Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts

The Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts recently opened in Winston-Salem, NC. It is now home to many art events and groups including the Arts Council, Sawtooth Center, and Hanesbrands Theater. Click here to visit the Milton Rhodes Center website.

During the Grand Opening weekend, Diggs-Latham Elementary was very excited to have student art work on display in one of the Center's Galleries. Sofia in 1st grade had a mixed media piece on display.

This is a view of the art show and the art teacher pictured beside Sofia's art.

Dixie Classic Fair 2010

Diggs-Latham had 13 student artists

with work in this year's fair exhibit.

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded ribbons:

1st Place: Heidi

2nd Place: Charity

3rd Place: Latoya

Honorable Mention: Ashton

Dixie Classic Fair

Diggs-Latham Art Students are excited to have 13 students exhibiting art at the Dixie Classic Fair. The Student Art Exhibit is on display in the back of the Annex Building on the fairgrounds and will be on display from Friday, October 1 through Sunday, October 10. Check back on our blog after the fair for an updated list of winners.

1st Grade Critiques

Critiques are important in the Art Studio and the art learning process. Formats of critiques are changed to fit the developmental level of the students's age and grade level. In this latest 1st grade critique, students talked about how each classmate used texture in their mixed media drawing. They also pointed out aspects of each piece of art that turned out well and aspects that need improvement.

2nd Graders: Printmaking

Second grader artists are currently exploring printmaking techniques like Gadget printing.

Art Exhibit at the Milton Rhodes Gallery

Congratulations to Sofia in 1st grade who has art work on display in the new Milton Rhodes Gallery in Downtown Winston-Salem. Sofia's art work will be part of the student exhibit for this weekend's Art Gala!

4th Grade Watercolor Painting

Fourth Graders are studying Gustav Klimt's painting, "Baby," in which he depicts a baby wrapped in a large, decorative quilt. Students are painting their own example of a person wrapped in a decorative, ornate quilt.

Views of the New Classroom

We are very excited to have an ActivBoard, Projector, Document Camera and other technology in the Art Studio.

The Reading Area

(with a window view of the parking lot construction)

My Desk & Work Area

The Sink & Cabinet Spaces provide many areas for storage.

Anticipating New Beginnings

Diggs-Latham Elementary Magnet School for Arts and Global Studies will soon open its doors for the first time during the 2010-2011 school year. The Art Department will have new classrooms with 21st Century Technology and a studio space for working with multimedia art processes and techniques.

Continue following and reading our blog for more information and photos.

Spring Art Extravaganza

Location: Old Salem Visitor's Center
Dates: Friday, May 21st -Friday, May 28th
Opening Night: Friday, May 21 6:00-8:00pm

Old Salem Visitor's Center Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday, 9:00am-5:00pm
Sunday 12:30-5:00pm

Visit this art exhibit to see art work from 39 of our students. These artists range in age from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Updates on the Mural

Students of all grades have been helping Beamer Aston, a local artist, create 2 non-objective murals that will be hung in the new school building. One mural is finished, and students are currently adding finishing touches to the 2nd mural.

Students began by painting the background with the canvas positioned horizontally on the floor and moved to adding details with the canvas hanging vertically on the wall.

Tigerland Welcomes a Visiting Artist

For the next 2 weeks, Beamer Aston, local artist, is visiting the Art Studio to work with students on a mural for the new school building to open next year. Students are painting with acrylic paint on canvas in an abstract or even non-objective style with flowing lines and overlapping designs.



Views of the Mural in Progress







For more on the work of Beamer Aston, visit: http://www.calibratethemind.weebly.com/

Recent Art Activities: Spring Musical Decorations

On Tuesday, April 20, the Arts Team presented an original musical, "Everyone has a Place." The show included 1st, 3rd, and 4th graders and reflected on spring time and diversity. The bees, birds, and flowers learned to appreciate the slug, earthworm, and fly.

Most art classes, 2nd through 5th grade, helped with scenery and decorations, including 2 banners.

On-going Projects

Kindergarten: These students are finishing up a project in which they created a 3-dimensional fish using paper and yarn. They created texture and fish scales through patterns and shapes. Kindergarteners have also been working on a clay project as they manipulated a slab of clay to create texture.

First Grade: Students are working on an abstract cactus. They painted it with watercolor paint, added patterns for an abstract effect, and are finishing it off with paper triangles as the cactus needles.

Second Grade: Second graders just created a non-objective background using white paint and chalk pastels. They drew a lizard to add to the background, which was also decorated with chalk pastels. Finally, they attached the lizard to their background by gluing cardboard under the lizard to give the appearance of dimension.

Third Grade: These students have studied Park Guell and Antoni Gaudi in Spain. This park is decorated with mosaics by Gaudi. They are currently working on paper mosaics.

Fourth Grade: Students finished up a paper, quilt square. They are moving on to study Gustav Klimt and paint a patchwork quilt with watercolor paint.

Fifth Grade: Fifth graders are studying Canadian Animals and are drawing their own example of an abstract Canadian animal by reflecting on Native and Traditional Canadian Art.

Art Studio Incentives

In the beginning of the year, each class helps me make a list of rules and expectations for the artroom. They are also involved in reviewing expectations about their work, behavior, cooperation, and attitude in the classroom, related to the "CHAMPS" model. Once the guidelines are set, classes that follow the guidelines earn a Crayon Award each time they come to art. They save the awards on their Crayon Box Poster. When a class earns 25 awards, they celebrate. Ms. Green's 2nd grade class was the first class to earn 25 crayon awards.

On Wednesday, April 14, Ms. Green's 2nd grade class celebrated their hard work and good behavior with refreshments and a game of Win-Lose-or-Draw.

Communication in the Art Room

The Mailbox

Over the last several weeks, the art students and I, (2nd-5th grade,) started a mailbox system for the Art Studio. If students want a pen pal, need to write down a question rather than ask it aloud, or simply want to leave a note for the teacher, they can write out a message, on designated paper, and leave it in my mailbox. Either during the class or before their next class, I will read and respond to the mail. In this way, students can communicate whenever they have a question or comment, take time to think about their comment, and then see a written response. It is a fun way for students and the teacher to share ideas and concerns. It helps me make sure I address everyone's needs, even if we run out of time for the day. The mailbox system also encourages students to use vocabulary they are learning and use it in their informal writing.

Studing Batiks and Stained Glass Windows

Third Grade students are finishing a unit in which they are studying traditional techniques of making stained glass windows and batiks. They used Elmer's White Glue to create outlines in their design and created interesting color schemes with chalk pastels.

by Bobby

By Nick

by Carmen

A stained glass window is of course made from glass and held together by melting metal between each shape and pane of glass. A batik is a composition created on cloth. The artist dyes the cloth to add color and covers areas with wax between each color. Many batiks have white outlines between major shapes in the composition, created from outlining the shapes with wax and then removing the wax at the end of the process.

February Surprise

Students and staff have been out of school all week, Monday through Tuesday, February 1st and 2nd. School staff returned to work today while students remain at home due to several inches of snow and ice that fell over the weekend and remain on roadways and sidewalks.

The View from my Classroom Window

The Playground

An Art Update

Kindergarten: Kindergarten art students have recently finished making paper snow globes as they enhanced their knowledge of geometric and organic shapes and made connections to the winter season. They are beginning collages made with a variety of geometric and organic shapes.

First Grade: Students in first grade are exploring texture by making a house facade out of layered paper. They will finish the project by gluing foil on top to enhance their embossing techniques.

Second Grade: Art students in second grade are currently working on landscapes that they are painting with watercolor paint. They are exploring realistic and abstract compositions.

Third Grade: Third grade art students have learned about batiks in comparison to stained glass window techniques. They are creating a mock stained glass window out of paper, Elmer's white glue, and chalk pastels.

Fourth Grade: Fourth grade students are beginning a quilting unit. They will cut several geometric shapes, (mostly squares, rectangles and triangles,) and arrange the shapes to create a quilt square.

Fifth Grade: Students in fifth grade are using concepts related to radial design and circular balance. They began their design by writing a word, in block or bubble letters, at least 8 times around a central point on a square piece of paper. Each version of the word is connected and moves upside down and sideways throughout the composition to present the impression of movement.

Holiday Musical Decorations

In December, kindergarten, second grade, and fifth grade students performed "December in our Town" as a connection to winter holidays and the school global-arts theme. Art students also had a role in designing and creating posters, decorations and backdrops for the stage.

Fifth grade students sang a fiesta song and created ponchos to wear during the performance.

All students enjoyed creating stylized buildings, snowmen, snowflakes, and other images to illustrate a town in December.

Ringing in 2010

School is Back in Session!

Students enjoyed a 2 week break, including a snowy Friday on our last day of school before break. Classes are reviewing CHAMPS guidelines and classroom procedures to prepare for a successful spring semester of art.

Thanks for reading our blog. Check back soon for information regarding our recent holiday art endeavors and new projects.