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

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.