Third grade art students at Avon Center School celebrate Dot Day

Third graders in Kimberly Butts' art classes at Avon Center School are busy creating analogous textured monoprints in class to celebrate International Dot Day 2015. When complete, the monoprints will be grouped into a large collaborative dot mural. After reading "The Dot" by author Peter Reynolds, Butts discussed analogous color schemes with the students.

To create their prints, students chose groups of analogous colored paints, three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. They used gelatin printing plates, brayers, textured spatulas, and an array of such common items as plastic wrapping and paper towel tubes to create colorful, textured plates onto which they then pressed paper to create their prints.

The students were amazed with their final results and proudly exclaimed how neat it was, while quickly cleaning and reloading their printing plates to make more colorful creations.

Several students mentioned they had never created a print before, but it was fun and not hard to do.

One student mixed colors to see what would happen and ended up with several shades of green. Students were able to dig through a materials box supplied by Butts and find items to add texture to their prints. Bubble Wrap was a favorite, as were pieces of burlap, lace, and pre-cut paper circles.

International Dot Day is a global celebration of creativity and collaboration based on the book "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds. In "The Dot," a caring teacher dares a student to trust her own abilities and be brave enough to "make her mark."

Avon Center School art teacher Kimberly Butts was named the 2014 Elementary Art Educator of the Year by the Illinois Art Education Association.