Art with Ms.Olson
My Name is Ms. Olson and I am excited for a great year of Teaching, Learning, Creating, and Cultivating Lessons that allow students to learn, understand artistic processes, have creative freedom, and express themselves through concepts that they've learned. Below I have answered some FAQ's from non-art teachers, parents, and outsiders of the art classroom. Hope you enjoy learning more about what your students do in their Art Special!
What are students Doing in Art Class?
Students will be learning about many different artists, techniques, and art movements through history. After learning about a topic, we discuss the different ways we can approach a concept in our own way. We then get some time to plan out our ideas, and create a personalized artwork inspired by that given concept- whether it is symmetry, clay building techniques, creating visual texture, representing movement, or a capturing a certain art movement such as pop art or minimalism.
Who and What are students learning about?
I try to cover as many different types of artists and art materials as I can within each grade level so that students are exposed to a wide range of artists, time periods and mediums. The Montgomery County Art Department however has shifted to focusing on Contemporary Artists who are working now, so students can get more knowledge about what is happening in the world and art world around them and also get affiliated with modern technological art such as digital art using computers, cameras, photographs, etc.
*Check out the "What are students working on now?!? Page to find out more details!*
How often do students have art?
Students in MCPS schools have art once a week for 45 minutes, not to mention missing certain snow days, concerts etc. This means, that in those times when we do have art during the year, students work very hard and we try to learn as much and create as much within that time as possible! We create anywhere from 2 to 4 projects each marking period (in 8 or 9 class periods)
What do they get out of art?
Student artists get not only a deeper understanding of art, history, and making connections between different topics through their art classes, but of themselves. In as many artworks as possible, I give students the opportunity to create something based on their own- feelings, mood, emotions, opinions, characteristics, memories, or self. This leads to their own social emotional learning!
Do you Finger-paint?
Yes and no. Students are of course in school all day, and I'd hate to send them back to their classroom teacher or home messy, however, if they feel that scratching into their painting with their fingernail or wiping their finger across their water color drip to smear it a little, or to use their finger as a blending tool with oil pastels will make their artwork better, that is A ok with me as long as they work well to clean up accordingly! :), but we generally do not do the cliche version of finger painting. However, all of the lessons created by the 2.0 Montgomery County Curriculum and interpreted by myself create a large breadth of technique, concept, knowledge, and creativity where we use a lot of different mediums that include the following :
Tempera Painting
Water Colors
Found Object Sculptures
Print Making (Colograph, Gadget, Monoprints, etc)
Paper Folding Techniques
Body Movement as a Learning Tool
Photography
Digital Art
Wire Sculpture
Paper Mache
Reflection through Story Writing
and More
Check out the- What are students working on now?! Section to learn what your students are learning and working on at the moment!
What are students Doing in Art Class?
Students will be learning about many different artists, techniques, and art movements through history. After learning about a topic, we discuss the different ways we can approach a concept in our own way. We then get some time to plan out our ideas, and create a personalized artwork inspired by that given concept- whether it is symmetry, clay building techniques, creating visual texture, representing movement, or a capturing a certain art movement such as pop art or minimalism.
Who and What are students learning about?
I try to cover as many different types of artists and art materials as I can within each grade level so that students are exposed to a wide range of artists, time periods and mediums. The Montgomery County Art Department however has shifted to focusing on Contemporary Artists who are working now, so students can get more knowledge about what is happening in the world and art world around them and also get affiliated with modern technological art such as digital art using computers, cameras, photographs, etc.
*Check out the "What are students working on now?!? Page to find out more details!*
How often do students have art?
Students in MCPS schools have art once a week for 45 minutes, not to mention missing certain snow days, concerts etc. This means, that in those times when we do have art during the year, students work very hard and we try to learn as much and create as much within that time as possible! We create anywhere from 2 to 4 projects each marking period (in 8 or 9 class periods)
What do they get out of art?
Student artists get not only a deeper understanding of art, history, and making connections between different topics through their art classes, but of themselves. In as many artworks as possible, I give students the opportunity to create something based on their own- feelings, mood, emotions, opinions, characteristics, memories, or self. This leads to their own social emotional learning!
Do you Finger-paint?
Yes and no. Students are of course in school all day, and I'd hate to send them back to their classroom teacher or home messy, however, if they feel that scratching into their painting with their fingernail or wiping their finger across their water color drip to smear it a little, or to use their finger as a blending tool with oil pastels will make their artwork better, that is A ok with me as long as they work well to clean up accordingly! :), but we generally do not do the cliche version of finger painting. However, all of the lessons created by the 2.0 Montgomery County Curriculum and interpreted by myself create a large breadth of technique, concept, knowledge, and creativity where we use a lot of different mediums that include the following :
Tempera Painting
Water Colors
Found Object Sculptures
Print Making (Colograph, Gadget, Monoprints, etc)
Paper Folding Techniques
Body Movement as a Learning Tool
Photography
Digital Art
Wire Sculpture
Paper Mache
Reflection through Story Writing
and More
Check out the- What are students working on now?! Section to learn what your students are learning and working on at the moment!