September 2014

Abintra is off to an exciting start in the Arts!

Early Childhood artists worked with the new EC art guide, Sarah, and some UE students on a collaboration piece for the Wine & Cheese Social.  Each child in ECA and ECB painted a large canvas that was cut into strips to hang origami books that the Upper School students made.  Sarah will be teaching art every Thursday with EC children starting in October. 

Upper School artists created over 100 origami books.  The books and canvas used were all recycled pieces. This beautiful installation cost only $8!

One of our goals in art for Early Childhood is to introduce the elements of design: color, line, shape, pattern, space, texture, and form.  This month the students are focusing on color.  They learn what the primary colors are and how to mix them to create the secondary colors. While exploring the mixing of colors, students learned about the American painter, Jackson Pollock.  He was known for his unique technique of drip painting.  This is an abstract form of painting in which paint is dripped or poured on the canvas.  Children learned what abstract art is and how it is more about what the artist thinks and feels.  They really enjoyed this lesson!

In Lower Elementary, the students begin to experiment with the elements of design.  They too started the year off with color.  They cut out primary and secondary colors mixed with the intermediate colors out of magazines to create these color wheels. 

Color Wheel by Oleja

Lower Elementary artists also explored the elements: line and shape.   After studying the work of American modern artist, ReggieLaurent, they created their own “shapely abstractions”.

Shapes & Lines by Sophia

Lower Elementary artists discussed how they can express feelings through color and line.  They explored these feelings with this fun exercise of creating colorful lines coming out of their mouth.

In Middle Elementary, students begin a more in-depth study of the elements of design.  The created these colorful drawings focusing on all the elements.

Elements of Design by Arthur

Middle Elementary artists are also practicing focused drawing of still-life compositions. An important part of the creative process in visual arts is training the artist to see the entire composition, notice details, and record what they have seen.  The still-life compositions were arrangements of white objects of varying shapes, sizes, and details. The students spent a minute just looking at the still-life, noting relationships between elements, light and dark, shapes, and how lighting affects shapes. They were given fifteen minutes to record what they saw without erasing. The view was rotated, and they followed the same procedure. The students also learned some techniques for loosening their pencil grip and incorporating mistakes into their drawings. Some of their comments:  "I like doing this because I could see more things."  "This was a lot of fun.  I like the way the objects looked like a building."  "It was really interesting to watch the light change."

Upper Elementary artists had the privilege to start their year in art off with their classroom guide, Maria. Maria attended the Tennessee Arts Academy this summer where she chose to focus on visual art. Among many wonderful art experiences, she enjoyed a clay project she did creating a tiki. The first great lesson in Upper Elementary is the Timeline of Civilization, and this year, the focus of the students' first research project focused on Polynesian culture. Maria wanted to do this project with her class, which integrated art with their current curriculum. I would say the project was a success to say the least! I’m not sure who had more fun, the students or Maria!

Middle School artists are currently exploring the fundamentals of drawing. They have been introduced to a variety of techniques, including how to draw 3-D shapes, show perspective, and the use of shading. By making “Zentangle” inspired drawings, they focused their attention upon line quality, pattern, texture, value, and shading. (A Zentangle is an abstract drawing created using repetitive patterns)  They are also practicing the use of 1 and 2-point perspective to create the illusion of three dimensional space, transforming basic shapes such as cubes and prisms into buildings of various shapes and sizes.

After Care artists created fall trees using tape to shape the trees and then painted the background using colors of fall leaves.

Fall Trees by Lily & Carter

After Care artists explore positive and negative space by creating these Notans: Japanese Principle of Dark and Light.

Japanese Notan by Ben

ME, UE, and MS have a year full of field trips in the Arts.  So far this year they have all visited the Frist to see the exhibition Real/Surreal:  Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art.  A survey of works from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s that examines American artists' representations of reality as a subjective and malleable state of mind rather than a fixed truth. Influenced by European Surrealists of the 1920s like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, some American artists used the tools of illusionistic representation to subvert reality entirely, while others subtly tweaked the conventions of realism to turn the familiar into something unsettling and uncanny. The exhibition includes works by Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Man Ray and Thomas Hart Benton, among others. 

UE & MS also visited Cheekwood to see the exhibition of Andy Warhol’s Flowers.  This exhibition featured nearly a dozen screen prints from Warhol’s original “Flowers” series as well as paintings, studio photographs, and his audacious floral proposal for the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington.  
 

UE visited the Symphony to see the performance of “Sunlight and Storms:  The Climate of Music”.  The performance was a musical journey through Earth’s atmosphere. Tying in science, it explored the ways in which composers such as Beethoven, Debussy and Prokofiev have been using the weather as inspiration for centuries. 

Upper Elementary had their first visit to the Nashville Children’s Theater to see the show, The Outsiders.   In this intense coming-of-age story set in 1965 Tulsa, Oklahoma, you're either a Greaser or a Soc. When these two gangs from opposite sides of the track clash, young Ponyboy will have to depend on his brothers and friends to survive.  Written by a teenager, about teenagers and for teenagers, S.E Hinton's first novel has captured generations of adolescent readers and is just as relevant today as it was when it first burst on the scene almost 50 years ago.

Middle School is reading the 2005 republication of the authoritative American English writing style guide, The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. This book was illustrated by Maira Kalman, who recently had a show at the Frist Center.  Middle School had the wonderful opportunity to see the show.  Kalman’s illustrations whimsically embody the didactic examples of grammar rules and their breakage provided by this essential text for writers. Phrases like “But animals do not comprise (‘embrace’) a zoo—they constitute a zoo” and “None of us is perfect” inspired Kalman’s visual witticisms. Her use of flattened space, strong colors and childlike figures provide an enjoyable lesson in both literary and visual literacy.

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.