Eric Carle Inspired Animal Collages

Above: Gigi's elephant, Ezra's hippo

Second grade students learned to observe the work of artists and make predictions about their art making. Students worked in small groups to observe Eric Carle's illustrations. After documenting their predictions, students watched videos of Eric Carle working in his studio creating painted paper which he then used to cut into smaller shapes for his illustrations. The students also observed that Eric Carle made several illustrations of animals. After learning about Eric Carle's process, second graders painted several sheets of painted paper using brushes, sponges, toilet paper rolls, bubble wrap and other found objects. The painted paper was then cut apart and collaged into lovable creatures! 

Below: Landon's turtle, Tyler's bear and Gavin's bee

Mud Stencils

Sixth grade students are learning to create art that shares a message. After observing and discussing the process and purpose of, Milwaukee artist, Jesse Grave's mud stencils, students worked in small groups to design a mud stencil to encourage the Cooper community to take care of our environment.

To learn more about mud stenciling or Jesse Graves visit: https://vimeo.com/22121429 

Above: A few examples of our mud stencils

Above: Unveiling a finished mud stencil (video)

Below: Artist Statement for "Let it Grow: (video)

Observational Drawings

 Second grade students paint their observational drawings of sunflowers.

Before using watercolors, students carefully examined vases of sunflowers as they drew. They were successful if they were looking at the sunflowers as they drew and showed important details such as texture, angles, directions, and use of shape. This helps our drawings look more realistic and interesting.

Mark Jenkins Tape Sculptures

Above: A team of 8th grade students create their sculpture by wrapping plastic wrap and packing tape around a "model". 

Below: A finished sculpture welcomes visitors to Cooper School! 

Seventh Grade Tape Murals

In Art Class, seventh grade students learned how street art is used to share a message with a large audience.  Students worked in small groups to design and create a tape mural which encourages self-expression.

First, each group member sketched a proposal for their group. The groups chose the strongest idea or combined various group member's proposals into a final sketch. 

 Before creating a tape mural masterpiece, students wrote an artist statement explaining the process, inspiration and message expressed in their art.