Week 15

ECA friends created a collaborative art piece completely driven on their own without the help of the guides. This included crumbling tissue paper and gluing it on a large piece of art paper. 

ECB created jellyfish after looking at different types of jellyfish in their study of the oceans. This project involved cutting and gluing tissue paper bodies and cutting and gluing pieces of yarn for the tentacles.

ECC is exploring music by using a keyboard through creative expression. Friends are learning to distinguish high and low sounds. This also helps strengthen the hand muscles for writing. 

LE collaborated and created a salt map of Pangea as well as a salt map of Laurasia/Gondawanaland to go along with their classroom study of the formation of the supercontinents.

ME learned the art of making sushi!  They spread the rice on the seaweed, put the ingredients of their choice on top, and then rolled their sushi all while learning the vocabulary in Spanish.

Sushi by Natalie

UE finished their mosaics by grouting them. 

Mosaic by Brooks

Week 14

ECA is practicing their cutting work to help them develop the control and coordination necessary for later cutting activities.

ECB explored creating art with a marble that went along with their study of the primary colors.  The children squeezed drops of primary colored paint in the center of the paper and then moved the container to roll the marble through the paint, creating the design. 

ECC created a mosaic of dots to create intricate detailed patterns.  This work also helps strengthen the hand muscles for writing and performing practical life activities. 

LE learned about the work of the master artist, Claude Monet. They created their own watercolor inspired by Monet’s love for painting water forms.

Monet Inspired Watercolor by Kate

LE also received the final piece of the collaborative fall art they did with Kolidiko.

ME did a Mandala Project to honor someone or some place important in their lives.  It was a way of giving thanks by designing with the most universal shape of all, a circle.  Students chose particular symbols and colors to make a fitting dedication, and learned several ways of working with radial symmetry in the process.

 

UE continues their study of religious art by focusing on Byzantine art.  This week they designed and created mosaics inspired by the Byzantine mosaics.  They enjoyed smashing pieces of tile to add to their artwork!

UE also visited the Nashville Symphony to observe a rehearsal of All That Classical Jazz by George Gershwin.  


Human faces have always fascinated artists. Beginning with just an oval, Middle School artists recently utilized a variety of materials and sources to create collage portraits. We looked at portraits and self-portraits made by other artists and discussed the importance of correctly perceiving the proportional relationships of eyes, lips, noses, and ears. 

Self-portrait by Rebecca

Week 13

In ECA, students do a sewing activity while learning the vocabulary in Spanish:  aguja (needle), hilo (thread), nudo (knot), coser(sew), cortar (cut), tijeras (scissors).

ECB created a representation of the Earth's core with red as the inner core, orange as the outer core, yellow as the mantle, and black as the crust.  The students are creating these through pin punching, using a push pin to create the shape, which strengthens the three-finger grasp.  This is a continuation of our study of the Earth's core, providing the students with the opportunity to experience the lesson in another form, incorporating movement and fine motor skills.

ECC took some time during November to study the beautiful season of fall.  Each child created their own unique fall tree using paper bags and torn pieces of construction paper.

LE kicked off their study of printmaking this week.  Using leaves that have fallen on campus, the students did positive and negative prints.  They used a gelatin base and rolled ink on it. They then placed leaves of their choice on the ink.   When they pressed their paper on top, the paper soaked up the ink from the gelatin.  This gave them a negative print of their leaves.  They then removed the leaves and did another print  to give them a positive print of the leaves. 

Leaf Prints by Isabella

ME visited the Nashville Symphony to watch the dress rehearsal of Fairy Tales and Fate.

UE finished their Islamic art patterns.  

Turtle by Chris

MS saw another great performance at TPAC,  Nearly Lear.  “Imagine the great and tragic story of King Lear as it might be told by the King’s closest companion.  In this one-woman tour-de-force, actress Susanna Hamnett plays the Fool – and every other character – using exuberant storytelling that showcases her virtuoso theatrical craft.  Nearly Lear is filled with breathtaking hilarity and heartache, honoring the beautiful language of Shakespeare while taking a bit of poetic license.”

AC Art created “bark” paintings inspired by the Amate Bark Paintings used by the Otomi Indians of San Pablito, Mexico.   

Digital art finished the video of UE’s TPAC Study Unit.  Check it out at http://youtu.be/rw3dcSvkUXg

Week 12

EC’s  solar system (astronomy) art project involves placing the planets in order while also coloring the planets according to their actual colors.  The project combined tracing the inset of the planets, coloring the planets with oil pastels, and finally painting over them in black watercolor.  This also allows the children to observe that watercolors do not paint over oil pastels (oil and water don't mix). Art and science are a natural complement to each other.

In the last few weeks, ME has been working with clay.  They have experimented with rolling and cutting slabs, revisited pinch and coil methods, and have created a little menagerie of wee beasties and containers. 

Clay fish by Ava

ME also visited the Nashville Children’s Theater to see the production of
“You're a Good Man Charlie Brown” .

UE continued their study of religious art focusing on Islam.  They learned about the significance of geometric patterns in Islamic art and created their own unique patterns.

Pattern design by Camila

 

The term "perspective" comes from the Latin word "prospectus", meaning "to look forward." MS continued their study of drawing by looking forward towards the deceptively simple shapes of a tricycle. Students did several short sketches of the tricycle from different angles before selecting a spot from which to make a more complete study. The challenge of properly viewing and drawing the various foreshortened shapes was engaging and beneficial. 

Aftercare Art learned about the Australian artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Inspired by his contemporary work, the students created multi-media art using bright colors and organic forms.

Artwork by Caroline

Week 10

EC students are working with watercolors, strengthening their hand for writing.

Watercolor by Atia

 In honor of Pablo Picasso's birthday last week, LE created self-portriats in his cubism style.

Cubism Self-portrait by Molly

ME & UE went on a field trip to TPAC to see the performance of Beyond the Bog Road. They were able to identify with several elements of the performance after spending 3 hours working with TPAC teaching artist, Steve West. The UE students that are in the after school digital art class are putting a video together to share this experience.


UE kicked off their study of art in religion by learning about Henna tattoos and their significance in Judaism and Hinduism.  They created their own tattoo design that illustrated self-expression.  

MS finished their campus drawings this week.  Be sure to come to this Friday coffee to see their beautiful work displayed in the parent education room. 

Drawing by Katie

Week 9

ECA has been integrating the life and work of Henri Matisse in their geography, geometry and math lessons. The children compared and contrasted two works of art by the artist: Harmony in Red and Les Betes de la Mer. The children were fascinated by many different aspects found in the art pieces. Some liked the spirals and "organic shapes" in the cut outs and others liked the fruit found in the earlier painting.  The children enjoyed themselves so much they requested they work on two collaborative art pieces over the course of two days.

ECB students have been studying circles and the medium of painting.  The project below was based specifically on the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.  The students created their artwork, through the process of stamping, using different circular objects, including sponges, spools, corks, and tops. 

With the change of seasons, ECC students are incorporating leaves into their artwork. They have been practicing the art of stamping leaves. They have also been doing leaf rubbings using fall leaves found on the Abintra campus.

LE wrapped up their study of the elements of designs with and exercise on space.  They took a fall inspired subject and created two drawings of it, focusing one on the positive space and the other on the negative space.

Positive & Negative Space by Ariel

ME and UE finished their TPAC study unit with Steve West.  Steve brought in a mixing board and mic to do a recording of the song. To view a clip of this process, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnI62JakKYg


UE learned about the art of Chinese calligraphy. After spending a significant amount of time practicing, the students wrote in  calligraphy on the paper they made last week.

MS took advantage of this beautiful season by picking a spot on campus to do a drawing of utilizing the skills they have been practicing with the previous contour drawing exercises.

Week 8

LE continued their study of the elements of design by focusing on “form” this week.  With the help of Middle School, they formed the solar system out of yarn.  They wrapped yarn around a balloon to form a planet, then soaked the yarn covered balloon in glue.  When the glue completely dried we popped the balloon and saw how the yarn kept the form of the planet. This beautiful collaboration piece will be displayed in their classroom.

ME & UE participated in their second TPAC study unit with Steve West.  This week they created drum patterns for the song they wrote during their first lesson with Steve. 

ME & UE visited the Frist to see the exhibition of Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography & Video.  “Carrie Mae Weems is a socially motivated artist whose works invite contemplation on issues surrounding race, gender and class. Increasingly, she has broadened her view to include global struggles for equality and justice.” MS will have the opportunity to see this exhibition at the end of the month. 

UE also had the exciting opportunity to make paper this week as they continue their study of the timeline of civilization.   They learned how the Chinese invented paper out of rags, hemp, China grass, etc in 105 AD.  Then in the mid 1700s in France, a man discovered wasps making paper out of wood.  Below is paper UE made 100% from a recycled wasp’s nest.   

 

Week 7

This week LE started their study of the 4th element of design, texture.  To align this texture study with their classroom study of the development of earth, they created multimedia art of volcanoes using paint, sand, construction paper, and tissue paper.

Volcano art by Anabel

ME practiced contour drawing with soft pastels using a fall inspired still life of gourds.

Gourds by Natalie

UE went  to see the Nashville Children Theatre’s performance of Sherlock Holmes.  This production is based on the original 1899 play  by William Gillette and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

MS expanded their study of blind contour drawing with a still life of their choice.

Still life by Rebecca

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Aftercare Art has been doing a study of portraits. This week they created  personality portraits out of collage.

 

Digital Art has been learning photo editing with  Adobe Photoshop Elements.  They have learned exposure correcting, color adjusting, as well as how to remove an unwanted object from the photograph.  Believe it or not, there was a light pole in the photograph below.

Photo by Brooks

Week 6

To continue their study of the elements of design, LE focused on shapes this week.  With the influence of the modern artist Reggie Laurent, they started with black paper and created beautiful multicolor art that explored shapes and reviewed their study of lines and color.

Shape art by Max

ME & UE will have the opportunity at the end of October to see the TPAC performance, Beyond the Bog Road. This multimedia concert’s sound and images portray  the desperate and daring tales of Irish immigrants’ journeys to and in America.  TPAC teaching artist, Steve West, has collaborated with the guides to come up with a study unit to help the students understand the music’s historical references and other world influences.  This week the students kicked off this study by writing verses of a song influenced by images of Ireland. 

UE also had the opportunity to see the Symphony performance, A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,  at the Schermerhorn this week. This performance is one of the best-known orchestral works ever written for students. The engaging and educational piece by Britten explored the tones, colors and dynamics of the full orchestra and individual instruments.  It was truly a wonderful experience for the students and the guides! 

MS filled the room with a breathtaking  smelly feet aroma as they created contour drawings of their shoes! This exercise helps the students see what they are drawing instead of instinctually labeling objects and drawing them accordingly.  It teaches them to look at the lines, shapes, and patterns of objects and how they combine to form what we see.  The cognitive skills developed in contour drawing include eye/hand coordination, concentration, observation, and risk-taking.