2nd Graders learn about Frank Stella and practice careful line making.

2nd Graders have been working their way through many American artists this year. We recently tried our hand at active abstract paintings inspired by Jackson Pollock and are now exploring Frank Stella. Unlike Pollock, who loved to explore lines and create active paintings, Stella was more precise in his work and wanted his work to look like it was 3D. This was a great painting style to help us explore color mixing, practice working carefully with our brushes, and to create some interesting lines. In week two we reviewed some of Stella's work and thought more about how it related to what we were doing in class. Students were thoughtful about how to create interesting combinations of their work while assembling their projects. Some even discovered that when they cut their work it had a new look!  How very clever of them!

Here are some images of the Pollock Action Paintings

He was nicknamed "Action Jackson." I am sure
you can understand why after viewing these paintings. 

Even though it seems it's totally random, if you
ask your child what they were
going for they could probably
tell you about the color combinations they or the
type of lines they wanted to create. 

Here are the images that are inspired from Frank Stella. 

I find it inspiring and
think . . . "Yes, these
really are 2nd graders!
capable of so much!"

We found it interesting to notice how our paint trays reflected our
color choices. The patterns and repetition of colors just came!  

Notice how they all have their own style?  I love that! 

We are looking forward to assembling these next time. 

Here we see some of their final projects. 

I love that smile almost as much as I love hearing all their ideas and having them
explore them in class. Today someone asked, "What if it doesn't work?"
I had the joy of sharing that we call that learning. If it doesn't work, you try something
 else the next time. "Oh, okay" they replied. 

(Next time we will hear from our other 2nd grade class).