Art students at EJR are focusing on the artist of the year – Vincent Van Gogh. Visual arts teacher Heidi Meier said the students learn about a different artist each year.
Recently, fourth-graders worked on a fiber arts project – specifically weaving – complete with recycled CDs, all influenced by Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Ms. Meier gave students at each table a copy of the iconic artwork to use as inspiration.
They tied yellow and turquoise yarn in a square knot – that’s part of the lesson too, learning how to tie knots – then used the yarn to make 11 spokes on the CD, all evenly spaced. They then used their yarn to weave a pattern under and over the spokes, creating the project. When they came to the end of a strand of yarn, they tied another and continued. It was great practice for fine motor skills too!
The project connected to the social studies curriculum for these fourth-graders, who are learning the history of New York State and the Iroquois Indians who inhabited the state. The Iroquois had tremendous crafts skills, including weaving.
Other grades also used Van Gogh as their inspiration for recent projects:
- Pre-K – Van Gogh’s Cat – mixed media
- Grade 2 – Sunflowers – oil pastel and paint
- Grade 5 – Starry Night – yarn paintings
