What's Happening In Art?

Welcome to the 2025/2026 School Year!

9/2/2025

This year in art we will be learning all about the different kinds of jobs and careers we can pursue in the arts! Students will use a wide variety of materials and supplies while making their own jewelry as jewelry makers, sewing their own quilts, designing their own miniature buildings as architects, taking their own pictures as photographers, and designing their own school logos as a graphic designer! There are so many jobs to explore and we need your help!

If you are a Barton family member and you make art or work in a creative field, please reach out to me!

I would love to invite you to share your experience with our students and provide them a chance to ask questions!

contact me via email: [email protected]

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Welcome To France

1/22/2025

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During the Month of January students at Clara Barton Elementary School explored the art and architecture of France throughout history. We learned to say Hello in French "Bonjour" as well as draw "Dessiner" and build "Construire"! We explored the oldest cave paintings in France from 36,000 years ago in the Chauvet Cave and learned that the Mona Lisa is on display in the Louvre in Paris, France! I learned that a few of our students and staff have actually visited France and as a class we were able to learn from one another by sharing personal experiences!

Essential Question: How do places, objects, and design effect lives and communities?

Key Vocabulary: Europe, France, Paris, Architecture, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Rose Windows, Castles, Lines, Vertical, Diagonal, Horizontal, Geometric shapes, Units of Measurements, Metric, Us Standard, Millimeters, Meters, Inches, Centemeters, Coat of arms, Point of View.

Art Projects

Medieval French Castles
5th Grade
5th grade students have been learning about Medieval European Architecture! We have been using our knowledge of line, shape, and texture to create large detailed castles.

Key Vocabulary: Europe, Castle, Architecture, Lines, Shapes, & Texture.

Math Connection: Students will be challenged to measure their castle in us customary and metric and then create rounding statements.

Notre Dame Cathedral
4th Grade

Fourth graders are learning about the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France! We learned about the history of the building; it's uses and the most recent restorations to the Cathedral after the fire in 2019!

We spent time identifying and understanding the architectural features in this French medieval cathedral.

After creating line drawings of the Notre Dame Cathedral, we added experimental watercolor painting techniques to highlight the Chroma experience that takes place in the summer at the Cathedral.

Chroma Link

Rose Windows
3rd Grade

Third grade is learning about rose windows from France, like the one in the Notre Dame Cathedral and their origins in ancient Rome. We had the opportunity to see how a stained glass window is made and make connections to their ancient Roman unit in CKLA. We also explored radial symmetry and how it relates to our rose windows.

Key Vocabulary: Europe, Stained Glass, Rose Window, Ancient Rome, France, Notre Dame Cathedral, Radial Symmetry, Shapes, Colors, Repetition, Mirror Images.

Eiffel Tower Webcam!

Eiffel Tower
Kindergarten- 2nd Grade

Coat of Arms
2nd & 3rd Grade

Students will design their own coat of arms that represents their personality and family using symbols, colors, and shapes!

Royal Self Portraits
Kindergarten & 1st Grade

Kindergarten and first grade students create mixed media royal self - portraits.
A self- portrait is a picture of yourself!

Creating a self-portrait involves matching your skin tone, drawing your facial features, and adding royal details (like a crown or jewelry). During our final lesson we focused on the difference between a background and a foreground.

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Student Photo Gallery

coming soon

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Folk Art of India

11/22/2024

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During the month of November students of Clara Barton learned about the holiday Diwali and created a variety of art projects related to traditional folk art in India. Diwali is the five-day festival of lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world. The festival, which coincides with the Hindu New Year, celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.

CONNECTING TO THE VISUAL ARTS STANDARDS

Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

Essential Question: How can making art help us learn and reflect on community and cultural traditions?

VA:Cn10.1.Ka
VA:Cn10.1.2a

STUDENT ARTWORK SLIDESHOW

ART LESSON INFORMATION

Warli Art
Kindergarten -2nd Grade Project

Creative Process
Using white crayons and oil pastels on brown paper Kindergarten and first grade students created Warli style artwork depicting people, nature, and houses using symbolic geometric shapes.

Warli painting is a style of tribal art mostly created by the tribal people from the North Sahyadri Range in India. The simple pictorial language of Warli painting is matched by a rudimentary technique. The ritual paintings are usually created on the inside walls of village huts. The walls are made of a mixture of branches, earth and red brick that make a red ochre background for the paintings. The Warli only paint with a white pigment made from a mixture of rice paste and water, with gum as a binder. A bamboo stick is chewed at the end to give it the texture of a paintbrush. Walls are painted only to mark special occasions such as weddings or harvests.

Worksheets and Resources

ANIMALS OF INDIA
Kindergarten -3rd Grade Project
Using pencils, permanent markers, oil pastels, construction paper crayons, watercolor pencils and watercolors students in 2nd grade through 5th grade are making realistic pictures of animals that live in India that feature a variety of textures and perspectives!

DID YOU KNOW THAT A PEACOCK IS THE NATIONAL BIRD OF INDIA?

DID YOU KNOW THAT A TIGER IS THE NATIONAL MAMMAL OF INDIA?

Worksheets & Resources

Mehendi Designs
3rd - 5th Grade Project

Mehndi or mehendi is a form of body art from Ancient India, in which decorative designs are created on a person's body, using a paste, created from the powdered dry leaves of the henna plant.
Practiced mainly in the Indian Subcontinent, mehndi is the application of a temporary form of skin decoration. Mehndi decorations became fashionable in the West in the late 1990s, where they are called henna tattoos.

Using a variety of skin color construction paper, pencils, permanent markers, and scissors 4th and 5th grade students created realistic Mehendi hand and arm designs. Students researched popular Mehendi designs and their symbolic meaning before creating their own unique and personal design. Individual Mehendi hands were cut out by students and then glued in small groups to collaborative painted canvases.

Worksheets & Resources

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Folk Art of Mexico

10/23/2024

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During the month of October students at Clara Barton will be learning about traditional art forms from Mexico. We will practice speaking Spanish, sharing our knowledge and personal connections, learn about Dia de los Muertos, and create our own art projects!
Students in grades 3rd through 5th grade will begin working in their "art passport" journals! After each unit they will research the country we are learning about!

Connecting to the National visual arts standards

Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation. (Week 3)
Anchor Standard 9: Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. (Week 2)
Anchor Standard 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. (Week 1)

Essential Questions: How does art help us understand the lives of people of different times, places, and cultures? How are artworks cared for and by whom? How does one determine criteria to evaluate a work of art?

Art Vocabulary

North America
Mexico
Folk Art
Traditions
Dia de los Muertos
Day of the Dead
Pinch Pottery

Papel Picados
Sugar Skulls
Alebrijes
Symmetry
Line
Shapes
Vibrant Colors
Patterns

Featured Art Projects

Papel Picados
Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd Grade Students

Papel picado
("perforated paper", "pecked paper") is a decorative craft made out of paper cut into beautiful and elaborate designs. It is considered a Mexican folk art. The designs are commonly cut from coloured tissue paper using a guide or template and small chisels, creating as many as forty banners at a time. Papel picado can also be made by folding tissue paper and using small, sharp scissors. Common themes include birds, floral designs, and skeletons.

Featured Videos & Resources

LEARN MORE ABOUT PAPEL PICADOS

MEET A PAPEL PICADO ARTIST

Pinch Pottery Inspired by Juan Quezada
3rd & 4th Grade Students

Mata Ortiz is a small village in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. The village of Mata Ortiz has recently seen a revival of an ancient Mesoamerican pottery tradition. Inspired by pottery from the ancient city of Paquimé, which traded as far north as New Mexico and Arizona and throughout northern Mexico, modern potters are producing work for national and international sale.

This new artistic movement is due to the efforts of Juan Quezada, the self-taught originator of modern Mata Ortiz pottery, his extended family and neighbors. Mata Ortiz pots are hand built without the use of a potter’s wheel. Shaping, polishing and painting the clay is entirely done by hand, often with brushes made from children’s hair. All materials and tools originate from supplies that are readily available locally.

Featured Videos & Literatures
-"The Pot That Juan Built" By Nancy Andrews- Goebel
- Making a Mata Ortiz Pot (Video)
- Juan Quezada's Website

Alebrije Sculptures
5th grade students

All across Mexico, fantastical creatures can be found dotting the streets, covered in bright colors, giant wings, bulging eyes and viper tongues. These are alebrijes, papier-mâché or wood carved creations that have become a staple of Mexican folk art. But how did these beautiful monsters come to be? That’s all thanks to one man with a dream. As history has it, after falling into an unconscious state, Pedro Linares dreamed up a series of horrific creatures. Upon waking, he created his first sculpture. Today, his family continues to carry on the tradition of monster-making, keeping Pedro’s visions alive.

Alebrijes are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical (fantasy/mythical) creatures.

Featured Videos & Resources

Maya goes to Mexico

Building Beautiful Monsters

How to make an Alebrije with paper mache

Golden Broom Project
Congratulations to Mrs. Miller's 3rd grade class for winning the golden broom challenge project!

Mrs. Miller's class will be learning about the history and celebrations of Dia de los Muertos. In honor of the holiday we will be creating clay "model magic" sugar skulls sculptures!

Dia de los Muertos is a 3,500 year old celebration that dates back to the ancient Aztecs. It's also known as the day of the dead. Every November 1st and 2nd the people of Mexico honor their lost loved ones. Sugar Skulls have been a large part of Dia de los Muertos since 17th century.

Our sugar skulls are made out of clay instead of sugar and highlight our understanding of form and balance within a 3-dimensional work of art.

Featured journal Resources

Featured Videos

Student Artwork Gallery

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September: Lenni Lenape Tribe

10/16/2024

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Rainbow Crow Collaborative Art Project

This school year in art class, students at Clara Barton Elementary school are learning about folk art around the world. During the month of September students in third, fourth, and fifth grade started the year learning about the Lenni Lenape tribe from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We explored Lenni Lenape traditional art forms, learned to say “Hello” in Unami, and read the story “Rainbow Crow” Retold by Nancy Van Laan. This traditional Lenape legend is about a rainbow crow who loses his voice and brilliant colors by bringing the gift of fire to the other woodland animals during a severe winter storm.

After reading this inspiring story, students worked collaboratively to create their own rainbow crow inspired artwork with the goal of working together to uplift our school and community through positive messages as well as symbols of bravery and hope. First, students had to draw and color in a rainbow crow using crayons. Next, students had to color over the crow using black crayons. Last, students had to carve words of encouragement into the crow to reveal the rainbow colors underneath. After creating their rainbow crow students created borders, and added more messages around their bird. To finish the project students created artist statements including their own research on the Lenni Lenape tribe.

20 works of art from this project were selected to be displayed in the Superintendent's office for the month of October!

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Art Around the World

9/16/2024

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This school year we will be traveling around the world in art class learning about folk art from different countries and cultures!

As you prepare for the school year take some time to think about the following things...

(VA:Cr1.2) How does knowing the contexts, history, and traditions of art help us create works of art?

(VA:Cr2.3) How do objects, places, and design shape lives and communities?

(Va:Pr6.1) How do collected, preserved, or presented artifacts and artworks cultivate appreciation and understanding?

(VA:Re.7.1) How does learning about art impact how we perceive the world?

(Va:Cn11.1) How does art help us understand the lives of people from different times, places, and cultures.

If you are an artist or know a local folk artist please get in touch! I would like to schedule a few visiting artists for the school year to share their work and participate in a student let Q&A!

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Surrealism: 1924- 1930

2/15/2024

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Surrealism began as a philosophical movement that said the way to find truth in the world was through the subconscious mind and dreams, rather than through logical thought. The movement included many artists, poets, and writers who expressed their theories in their work. The movement began in the mid-1920s in France and was born out of an earlier movement called Dadaism from Switzerland. It reached its peak in the 1930s.

KEY VOCABULARY
-Surrealism -Dream
-Realistic -Imagery
-Tessellation
  -Space -Positive Space
-Negative Space   -Painting

FEATURED ARTISTS

Learn more

RENE MAGRITTE

René François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian Surrealist artist. He became well known for creating a number of witty and thought-provoking images. Often depicting ordinary objects in an unusual context, his work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality.

M.C. ESCHER
M.C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically-inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for long somewhat neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the twenty-first century, he became more widely appreciated, with exhibitions across the world

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was known for her surreal and very personal works. She was married to Diego Rivera, who was also a well-known painter. Frida was born in Coyoacán, Mexico. She had polio that left her disabled when she was 6 years old. She studied medicine and planned to become a doctor. When Frida was 18, she was in a traffic accident that badly injured her. She had periods of severe pain for the rest of her life. After this accident, Kahlo stopped her medical studies and took up painting. She used ideas about things that had happened to her. Frida had strong feelings about not being able to have children, and her feelings were reflected in her paintings.

VISUAL ARTS STANDARDS,
PROJECTS, & PROCEDURES

Enduring Understanding: Artists and designers shape artistic investigations, following or breaking with traditions in pursuit of creative artmaking goals.

Essential Question: Why do artists follow or break from established traditions?

SURREALISM ART PROJECTS

Tessellations 5th Grade
Imaginative Tessellations inspired by the work of M. C. Escher

I can: demonstrate openness to trying new ideas, methods, and materials.
Va:Cr1.2.5
Va:C2.1.5
Va:Re.9..5
VA:Pr5.1.5

5th grade students at Clara Barton will build a deeper understanding of the roll math plays in the work of M. C. Escher and will create their own tessellation work of art! Students will have the opportunity to build their own tessellation or use an assistive tessellation building kit to help them sketch their tessellation pattern on an extra large piece of paper. After the building and designing process students will then have the opportunity to explore and experiment with permanent markers and watercolor colored pencils and markers.

False Mirrors 3rd - 4th Grade
Surrealist Eye's Inspired by Rene Magritte's "The False Mirror"

3rd and 4th grade students of Clara Barton will delve deep into the meaning and thought behind Rene Magritte's painting False Mirrors! After sharing our individual connections, thoughts, and opinions about the work students will begin creating an image of a realistic eye using step by step guided procedures. After creating their eye students will move on to creating their own individual reflection within the iris and pupil of the eye that reflects a part of their personality or identity. Students may draw, paint, sketch or collage this portion of the project.

I can: Identify and demonstrate diverse methods of artistic investigation to choose an approach for beginning a work of art.

VA:Cr1.2.4a
VA:Cr1.2.3a

Surreal Selfies Kinder - 2nd Grade
Self-portraits inspired by the imaginative work of Frida Kahlo

I CAN create art that represents natural and constructed environments.

I CAN categorize artwork based on theme or concept for an exhibit
Va:C2.1. (K-2) Va:Cr2.3.(3-5) VA:Pr4.1. (K-2) Va:Re.9.1 (K-2) VA:Cn11.1(K-2)

Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students are learning about the famous surrealist painter, Frida Kahlo. First, we learned about the struggles and health issues that Frida had in her life and why she started painting pictures of herself in imaginative places. Next, we created our own jungle habitats using pencil, permanent marker, and tempera cake paints. Then, we learned how to make a self-portrait using shapes and mix tempera paints to create our skin tone. We added our unique facial features to make our self-portraits look just like us. Last, we created rainforest animals to complete our surreal jungle selfies!

Finish Early Activities

Want to explore Surrealism deeper? Check out these games and activities!

Create a Surreal Story!

Which Surrealist Artist are You?

5 Surrealism Art Games

Draw a Surreal Creature

Sensational Surrealism Quiz

SURREAL
STUDENT GALLERY
coming soon!

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Abstract Expressionism: 1940's - 1960's

2/12/2024

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What is abstract art?

Art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures.

Why is it important?

Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris.

Featured ARtists

Janet Sobel
(1893–1968)
Ukraine & New Jersey/ America
was a Ukrainian-American Abstract Expressionist whose career started mid-life, at age 45. Even with an artistic career as brief as hers, Sobel is the first artist to use the drip painting technique which directly influenced Jackson Pollock.

Jackson Pollock
(1912 – 1956)
Cody, Wyoming & New York City

Jackson Pollock is considered an Abstract Expressionist painter. He was the first "action painter", meaning that he would drip, pour, throw and splash his paint onto very large canvases which were often laid flat on the floor of his New York studio. Many say he would literally dance, as though in a trance, as he created his masterpieces. Pollock is widely considered the most challenging and influential American artist of the 20th century.

Featured Book: "Action Jackson"

Wassily Kandinsky
(1866-1944)
Moscow, Russia

He is credited with painting one of the first recognized purely abstract works.In 1909 Kandinsky began to think that painting didn't need a particular subject, but that shapes and colors alone could be art. Over the next several years he would start to paint what would become known as Abstract Art. Kandinsky was one of the founding fathers of Abstract Art. Kandinsky felt that he could express feelings and music through colors and shapes in his paintings. For example, he thought that yellow had the crisp sound of a brass trumpet and that certain colors placed together could harmonize like chords on a piano. The shapes he was most interested in were the circle, triangle, and the square.

Alma Thomas
(1891 – 1978)
Georgia & Washington D.C.
was an Expressionist painter and art educator best known for her colorful abstract paintings. She lived and worked primarily in Washington, D.C. and The Washington Post described her as a force in the Washington Color School.

Visual Art Standards

Essential Question
What can we learn from our responses to art?

I Can Statements
( K - 1st) I can describe what an image represents

(2nd- 3rd) I can speculate about processes an artist uses to create a work of art

(4th - 5th) I can compare responses to a work of art before and after working in similar media.

VOCABULARY

-Abstract
-Expressionism
-Paint
-Action Painting
-Non Representational
-Lines
-Broken Lines
-Movement
-Geometric Shapes
-Radial Designs

FEATURED PROJECTS

K - 2nd Grade
Marble Painting

K - 5th Grade
Action Lines

3rd Grade - 5th Grade
Eye Dropper Action Paintings

Kindergarten -2nd Grade
Broken Line Paintings

Classroom Resources

Songs

Read Aloud Stories

Abstract Art Games & Finish Early Activities

Kandinsky Chrome Music

Google Arts & Culture: Kandinsky

Jackson Pollock Paint

Bonus Abstract Activities

Bonus Artist: Frank Bowling

Frank Bowling

Student Artwork Gallery
Coming Soon

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Featured Artist: Wayne ThieBaud

11/8/2023

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FEATURED ARTIST

Wayne Thiebaud
(born November 15, 1920)
is an American painter widely known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his landscapes and figure paintings. Thiebaud is associated with the pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his early works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists. Thiebaud uses heavy pigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work.

KEY VOCABULARY
Still Life
Shape
Size
3-Dimensional
Scale & Proportion
Texture
Primary Colors
secondary colors

Art Standards
VA Pr4.1 VA:Pr 4.1 VA:Cr3.1

I can organize artwork based on the same idea for an exhibit

I can talk with others about how i made my art

Essential questions
How are artworks cared for and by whom?

What role does persistence play in revising, refining, and developing work?

Featured Projects

Kindergarten - 1st Grade

Secondary Sundaes
paintings on 8x10 paper using tempera paint. Students will make their own secondary color paints by mixing primary colors together!

Gumball Machines
Reviewing our shapes and incorporating 3-D Shapes into our vocabulary. Students use bingo dotters to create gumballs in a primary and metallic colored gumball machine drawn by hand and painted with tempera paints.
Students will mechanical gears using metallic colored pencils and permanent markers.

3rd grade & 4th grade

Sweet Still Life Cupcakes
Using 8x10 paper students will sketch, draw, and color a realistic cupcake still life inspired by Wayne Thiebaud! We will also learn a variety of blending and shading techniques using oil pastels!

4th Grade

Realistic Layer Cakes
Using a mixture of oil pastels, baby oil, and a knowledge of sketching 3-dimensional forms students will create realistic and unique cakes!

5th Grade

3-D Cupcake Sculptures
5th graders were given the unique challenge to create a realistic sculpture of a cupcake using model magic, clay tools, molds, and mod podge. Our goal was to make our cupcakes look so realistic we could trick a contestant on
"Is It Cake?"!

CONNECTING LITERATURE & MEDIA

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STUDENT ART GALLERY

Barton's Bakery

WAYNE THIEBAUD VIDEOS

Lesson Resources

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WAYNE THIEBAUD GAME

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Art History Time Travel

10/27/2023

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This year in art we will be learning about art throughout history! Together we will turn our art room into a time machine. We will use our time machine to travel back to the 1960's to learn about Pop Art, to the 1940's to learn about abstract expressionism, to the 1600's to learn about Renaissance Art and so much more! I'm going to need your help designing and building our classroom time machine and I'm beyond excited to see what you learn along the way!

Our first job is to define art! What is art?
What type of art do you enjoy making/ viewing? What kinds of art would you like to try making or learn about?

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<<Previous

Welcome to the 2025/2026 School Year!

Welcome To France

Art Projects

Student Photo Gallery

Folk Art of India

Folk Art of Mexico

Featured Art Projects

Student Artwork Gallery

September: Lenni Lenape Tribe

Art Around the World

Surrealism: 1924- 1930

FEATURED ARTISTS

RENE MAGRITTE

Frida Kahlo

Finish Early Activities

Abstract Expressionism: 1940's - 1960's

Featured ARtists

Visual Art Standards

VOCABULARY

FEATURED PROJECTS

Classroom Resources

Student Artwork Gallery
Coming Soon

Featured Artist: Wayne ThieBaud

FEATURED ARTIST

Featured Projects

CONNECTING LITERATURE & MEDIA

STUDENT ART GALLERY

WAYNE THIEBAUD VIDEOS

Lesson Resources

WAYNE THIEBAUD GAME

Art History Time Travel

Clara Barton
Art Gallery

Archives

Categories

Art Projects

Student Photo Gallery

Featured Art Projects

Student Artwork Gallery

FEATURED ARTISTS ​

RENE MAGRITTE

Frida Kahlo

Finish Early Activities

Featured ARtists

Visual Art Standards

VOCABULARY

FEATURED PROJECTS

Classroom Resources

Student Artwork GalleryComing Soon

FEATURED ARTIST

Featured Projects

CONNECTING LITERATURE & MEDIA

STUDENT ART GALLERY

WAYNE THIEBAUD VIDEOS

Lesson Resources

WAYNE THIEBAUD GAME

Clara Barton​Art Gallery

Archives

Categories

FEATURED ARTISTS

Student Artwork Gallery
Coming Soon

Clara Barton
Art Gallery