End of the Quarter and Forging Ahead

Thank goodness for an extra week of second quarter! Students were able to complete projects destined for the second quarter gradebook. From the teacher's perspective, this is a very exciting time of year. Students are beginning to integrate all that new information and their work is becoming stronger, more mature, and more cohesive. I always enjoy taking a moment to compare where they were at the beginning of the year with where they are now. We will be doing that next week!

6th Grade/1st Period: After learning about the details of composition, student created collages demonstrating the following principles:

• Radial Composition
• Crystallographic Composition
• Asymmetrical Composition
• Symmetrical Composition
• Western or Eastern Balance
• Focal Point Determination and "Sweet Spots"

The final piece of this unit is a written self-critique that forces the student to analyze their work in artist's vocabulary. (Not an easy task at all!)

Their family crests and the explanation for their design is hanging in the upper stairwell. Paper compositions are on the ground level bulletin board closest to the lunchroom.

7th Grade/3rd Period:

How disappointed we all were when the weather rudely canceled our Field Trip! I will be trying to re-schedule, but do not know yet if we will be able to do so. In the meantime, we continued the unit related to the Field Trip, and the students took a look at the artist's work on the web.
Yoel Ben Harrouche The final project of this unit consists of developing a unique Judaic symbol, and hiding it in a painting, in BenHarrouche's style. Students are enjoying working with acrylic paints.

8th Grade/5th Period:

Op Art was a huge hit. Some students wanted to continue with this genre for the remainder of the year. It is loads of fun! Because there are so many concepts I work to cover with the students, we simply do not have time to do everything I would like. I encourage these budding artists to try to create additional art in their free time. Here are some suggestions, still based on Vaserely.

1. Draw a tiger or leopard WITHOUT any contour (edge) lines. Use only the stripes to create the animal. Scratchboard is a great medium for this after you have drawn a rough draft.
2. Try to create a 3-D illusion using only line and value. That's all you have here, yet the image appears to fluctuate in space.

Vaserely, From Gestalt Series

The study of Minimalism and de-construction is winding down. After learning how to objectively appreciate Minimalist work, and studying the most famous of the Minimalist artists, students wrote about the artists and began their own projects based on the concept. A multi-step approach to creating beauty in simplicity, the final paintings in acrylic are quite powerful. Once completed, they will hang in the lower stairwell along with sketches showing the journey from realism to abstraction.

Digital Studio/6th Period:

After several weeks of planning an production, the teams are finishing work on their Stop-Motion animated movies. The students had a blast with this, and learned to work cooperatively in the process. Experiencing setbacks along the way has helped them learn the value of persistence and resiliency. Once the DVDs are burned, you will be able to watch these short movies on your home TVs! You will be astounded at how many photos it takes to create these.

Yearbook/8th period:
Wow! After 5 months of school, the yearbook is 2/3 complete! This is an exciting time for the staff, as they see the book starting to come together. They've been a great bunch!