Photography

8th grade photography on display at school

I wasn't sure exactly how to pull off a photography unit in our small private school. First, I surveyed the class and learned that almost all of them had access to a camera or phone with a camera built in. I located a couple of "spare" cameras in case a student or two "forgot" theirs on the day of our photo-shoot. And yep, we needed them. I spoke with them briefly before I set them free on our campus. We talked a bit about composition and looking at things from different points of view. I asked them to get photos in four categories: portrait, still life, landscape, and interesting subject or perspective.

Gracie P., 8th

Gracie P., 8th

Gracie P., 8th

Mike S., 8th

Mike S., 8th

Hunter M., 8th

Hunter M., 8th

Berkshire Museum

On Valentine's Day, my husband Bob and I drove to Pittsfield, MA to enjoy the Ansel Adams (1902-1984) photograph exhibit at the Berkshire Museum. The museum is presenting fifty works by Adams, which he personally selected and felt represented his over-all body of work. They were amazing to see! In a small room off to the side, we found some delightful photos by a lesser-known photographer, Andreas Feininger. While Adams' interest lay primarily in Western American landscapes, Feininger had a more micro-oriented interest in flora and fauna. See examples below of both of their works. The exhibits will be at the Berkshire until June 2, 2013.

NYS Museum

Early in February, I made a trip to the NYS Museum in downtown Albany to take in both the Civil War exhibit (this is the 150th anniversary) and photographs by artist Gordon Parks. Both were thoroughly enjoyable.

Monart Drawing

Today we began a drawing lesson based on the Monart teaching method. I began the class with some breathing and shoulder excersizes, to get the students in a relaxed and comfortable position to start drawing. Then we discussed and drew the five basic shapes: dots, circles, lines, curved lines, and angled lines. We looked for and found examples of each in the art room.

From there we began to draw together as a class, step by step, looking for the various shapes in what we were drawing. 8th grade is drawing a parakeet, 6th a honey bee, and 5th a fish. (7th is working on a separate project involving stations of the cross for an Easter procession.) After we finish drawing, we'll outline them with permanent marker and then paint them with watercolors.

Photos to follow.

Stenciling

Stencil by Sam S.

In the new year we began a new project: stenciling. We began by watching a bit of a Bob Veda (This Old House) video that displayed some beautiful stencil work on the walls around the windows and fireplace in an historic home. We also watched a stencil artist apply a stencil to the wall. Then as a class, we jumped right into trying out various stencils, using acrylic paints and stencil brushes. This gave the students an idea of the process that's involved in stenciling.

The following week, the students began to develop designs to create their own stencils. The older students used pieces of plastic acetate that I found in a hardware store (for storm windows?), while the younger ones used heavy card stock. Both materials worked well; however, the plastic will obviously last longer. The trickiest part was cutting out the shapes within the stencil, even with tiny, sharp scissors. After completing their stencils, each student applied their design to a tile, which was then secured to the surface using a coat of glossy acrylic spray. Check out some of the results below.

5th and 6th grade tiled stencils in fore- and back-ground. Calder-style sculptures in mid-ground.


NOTE: The tiles are on display in the art room.

Calder-style Kinetic Sculpture



Triangles and Arches, Alexander Calder (1965)

We began our Calder (1898-1976) unit by watching "Alexander Calder's Happy Art," courtesy of YouTube, where we saw many fine examples of his art, along with a few very funny photos of the artist himself. An abstract, kinetic (moving) artist, Calder is represented in the Empire Plaza major modern art collection by two pieces. Triangles and Arches (1965) is displayed in the water fountain closest to the NYS Museum and Four at Forty-Five (1966) hangs on the plaza level of the Corning Tower. Students were instructed to design and then create a kinetic sculpture, that is, one that had a moving, mobile-like aspect to it. They came up with some fantastic ideas and equally fantastic results. (For more on Calder, watch this YouTube video.)




Four at Forty-five, Alexander Calder (1966)

Here are some of the students' projects:



Ethan C., 8th

Hunter M., 8th

Aaron C., 6th

Alyssa T., 8th

Gracie P., 8th

Ben B., 7th

Colby, 5th

Eli H., 5th

8th graders at El Mariachi's

In June, I took the 8th graders on a field trip to the Empire State Plaza. We enjoyed a tour of the modern art, a tour the Civil War exhibit (NYS Museum), and a quick glance at some of Gordon Park's photographs. He's well-known as for his phogo essays in Life magazine and for directing the movie Shaft. We covered a lot of territory in one day and enjoyed a delicious lunch at El Mariachi's, (see photo left). We have just finished a photography unit so it was great to see Park's American Gothic, as well as enlarged photos of some of Matthew Brady's photos of the Civil War.

8th graders on the Plaza (Gracie is 3rd from the left)

Portraits



Ari

We squeezed in a short lesson on drawing portraits, and then each student drew a self-portrait. In connection with their study of Egyptian culture with Mr. Milkins, the 6th graders crafted Egyptian-style self-portraits. They look fantastic! See for yourselves.

Marissa 

Casey

Come check them out in the hallway near the library!