April

Early Childhood A artists studied the work of Debbie Smyth. The children are learning that Debbie Smyth is a young British artist who uses pins and meters of thread (hilo) to create "Arte Textil." They learned that Debby Smyth discovered this technique while trying to transform things from 2 dimensions to 3 dimensions. Based on this lesson, children created their own pieces of artwork. 

The Early Childhood A class created and used coiled stamps to paint thank-you notes to visiting artist and Abintra parent Caroline Cercone of Caroline Cercone Pottery! During Caroline's visit, each student created a coil out of clay; Caroline then put all the coils together to make a special bowl for the classroom! 

The top (bottom left) and bottom (bottom right) of the bowl are pictured below.

Early Childhood B artists created totem pole art to go along with their Native American study.  They drew animals that they painted, outlined, and cut out to put on a totem pole.

To integrate art in their study of the fourth Great Lesson:  The History of Writing, Lower Elementary artists explored cave art and hieroglyphics. They walk through a digital rendering of a cave in Lascaux and then created their own cave paintings on slabs of clay. 

Cave Art by Max 

Cave Art by Lily

Lower Elementary artists practiced writing with ink and feathers and then wrote in hieroglyphics on a wooden slab that they antiqued.

To integrate art in their study of the fifth Great Lesson:  The History of Mathematics, Lower Elementary artists explored math and geometry through origami and painting. Middle Elementary students, Mikayla and Michaela, worked with the students to create these beautiful origami flowers.

Lower Elementary artists explored geometry in the work of Piet Mondrian.  They created these Mondrian inspired paintings using geometric shapes.

Geometry Art by Stella

Geometry Art by Frances

In connection with the story of the Romans, Middle Elementary students have created their own mini mosaic in adhesive colored foam.  They drew and lay out border designs and animals that appeared in Roman times and in ours.  Next we go on to using traditional tesserae and concrete to embellish the Abintra campus.

ME & UE learned about the Post-Impressionism style of painting called Pointillism invented by Georges-Pierre Seurat .  After viewing works by Seurat and discussing his technique, 

the students created their own pointillism drawings. 

Lily by Mikayla

After writing books for the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, Upper Elementary students created animation drawings inspired by one of their characters! UE parent Brad Talbott then put the drawings together to make this wonderful video.

Upper Elementary students enjoyed a visit from Early Childhood parent and violinist Matt Combs, who discussed and performed traditional Civil War era music for the 

students to supplement their study of the period.  

After many hours of practice, costume prep, and prop making, Abintra Alumni, Christy Berryessa, directed Middle School students in a stunning performance of The Diary of Anne Frank.

ME, UE, and MS visited TPAC to see the performance of LEO. "Through the mind-bending illusions of physical theatre and videography, Leo, an ordinary man, creates an extraordinary

world though technology and art."

March

Abintra has had an exciting month full of talented visiting artists!

The Nashville Opera visited us and did their wonderful performance of  The Billy Goat Gruff.

We also had a visit from the Soul Singers of the United Lands.  These four artists performed songs from and shared information about their homelands of Croatia, Nigeria, Taiwan, and Uruguay. 

During a cultural unit about the Native Americans, Early Childhood B students identified, discussed, and drew different symbols used by tribes from the Great Plains, Plateau, (brown paper) and Southwest (gray paper).

  

Early Childhood and Lower Elementary artists enjoyed creating pottery today with Abintra parent Caroline of Caroline Cercone Pottery.

To integrate their classroom studies of the Second Great Lesson, Coming of Life, Lower Elementary artists created fossil art.

Lower Elementary students are learning their parts and songs for Stone Soup which is a short musical story based on the traditional story Stone Soup.  They are preparing to perform for the Early Childhood in May.  The students are excited and enthusiastic about sharing and learning the story of Stone Soup. 

Middle Elementary visited the Nashville Children's Theater to see their performance of 
Number the Stars. 

TPAC visiting artist, Jen-Jen Linn, did a study unit with Middle and Upper Elementary students to explore and connect to the art of  TPAC's performance of LEO.  

Upper Elementary parent, Brad Talbott, did a lesson on animation with Upper Elementary. They combined an illustration from the each of their stories they wrote in Spanish into one animation.  

Middle school visited TPAC to see the Fisk Jubilee Singer.  This current group of singers represent the original Fisk Jubilee Singers®  who introduced “slave songs” to the world in 1871 and were instrumental in preserving the unique American musical tradition known 
today as Negro spirituals. 

Our aftercare artists have been exploring print making by creating city and landscapes. 

Afterschool Chorus friends are practicing their music notation as they prepare for their end of the semester sharing time.  They are learning Spanish songs and games. 

February

Early Childhood A is studying the continent of Asia.  To integrate art in their cultural learning, they created these Chinese lanterns.

Early Childhood B artist studied the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo.  Inspired by her work, ECB artists drew their own self-portraits.

Early Childhood B artist also read The Mitten by Jan Brett and made their own mittens. They traced their mitten, cut them, and colored them. Then they laced them through the holes.

Lower Elementary artists collaborated with Kolidiko to create a winter painting to add to our season collection.  Each student painted a winter scene.  Kolidiko took the paintings and cut them up to create this large collaborative painting.

Lower Elementary artists created these hands to represent their individuality to honor the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr.

Middle Elementary artists did a unit on pop ups, beginning with simple folds and cuts and working to more complex three dimensional designs.

Upper Elementary guide, Maria Burke, visited the National Gallery Art last year and was fascinated by an art installation by Byron Kim, called "Synedoche".  Maria wanted her students to study this piece, so they created their our own version, also in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Synedoche is a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole or the whole for a part. This installation is comprised of over four hundred 8" x 10" panels, each of which has been covered by a colored wax. Kim acquired each color based on the skin color of people who volunteered to be part of the work.  Upper Elementary artists experimented with paint to create a skin color that they felt best represented their skin.  They then painted fourteen (the number of students in their class) 3" x 4" swatches. Each students took one of each classmate's swatch and 
created their own "synedoche". 

Christy Berryessa, Abintra alumnae, is conducting our current art unit: a production of The Diary of Anne Frank. There will be multiple opportunities for participation for all in the play. Thus far, the students are thoroughly enjoying the work.

January

Early Childhood artists studied the work of Piet Mondrian.  They learned that during his time, Mondrian’s friends liked to paint landscapes but he liked to paint lines and shapes using the primary colors. 

Early Childhood A artists have had tissue paper collage work on their art shelf. Some of them decided to frame their work.

Early Childhood B artists combine gluing within lines and order of colors of the rainbow to wrap up their color wheel art.

Lower Elementary artists kicked off the winter with a painting of birch trees.  This project was a review of the 6 elements of design. They used masking tape to "shape" the trees and limbs on white paper. They were careful of how they used the "space" when making their trees and branches.  They painted over the whole paper with cool "colors".  They then removed the tape exposing the white paper and "forming" the trees.  They then used "lines" to create "texture" in the trees.  .

Birch trees by Beckett

Lower Elementary artists studied the work of nature sculptor, Andy Goldsworthy.  They created their own Goldsworthy inspired sculpture out of nature founded on campus. They then created frames out of nature for the photographs of their sculptures. 

Middle Elementary artists designed mini flags for their own imaginary countries. They discussed the many symbolic meanings of color and continued to experiment with 
color mixing.

Middle Elementary also created gratefulness mandalas usually colored pencils.  

Upper Elementary artists studied "Pandora's Box" by Odilon Redon, a piece in the NationalGallery Art Collection.  The students created their own box to illustrate a feeling of their choice.

Visiting artist, Asher Wood, gave Upper Elementary a brief history of encaustic paintings and it's relevance during the Industrial Revolution. Asher did a demonstration and then walked the students through creating their own encaustic painting.

Upper Elementary also visited the Frist to see the exhibition of American Chronicles:  The Art of Norman Rockwell.

Middle School artists studied the self-portraits of Paul Gauguin, then created their own.  They will have the opportunity to see some of his portraits in the National Gallery of Art during their trip to DC.   Gauguin’s challenge when painting self-portraits is to show his many sides.  Some of his portraits are realistic; some are more abstract using symbolism. Middle School artists had the choice to create their own self-portrait realistically or symbolically. 

Self-portrait by Rebecca