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.