Oh Gustav Klimt, my artist heartthrob, how I love thee.... 
 I get so excited about the artwork of Gustav Klimt.  He is my absolute favorite artist and I just can't get enough of the ornate, decorative elements he incorporates into all of his work and the sparkling golden hues....It's like a teenage crush.

REALLY THOUGH.  The Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt, jaw dropping, awe-inspiring beauty.  For this reason and because of the symbology of The Tree of Life,  I felt that this was a very strong lesson for second grade students.  They were very engaged with the project.  I don't think they fell in love with Gustav Klimt quite like their Klimt-obsessed art teacher with Klimt tattoos on her forearms...

The tree of life symbolizes the connection between the heavens and the earth.  I discussed what this means with students and told them that heaven for them doesn't have to mean the religious heaven but can also mean the universe or whatever it is that they believe in.  Students seemed to love this idea and one sweet girl said that she believes in dragons and magic so for her the tree of life represents the connections between her life here on earth and the magical, fantastical world of dragons and elves.  I love it!

We also talked about different trees in our lives which have been important.  Students had stories about the trees they climbed at their grandparents, trees that they lay under and read, etc.  It was agreed upon that trees are very special.

We began this project by practicing drawing the tree of life and spirals with paper and pencil.
Next they selected a background color (black, purple, blue, green, or grey) and used gold acrylic paint to make our trees.  The tree trunk had to go to the top of the paper and the spiral branches had to go in all directions and off the page in at least one area.

Next students used Sharpies to add details such as those seen in the original Klimt painting.  Circles, squares, triangles and other shapes create a whimsical environment.

The next class period we spent using pencils, cardboard, old glue stick tops, etc to do printmaking designs on the tree.  This added an extra layer of depth to the image and they had a lot of fun experimenting.

The results are quite stunning.  After finishing their work, students wrote, responding to the prompt "What does the tree of life mean to you?"  That was definitely the icing on the cake.

As the 4th graders studied the Medieval Times, I felt like that would be a great time to tie in the study of radial design in art class.  We looked at a bunch of pictures of Rose Windows from the Medieval Times and discussed the patterns and colors.  
Inspired by Rose Windows, we did radial designs two ways.  This project here is the more free-flowing, organic radial design project.

We began with large pieces of poster board cropped into squares.  No drawing to begin, rather students used thin black paint and created their own large radial design.  The design must start near the middle and radiate outward and off the page.

After filling the page with black lines, each student selected one base color for their painting.  For every new color mixed, their original base color must be included.  

The students had a fun time experimenting with mixing new fun colors.  What happens when you mix pink and green?  How about purple and blue?  Yellow and brown? 

So for instance, if a student chose blue for their base color, all other colors must be mixed with blue.  blue and white, blue and black, blue and white and black, blue and pink, blue and pink and purple...and on and on.

After fill in the entire page with color, with no white areas showing through, the students repainted over each and every black line to really make those lines bold and separate the colors.  We actually found that by repainting those black lines, it made the colors POP even more.  and all of my students know that I love it when colors POP!

The really fun part of the project was that after they finished the black lines, students all had to use clear gel glue to trace over some of their black lines.  Then.....we added glitter!  At first some students were reluctant to add glitter but in the end, everyone was so happy.  We used black glitter over the black lines so it really accentuated the design rather than drawing attention away.

These look so awesome lining the stairs near my classroom.  On certain days, the sun shines in just right so that I can see a beautiful sparkle all along the artwork.

These forth grade students seemed so proud of their artwork and look forward to bringing them home....