Week 22

ECA students learned about the work of  Agnes Martin, an American/Canadian abstract expressionist.  The students created drawings influenced by her work.

Drawing by Addie

ECB experimented with paint by placing a couple of paint drops (two colors) on a piece of paper and then fold the paper in two. When they open it they see a beautiful art creation made by the two colors.

Painting by Elizabeth

ECC has spent a lot of time working on Chinese lanterns. They have been talking about the Chinese New Year and the importance of the lanterns in New Years celebrations. We made lanterns using construction paper that the children decorated with crayons. After decorating, students cut slits in the paper and, with some help from a guide or older friend, stapled the sides to create a lantern. We enjoyed hanging the lanterns in our classroom as we look forward to the "new year"!

LE made recycled paper from the paper shredded in the office.  They enjoyed seeing the process of soaking the paper and putting it in the blender to create the pulp.  They each had a turn of dipping a screen in the water of pulp, flattening the pulp with a board, and soaking up the water with a sponge.  Some students chose to embed flower petals from Abintra’s greenhouse into the pulp.  

ME has been studying aerial views, looking at a wonderful book called Earth from Above. They created drawings, done in watercolor pencils, that are designed to be connected.  They call them Rivers and Roads. They took their inspiration from organic shapes made by the interaction of earth, water and weather as well as the patterns made by humans. 

"Rivers and Roads" by Aidan

UE studied visual metaphors through the photographs of Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange.  The students developed a personal metaphor and created a photograph to illustrate it. 

"Honesty" by Maggie

UE ME, UE, and MS visited the Frist to see the exhibition, Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts.  This exhibit presents the greatest Dutch masterpieces by painters such as Frans Hals, Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan Steen, Gerard Ter Borch, and the incomparable Rembrandt van Rijn.

Gerard Ter Borch (Dutch, 1617-1681). Lady at Her Toilette,

Abintra was pleased to welcome The S.O.U.L Singers - Singers Of United Lands, who performed for us on campus.  S.O.U.L Singers is a vocal quartet- of which all four members are from a different continental region of the world!  They perform songs, which are native to their home countries while offering interactive multicultural workshops, presentations, and performances for audiences of ALL ages. 

Week 21

ECA has been working on creating their very own Superimposed Geometric Figures. By choosing two colors to form a pattern, friends experience gradations in two dimensions. They love this lesson! 

ECB experimented with an art technique Claudia did when she was a child. They place four nuts on a piece of paper, then place a strainer covering the nuts. With a paint brush they paint all over the strainer creating a dust of paint arount the nuts. When they remove the strainer and the nuts they see the nuts stamp on the piece of paper.

ECC is practicing using reusable art paper to make new creations. Collaging is a way to create unique pieces that exhibit contrast in color and shape. The act of gluing helps strengthen the hand for writing and hand eye coordination.

LE had a geometry in art lesson by reviewing the tessellations of M.C. Escher.  They created their own tessellation designs and painted them in a pattern of their choice. 

Tesselation by Max

Local artist, Stacey Irvin, visited Abintra to do a presentation of her work for LE, ME, UE, and MS.  Stacey is an award-winning world and humanitarian photographer.  She presented her photographic journey through China, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Kenya. Stacey’s presentation portrayed the visual metaphors in photography that UE and MS have been studying through the work of Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange. 

 

Our aftercare artists have been thoroughly engrossed with the construction of miniature treehouse sculptures. Utilizing a variety of materials, such as logs, branches, wood scraps, and wire, each student created highly imaginative and unique mini environments. Some treehouses included animals, swings, hammocks, ladders, and elevators. One artist built a space called "The Disco Room", and yes, that is a room constructed solely for the purpose of disco dancing! 

 

Week 20

ECA received a group lesson with Dave about the origin of snowflakes. Then they reviewed the colors of the crystals and observed which colors they could see in a snowflake. Patricia then presented a cutting exercise lesson, taking a piece of paper (square) and folding into 4. Then she proceeded to make the cuts. When she finished,  Patricia opened the paper and they could see the snowflake!! They loved the activity and worked on it for three weeks every day!

ECB’s printmaking work was created using a stamp made by wrapping strings around a circular container.

Printmaking by Zoe

ECC students continue to work with primary colors. They select pieces of string, dip them in paint and place them onto paper to create pieces of art. They have been amazed to see what happens when primary colors mix together. It has also been fun to explore other techniques of painting besides the typical paintbrush.

To align with their study of land and water forms, LE created paper mache globes.  After their globes dried, they drew the continents and painted in the land and water forms.

ME created these print paintings influenced by a previous project called Rivers, Roads and Rails, a series of connectable drawings in pencil.  The rivers and roads divided their pages into fields, playgrounds, neighborhoods and so on.  For these paintings they drew lines to divide space and stamped with sponges, pencils, cardboard and straws.

UE finished their one-point perspective drawings.

One-point perspective by Cora

MS studied visual mataphors through the photographs of Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange.Then students developed a personal metaphor and created a drawing or photograph to illustrate it. 

Photograph by Kealey

After looking at Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, the Aftercare Art students created artwork using a photograph of their own choice of expression.  

Week 19

ECA started the new year off with a collaboration project.  The students painted their hands and then spent a significant amount of time carefully making handprints to form this large piece art.

ECB & ECC also started the new year off with a collaboration . They first discussed the different biomes - ocean, jungle, and forest.  They talked about which animals live there and which plants grow there.  Then they split up into three groups and began by drawing the waves for the ocean, and the ground, sky and trees for the forest and the jungle.  They added more plants, animals, insects, and other things they would find in that habitat.  They were very creative and elaborate with their drawings!

During the 3rd quarter, LE will be exploring different mediums in painting.  They started by exploring watercolor through creating winter trees.  This project was a great review of the elements of design. They first drew a tree using short and long lines to break up the space.  Then they drew shapes that were formed in the negative space by the trees.  They were asked to choose two colors to paint the shapes.  With these colors they explored how watercolors mix.  They painted the tree black so the focus is on the shapes and the colors they created in the negative space. 

Winter Tree by Rachel

ME visited the Schermerhorn Symphony Center for the dress rehearsal of Mozart & Strauss. This dynamic concert features two masterpieces by the legendary Richard Strauss! A wild rush of violins opens the passionate Don Juan, a piece brimming with feverish emotion and romance. Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 is one of the composer’s last works and a showcase for the incredible musicianship of the GRAMMY®-winning Nashville Symphony. The evening closes on a playful note with Strauss’ musical tale of The Merry Prankster.

UE started the 3rd quarter with a study of Early Italian Renaissance art.  They learned about Filippo Brunelelschi and his discovery of linear perspective. The students created a drawing using a one-point perspective.

One point perspective drawing by Maggie

Abintra graduate Christy Berryessa led a workshop on MacBeth with Middle School students. Christy excelled in theater in high school and college and is now working in the local film and theater industry.  MS was also able to see the Nashville Shakespeare Company’s performance of MacBeth featuring the Nashville Ballet. They were the only group in the audience which made this even more special.

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