5th Grade Handmade Artist Books

This sample collection of papers will be turned into pages of our handmade Artist Books. Fifth graders will be exploring a variety of media and techniques to create a very personal collection of mini-artwork contained within a book that they will be making by hand.

Kindergarten Hand Print Paintings

These cute little artworks were created by our kindergarten artists using their hands as a stencil. Then they had to use a variety of line types to create patterns within the handprints. By pushing hard with their crayons, they were able to watercolor right over their image and still have everything "pop" from the page.

First Grade Story Quilts

In our first grade art classes we read a book by Faith Ringgold titled "Tar Beach." In it, a little girl uses her imagination and pretends that she can fly over her favorite places in the city where she lives. Before the story was a book, it was actually a quilt! That's right. Faith Ringgold is not only an author, she is also a quilt maker. She created a quilt title "Tar Beach" with the story sewn right into the fabric. Our first grade artist were asked to create their own story quilts by drawing a picture of themselves flying over a favorite place. We then used patterns paper squares to create the effect of sewn cloth squares around the edges. They look fabulous!

Second Grade Mummies!

These golden mummies were created by Nelson's second grade artists who are studying ancient Egypt in their social studies classes. First we created the form of the mummies using newspaper and masking tape. Then we covered them in plaster strips...the same kind that are used to make casts for broken arms and legs! To finish them off we painted them gold and created an ANKH (symbol for life) necklace for them to wear to protect them in the afterlife.