see the little Eiffel Tower on one of the pastries? 

They then connected with the students at the Origami Station, who taught them how to make  cupcake holders for their creations.

Meanwhile, at the Origami Station, the paper felt too small. So they used butcher roll paper. Which again, felt too small. So they taped four pieces together to make a mega large square. 

And the mega cup was born!

Lastly, this group made a large paper crane and attached it to the mega cup to make a mask hat.

It couldn't be denied- it was a great hour of creative, worldly connections! 

Quote of the Week: Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler: "You never make exactly what is in your mind, because methods and materials and conscious awareness change the original thought. And, of course, you are then working with a material thing and not only a thought. Just as novelists are sometimes overtaken by their characters, artists are also influenced by the shapes, lines, and colors that place demands upon them and the final painting. The artist has to have a dialogue with what is being created." From The Emergence of a Painter" by Susan Cross, In AFTER MOUNTAINS AND SEA: FRANKENTHALER 1956-1959. Guggenhiem Museum, 1998.