New School Year, New Sketch Books!

Our new school year has begun and I am so excited to see our students back in the art studio! We are beginning our year making sketchbooks with a stitched binding, and wallpaper samples for the covers. 

Finished Mural!

This year's sixth grade mural is complete! We finished it the day before school got out. The sixth graders did a phenomenal job painting it, doing everything from outlining to putting in all the tiny ben day dots using q-tips. I've known a lot of these kids since first grade, so I will definitely miss them now that they're heading to middle school. This mural will be a nice a reminder of the good times we've had over the years. Happy summer everyone!

Mural Update

Sixth graders were hard at work on our mural last week! One more class to go, hopefully we can get most of it wrapped up.

6th Grade Animations!

Two amazing artists at my school, Gwen and J'lyn, created these animations at home and brought them to school to share with their classmates...now they are here so you can see them too! I was blown away when I saw these. I expect by the time they've finished high school they'll have made a feature film!

Little vet from Alan Adams on Vimeo.

Reunion from Alan Adams on Vimeo.

6th Grade Mural Stage 2

This year's mural is based on Roy Lichtenstein's Girl in a Window, which he created for the 1964 World's Fair in New York. I came in this weekend to do a grid enlargement of the image to fit our wall, and then outlined it all with light blue paint. The picture isn't the best since it was late and I took it with my phone. It's now ready for the sixth graders to start painting on Wednesday!

Pie in the Face...

Me and Natalie B.

Well, she got me for the third year in a row! Every year Natalie saves her allowance and uses it to buy raffle tickets so she can throw a pie in my face. She's had the good luck to get drawn every year we've had the pie in the face contest. Sadly, her family is moving to Seattle this summer, so this is the last pie we'll share. Best of luck, we will miss you here in Ridgefield! 

Union Ridge Showcase and Art Walk Tonight!

Come visit Union Ridge between 5:30 and 7:00pm tonight and see our art show! We will have displays around the school, including a Student's Choice Art Show, the Kindergarten Caves of Lascaux, a Hall of Masks and a Mural Gallery! Lots of great art to be seen, and if last two years are any predictor, I will end up getting a pie in the face before the night is over. Hope to see you there!

Happy Tuesday!

David shows off his awesome dragon and castle!

Starting the Sixth Grade Mural

The first step for painting our mural is priming the wall. I always like to have a little fun painting something before I make the whole wall white...some Union Ridge kiddos kept me company while I worked! The wall is all white now, and I'll be gridding it out next week for a Roy Lichtenstein inspired mural.

Kinders Teach Drawing: How to Draw a Horse

Pippa's Horse from Alan Adams on Vimeo.

Pippa shows how to draw a horse. Draw one of your own, add a background, and email it to alan.adams@ridgefieldsd.org and I'll post it with the video!

Georgia O'Keeffe Inspired Flower Gallery

Sixth graders have finished their Georgia O'Keeffe inspired flower paintings! This American artist is famous for her close-ups of flowers, and our students did a great job creating their own versions. Gallery below the break.

Natalie's Flower

Kinders Teach Drawing: How to Draw a Sunset

Jessica'sunset from Alan Adams on Vimeo.

Jessica shows how to draw an sunset, and then add a little pizzazz to it! Draw it yourself and send it to Alan.Adams@ridgefieldsd.org and I'll post it with the video.

Deborah Butterfield Inspires the Third Grade

Students in third grade at Union Ridge have been studying the amazing horses built by Montana based sculptor Deborah Butterfield (see examples here). She builds her sculptures using found materials, usually wood, yet makes them look like they are alive. Each class then worked together to build their own horse, the first of which went out to pasture today. This is a new project for me, and I am just thrilled with what our kids produced! I will add more photos as the herd grows.

One Point Perspective

Fourth Graders have started practicing their one-point perspective drawing skills...you can see some of the results below!

Kinders Teach Drawing: How to Draw a Ladybug

20150505 092015 from Alan Adams on Vimeo.

Leia shows you how to draw a ladybug! Try it out and email your own drawing to alan.adams@ridgefieldsd.org so we can post it with the video.

Famous Ridgefield Artists!

Annikka and Shelby, two of our famous fifth grade artists, pose with their work at the District Art Show. Great job, and thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate Ridgefield's talented kids!

District Art Show

Ridgefield High School is hosting our annual District Art Show this year! Come by to see outstanding pieces created by kids from all grades in our district. Hope to see you there!

Kinders Teach Drawing: Learn to Draw a Unicorn

Jaime shows how to draw a unicorn! 

Animal Masks!

 Carter and Jack with their painted masks, a lion and a praying mantis

If you came to last week's parade, you saw our first graders in their fantastic animal masks! This is one of our biggest projects of the year, with students working for six weeks to finish their pieces. Click through to see the whole process. 

Ridgefield Art Association Show

Rose with her painting at the RAA Show

Ridgefield students from all schools had work on display at last week's Ridgefield Art Association Spring Show.

Kinders Teach Drawing: Learn to Draw a Garbage Truck

Our kindergarteners are making "How to Draw" videos...lots more to come! If you ever thought you couldn't draw, let a six year old show you how.

SPRING BREAK!

Happy spring break everyone!

UR Art in the news...

Things you find on google...an old news story I had seen in the Reflector, but I didn't know had made it onto KATU! We'll be putting a new mural up in June, our sixth graders are already excited. You can read the story and see more pictures here.

Recycled Art Center

This is our new recycled art center, which was funded by a grant from the Ridgefield Public Schools Foundation. They have funded several awesome projects in my classroom and I am always grateful for their support. I'm looking forward to trying it out in the weeks to come!

Featured Artist - Gabe G.

Gabe is one of my favorite kids to paint with. He's seen here with his most recent piece, a cardinal inspired by Charley Harper. Great job Gabe!

Friday Art Fix: Paper Engineer Peter Dahmen

(The Magic Moment from Christopher Helkey on Vimeo)

Peter Dahmen designs pop-up cards of the most extraordinary sort. Take a few minutes to see him at work and hear how he develops his amazing creations! 

Amazing murals that move!

(Via Aire Aire, created by Cheko)

We've all seen animated gifs on the internet...these artists are creating animated murals using the same technology! Too cool.

Friday Art Fix - How to Make a 3-D Shadow Puppet Show

This week's Friday Art Fix is a shout-out to Union Ridge's fourth graders who are presenting their own shadow puppet plays in class...we'll have to try making our own 3-D shadow shows next year! Take a look at how it works, along with some other really cool advanced techniques for shadow puppetry.

(Via Science Friday)

Kindergarten Butterflies

Jaqueline and Norah's beautiful butterflies.

Kinders are learning about symmetry and painting butterflies! Look around with your kinder to find things that show symmetry, and click through to see a demonstration of how they made their paintings. 

Spring Salmon in Second Grade

Emma with her beautiful salmon.

Second graders are hard at work making Koinobori with a twist for our May 1st parade! They have learned about the traditional carp kites that are flown in Japan to celebrate children's day, and are now making their own Northwest version - salmon! Click through for more pictures. 

Library Paintings

Sixth graders in Mrs. Buruse's class are helping liven up our school library by silhouettes of famous characters from children's stories. We're looking forward to seeing them framed and on display!

Union Ridge Art in the News

There is a story about us in the Columbian Newspaper, you can check it out here.

Elephants in Top Hats.

In case you were wondering what elephants look like when they want to be fancy. Artwork courtesy of Olivia, one of our fabulous first graders.

Friday Art Fix - How do you fix a $12 million painting...

(Photo from Christie's)

After someone punches a hole in it? Find out here, step by painstaking step.

Kinder Cave Paintings

The last class of kinders finished their cave paintings today, experimenting with the kinds of materials that prehistoric man would have used to create the amazing paintings at Lascaux, France. Students first learned about the original artwork, then drew the kinds of animals they saw using charcoal, and finished by making their own paint with colored clay and water. If you are the parent of one of our kinders, ask them about how the stone age was different from today, and what kinds of materials artists would have used back then.

Classroom visit from Barbara Wright - RSD Did You Know coverage

Did You Know a local artist guest-taught scientific illustration to elementary art classes in Ridgefield?
March 2-6, 2015

Barbara Wright, a Ridgefield artist, guest-taught art classes at Union Ridge Elementary School

Barbara Wright, a Ridgefield artist and representative for the Clark County Arts Commission, visited art classes at Union Ridge Elementary School to teach students the art of scientific illustration and to
help kick off Youth Arts Month.

Friday Art Fix - Breaking Wave by Plebian Design and Hypersonic

Removing Tempera Paint from Clothes

How often does it happen? Kids come home from school and you know they've had art class because they have paint stains all over their shirt. While I keep an eye out for kids who show up in their Sunday best or are repeat offenders, there will always be stains in art class.

Thank you to the Ridgefield Art Association

A grant last year from the Ridgefield Art Association has allowed us to buy a class set of palettes for our students to mix their colors on. These aluminum sheet pans arrived recently and have already been a big hit with our young painters, and we are grateful to the Art Association for their support.

The Dragons are coming!

Third graders are hard at work, and looking forward to showing off their creations! More photos to come. 

First Grade Puppet Shows!

First graders have finished their puppet shows and are taking them home! We've had a lot of fun learning about foreground, middleground and background in our drawings, and learning to use these to create a setting for our puppet show.