Calvert's Wild Beasts!

Fauvism was a short-lived art movement led by Henri Matisse and Andre Derain from 1905-1908 and is also considered a turning pointing the history of 20th century art. As a reaction against Impressionism, the Fauves’ radical use of color shocked critics and the public (“Fauve” means “wild beast” in French). Rather than using color to accurately depict their subjects, the Fauves experimented with unnatural and arbitrary colors to express their emotions and create visually interesting compositions. Seemingly wild brushwork and high degree of simplification and abstraction were also characteristic of Fauve paintings.

Seventh graders painted Fauve landscapes of their own. They simplified and flattened the space into broad areas of brilliant color and used complementary colors to create visual tension.

After Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist living in Scotland who produces site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. His art involves the use of natural and found objects, to create both temporary and permanent sculptures which draw out the character of their environment. And, he happens to be one of my favorite artists!

Seventh graders viewed many examples of Goldsworthy's work before heading outdoors to create temporary land art of their own utilizing the beautiful fall foliage and other natural found objects on campus. Here are just some of the beautiful results:

LS Art Club Dinner Party!

The Lower School art club members have been creating ceramic food for the past several weeks and I have been dying to put it on display! I finally got to this afternoon and everyone in the middle school is getting hungry as they walk by... I am sure you can see why!

iPhrase Project- 5th Grade Boys

Fifth grade boys had a blast creating these digital art pieces! Inspired by iPod ads in the media, they came up with an "iPhrase" and a pose that would clearly portray their phrase in a silouhette. The boys used Adobe Photoshop to manipulate their photographs in order to create the work below. They also considered composition and color to create the final pieces...

Thanks for your help, Mrs. Frederick!

Groovy Graffiti

Some people think of graffiti as art, others vandalism, and others, a culture of its own... In 8th grade art, we discussed these points of view after reading about the history of graffiti, examing the work of street artists, as well as noted artists who began as graffiti artists (Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat) and reading a recent article in the Baltimore Sun about local graffiti. Students then chose their own "tag," used the website www.graffitiwriter.net to look at lettering styles, and used a blending technique with chalk pastel to create these colorful graffiti masterpieces!