Join us on Thursday, October 29th from 4:30-6:30 PM upstairs in Furey Hall for our fall OPEN STUDIOS event! See finished artwork and works-in-progress by Kindergarten through Ninth Grade students. Faculty and students will be present to guide parents, friends, and families through the studio spaces where live demonstrations and activities will be happening. A seasonal refreshment will be served.
SAVE THE DATE!
The Art Studio has been filling up with all kinds of extraordinary artworks this fall! Our Kindergarten through Sixth Grade students have been exploring a variety of materials including papier-mâché, plaster, cardboard, and wood. Take a look at our young artists in action!
KINDERGARTEN
We have completed our “Not A Stick” project inspired by Antoinette Portis’ book of the same title and now we are moving on to full-body mixed media portraits. Yesterday, we got started with our faces by placing wet plaster strips over aluminum pie pans.
1st & 2nd GRADE
First and Second grade students have been making Action Figures using aluminum foil, wire, and plaster gauze. Now that the sculptures are frozen in their action poses, they are being embellished with fabric, decorative papers, yarn, wood findings, and colored tape.
3rd GRADE
Squares become a cube in our latest project exploring the mechanics of a three-dimensional form. Beginning with a flattened cardboard box, students created small wood assemblages on each of the panels. When folded together and painted, we will have a series of six-sided sculptures that will hang from the ceiling.
4th GRADE
Inspired by the Donald Baechler sculptures we saw on our recent field trip to Omi International Arts Center, students are working on their own playful forms based on Baechler’s bronzed Flower series from 2007-2008. The class traced objects from nature onto cardboard which were then cut out and covered in a plaster ‘skin’ before being propped upright on a base and painted.
5th GRADE
Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box sculptures from the early-mid 1960s prompted discussion and this project about the definition of the art object. Students selected a common plastic container which was then converted into an ‘object d’art’ by coating with plaster gauze. Then, an imaginary product was created complete with a design concept, logo, and product details. The class is in the painting phase of the project, adding color and details to the final pieces.
6th GRADE
After studying masks from around the world, the Sixth Grade class embarked on a large-scale mask making project. Students used cardboard, newspaper, and tape to construct a three-dimensional form based on an animal, human, or imagined creature. The pieces are presently being covered in papier-mâché. In the upcoming weeks, students will bring their characters to life with paint and decorative media.
What a fun filled two weeks!
PreK started working on their habitats. Each child is focusing on a different animal. Grace and Maximus are doing penguins, CJ a snow leopard, Chase a jaguar, Jetty a mole, Troy a polar bear, Nicolette a cat, and Sophie a frog. We started our project by painting the background, the sky! It was very, very hard to stop working and wait for the paint to dry to start planning the next step. The class also started looking at books about their animals, and friend’s animals.
Miriam came in last week and made play dough with us! We mixed flour, salt, cream of tartar, hot water and packets of KoolAid to make our play dough. It was not only fun to play with, it smelled delicious too. (Thank you, Miriam!).
We also juiced two whole bags of lemons to soak to begin our apple dolls. First we juiced the lemons then added a tablespoon of salt. Then Ms. S peeled 8 apples. Each child choose an apple and decided when its eyes, nose and mouth should go. Once all the apples were peeled and craved they each took a 30 minute soak in our lemon juice solution. The first day the apple heads didn’t change. We check them every day. It has been a few days and they are beginning to get a little “smushy.” We will continue to observe them until they dry.
We went on a few nature walks to the “frog bridge,” the creek and the pond. One rainy day we saved 6 Red Efts from being trampled on the sidewalk heading to the gym! At the pond we found some burnt wood. At first the children were unsure what it was. After some discussion, observation and touching they realized it was wood from a fire. Did you know we can DRAW with it?
The children are also very curious about the alphabet. We started using blocks to make letters and sand to trace letters. A few students also took out sandpaper alphabet cards and worked together to but them in order.
Reminders:
We have a field trip to the Neubert’s farm on Tuesday, Temple and Diana will be joining us.
Wednesday is a dress up day for pictures.
Grandparents and Special Friends Day on Friday with an early dismissal
The perfect weather is allowing some terrific outdoor time in physical education. We have been playing may running games with the little ones like hide and go seek, toilet tag, and mosquito tag. Grades 1,2,and 3 love to use ropes for horse, jumping the brook, and snake. Grades 4, 5, and 6 keep begging for hunger games, kick the can, and capture the flag. These activities give the students a lot of movement and group interaction so we can all learn how to respect each others differences and have fun and exercise at the same time.