Figure Collages after Miriam Schapiro

Miriam Schapiro (born 1923), became a professional artist in 1955, originally painting in the Abstract Expressionist style (like Jackson Pollock did). As she developed her art and expanded her vision, she developed her own personal style and became a pioneer in the Feminist Art Movement in the early 1970s. Schapiro eventually introduced the element of fabric collage into her artwork, cutting pieces of patterned cloth and combining them with acrylic paint to create a beautifully orchestrated symphony of pattern and color. Schapiro, along with another artist named Melissa Meyer, coined the term "femmage" to apply to their type of collage art which utilizes commonplace materials and techniques that historically have been associated with domesticity, and therefore with women: quilts, buttons, sequins, tea towels, embroidery, lace, crochet, carpets, and fabric design. Schapiro is one of the first artists in history to make art addressing the feminine experience.

Schapiro’s 1989 book, Rondo, contains a colorful accordion foldout with a string of highly animated dancing figures, using collage as a medium. None of the works rely on “drawing”- the drawing is done with scissors. In this project, fifth grade artists created Rondo-like collages of their own. They first created colorful background papers using bleeding tissue paper, watercolor and salt. After discussing body proportion, students chose a dancing pose or posed their figure performing an activity they enjoy. Various papers, fabric, wallpaper scraps and other textiles were layered to create the final pieces. First, a few pics of the artists at work:

And the colorful collages:

Coiled Pottery in progress

Seventh graders are busy in the art room creating organic coiled vessels from clay... Each piece is unique and interesting! More explanation to come when the final post goes up (the pots will take a while to dry and be fired the first time before being glazed and fired again), but I wanted to share these few action shots from today:

Observational Pumpkin Drawings in Charcoal

The last project that sixth graders created this quarter was their first observational drawing in their middle school experience (oh, there will be more!). They spent several days learning and practicing how to draw what they see before them, rather than drawing the pumpkin "symbols" they are used to drawing in childhood (perfect circle, lines from top to bottom, stem right on top... you know what I mean, right?!). Each student had their own unique little pumpkins- I tried to choose interesting ones with different stems and also got white ones so that the shadows and highlights were a little more "black and white" (pun intended) to these newbie observational artists. Then, once they completed a contour line drawing of their still life arrangement, we turned out the lights and put spotlights on the pumpkins to create better highlights and shadows and rendered the drawings with charcoal pencil...

Here are the mini masterpieces!

Cake Slice Boxes

Fifth graders create clay pieces using the slab method of clay handbuilding, and I am always looking for new subjects to keep it interesting. I don't know what made me come up with this idea (maybe because I am eight and half months pregnant and the thought of cake is quite appealing to me right now?!), but these whimsical little cake slice boxes turned out to be just darling. They are being displayed on top of cake stands in the lower lobby and look pretty darn delicious!

Food Drive Follow Up!

What an amazing last week of beautiful, colorful food donations that all went directly to Baltimore City families in need of healthy fruits and veggies...

So, how much did we collect and donate last week?! The Middle School collected 768 pounds, and the Lower School collected 1470 pounds, giving us a total of 2,238 pounds!!! 

You know what else weighs 2,200 pounds? About four and half horses (a horse weighs about a half a ton), or one compact car. That's A LOT OF FOOD! Thanks so much to all who donated, helped weigh the food, pick it up and deliver it... Congrats to all on a successful drive!

Animal Pinch Pot Bowls

Sixth graders at Calvert learn the pinch method of clay handbuilding, and this quarter's project was to create a bowl with animal features. I love that each ends up so unique even though the students start out with the same about of clay to make their bowl- some are big and shallow while others are thick and compact and round. Check out these fun little characters: