March Madness at the Howe Library! Here is a peek into some Lower & Middle School artworks proudly being displayed during the months of March and April in the children and teen section of the library. Please note: Due to gallery wall space limitations, grades K, 2, 4, & 5 are up now for the month of March. April will display grades 1, 3, 6, 7, & 8.
I hope you can stop by!
ART CONTESTS
The American Heroes Student Art Contest
This year the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (Semiquincentennial) and you can help your child make their mark on history! Sponsored by Freedom 250 and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Heroes Student Art Contest invites students in grades 3–12 to create original 2D artwork inspired by the 250 notable Americans to be honored in the National Garden of American Heroes.
The 2026 National Veterans Day Poster Contest
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Veterans Day National Committee are now accepting submissions for the 2026 Veterans Day Poster Contest. This annual art contest invites artists, including students, to create posters that honor and celebrate veterans. American Heroes.
Grade K: ABORIGINAL DOT PAINTINGS: Aboriginal peoples have used dots in art and other forms of expression for a very long time. Dots can be seen in symbolic patterns carved on artifacts and ancient rock galleries. They were used in sand paintings and in body painting for ceremonies. Kindergarten students selected an animal as the focal point and carefully created their dot paintings on “tree bark”.
Grade 1: VAN GOGH SUNFLOWERS: First grade students learned about artist Vincent Van Gogh. They took inspiration from his Sunflower still life series and created their own painted sunflower. Painting the petals to explore the use of value and the impasto technique where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush strokes are visible and the paint be mixed right on the canvas.
Grade 2: THE GOLDFISH, HENRI MATISSE INSPIRED COLLAGES: The second graders then engaged with the work of Henri Matisse, including The Snail (also known as Chromatic Composition) and Goldfish. After we read the book Henri’s Scissors, which was inspired by Matisse’s Goldfish painting, they created their own versions of the famous artwork through a variety of techniques, including painted and sponge-painted paper and watercolor salt resist. Each student also created a mixed-media collage using a balanced compositional design.
Grade 3: MIXED-MEDIA VIKING SHIPS: Third grade students created mixed-media Viking Longships to integrate with their classroom learning. After painting a textured resist cool ocean and warm sky, students drew a variety of Viking longships to sail in their collaged seascape. Here are the wonderful results!
Grade 4: UNDER THE SEA NAMES: Students created artworks by choosing an under-the-sea animal to create. Focusing on the contour shape and filling the shape with the letters of their names in lines and patterns using both negative and positive space. Lastly, they mounted their animal names onto contrasting-color backgrounds and added environments to them.
Grade 5: MOUNTAIN TERRAINS BY JEN ARYANI: Fifth grade students created these beautiful mountain terrains inspired by artist Jen Aranyi. Nature-loving artist/designer creating vibrant and colorful watercolor art.
Grade 6: JAPANESE NOTANS: Notan is a Japanese concept that relates to the play of light and dark. The positive shapes (main objects) in a work of art should balance or complement the negative shapes (the empty space around the main objects).
Grade 7: HENRI MATISSE INSPIRED COLLAGES: After taking inspiration from Matisse and his work titled, Beasts of the Sea (French: Les bêtes de la mer) this paper collage on canvas by Henri Matisse from 1950. It is currently in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. During the early-to-mid-1940s Matisse was in poor health. Eventually by 1950 he stopped painting in favor of his paper cutouts. Beasts of the Sea, is an example of Matisse’s final body of works known as the cutouts.
Grade 8: ABSTRACT OIL PASTEL DESIGNS: Abstract art uses visual language of
shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Here students created a non-objective design to demonstrate a warm and cool palette that also contained value and gradients throughout.
