Fine Arts Festival

Yesterday was the annual Fine Arts Festival that takes place at a local school and includes participants from eight area schools (Calvert, Bryn Mawr, Gilman, RPCS, RPPEMS, St. Paul's, Boys Latin and Friends). We bring performers to do numbers (about 10 mins per school), and also invite the artists who had artwork in the Traveling Art Show which has been circulating through the schools since January. It was a fun afternoon of Arts- here are some highlights:

The gang before getting on the bus

 

Friends orchestra and chorus

Bryn Mawr

Calvert's String Ensemble and 8th grade dance class performing Swan Lake

Boy's Latin Chorus and STOMP group

RPCS and Gilman performed parts of their musical, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"

Dinner Party

I've done this project for the past two years with my groups of 8th graders, and wasn't planning on bringing it back this year because I like to switch things up... BUT, the current class convinced my long-term sub to let them do it and I was happy to continue to facilitate the project once I came back to work. Students used various clay hand-building techniques to create a plate (or bowl!) of their favorite foods. This lovely buffet went on display yesterday and it's always a hit for those passing by!

Coil Pots

Seventh graders learned to roll and join coils of clay to create unique vessels in this project. They were encouraged to use a variety of designs with their coils (roll them into spirals, braid them, leave some showing while blending others together, etc.) and challenged to build a pot at least 12" tall (although not all of them turned out that way!). The pieces were glazed however the artist wished and here are the final products:

Drawing from Observation- Fruit Still Life

I'm baaaaaaaaaack!!!! I returned from maternity leave about a month ago, and then had spring break for ten day shortly after my return. My sub did some nice stuff with all the grades while I was gone, but for the sake of my sanity, I will just post things as we finish them going forward, rather than going back to post everything I missed...

These still life drawings of fruit were completed just before spring break with the 3rd quarter sixth graders. After learning about drawing from observation (we did Betty Edward's workbook upside down horse activity, and did a LOT of sketching and demo), students created a contour drawing of their still life set up. Then we turned out the lights and put spotlights on the fruit to create more dramatic highlights and shadows. Using drawing pencils, students added value to their drawings and the resulting work is just awesome. Check them out!:

Taking a Break...

The day after my last post, this handsome little man made his early appearance:

And so, I am on maternity leave through late February... see you then!!!