3dr Grade Artists Explore Mexico

3rd Grade Artists have spent some time exploring the art of Mexico. They first spent some time in the region of Oaxaca (pronounced wa-HA-ka). Here they learned about Oaxacan wood carvings. These carvings are fist carved out of green Copal wood. The carvings are usually of animals, most of them showing some sort of movement. After the wood is carved, the artists paint them using bright colors and detailed patterns. 3rd Grade Artists used these Oaxacan wood carvings as inspiration. They drew their own animal, filling in the shape of the animal with detailed patterns and designs. We learned about creating balance in art while working on the patterns. The patterned animals were then traced with colored sharpie and painted with watercolor. The animals were cut out and glued to a black background. To finish the piece, 3rd graders created a patterned border using oil pastels. These are stunning.

Next, the 3rd Grade Artists visited Mexico City. Mrs. Salas, our student teacher, grew up in Mexico City and shared the art of Dia de los Muertos with them. They explored the art of Papel Picado (perferated paper- beautiful tissue paper art), sugar skulls, ofrendas, and calaveras. 3rd graders are working on creating their own calavera using paper mache. Talk about messy! After they build a human form, they started applying layers of paper mache. When this dries, they will paint the forms to represent a skeleton. The finishing touches will involve adding accessories that represent someone that they care about. I can't wait to see the finished products!