2013 Nelson Student Artwork

Please enjoy this slideshow of amazing artworks created by our Nelson artists during the 2012-13 schoolyear!

Universal Shapes Printmaking Lesson

Did you know that there are five shapes that have been appearing in artworks from all over the world, in all different time periods, in all different cultures?  They are called the Five Universal Shapes and they are: the square, the circle, the triangle, the equidistant cross (looks like a plus sign), and the spiral.  Our fifth grade artists were asked to pick their favorite and least favorite of these shapes and combine them into one symbol.  These symbols were incised into styrofoam trays, covered with magic marker ink, and printed onto white paper--a simple but beautiful adventure in printmaking!

2nd Grade Field Trip

This week our 2nd and 4th grades visited the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News where a wonderful exhibit titled "50 Great American Artists" is on display.  We saw artworks made by Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, and Chuck Close...just to name a few.  Our docents were very knowledgeable and guided our students through the galleries asking them thought-provoking questions and asking for opinions about what they saw in the various pieces.  

Mr. Bill Hobler, our docent, guides the 2nd graders through a discussion of abstract vs. realistic art.

3rd Grade Snowscapes

These serene landscapes were created by our third grade artists who studied the concepts of "foreground, middleground, and background."  Notice how the trees appear smaller and lighter in color as they get farther away.  We don't see many sights like this in Virginia....but we're all keeping our fingers crossed!

2nd Grade Hundertwasser Collages

Second grade artists studied the colorful and exuberant art of Friedensreich Hundertwasser, an Austrian painter and architect.  His use of repeated shapes, lines, and colors really inspired us!  We created these bright collages using cellophane, construction paper, and metallic markers.  We think Mr. Hundertwasser would be proud!  :)

3rd Grade Warm/Cool Portraits

These colorful portraits were created by Nelson's third grade artists who spent several weeks learning how to draw faces using correct proportions as well as learning about warm and cool colors.  The backgrounds were created by collaging tissue paper and construction paper in layers.  The faces were drawn on a separate paper, painted with watercolors, and then cut out and glued onto the backgrounds.  Our artists had to be careful to use the opposite color family (warm or cool) for their backgrounds and portraits.  They did a great job!

Kindergarten Line Paintings

During the first few weeks of art class our Kindergarten artists learned about LINES and how artists use them to create artworks.  Here our some beautiful paintings that show some of these lines that we studied: straight, wavy, loopy, zig-zag, dashed, and dotted.  The artists used black crayon to draw the lines and then watercolor paints to add color.  This was a good lesson in how to properly use and take care of our paints and brushes, too!