How can you express a mood through color?
Seventh graders explored this question while learning about basic facial proportions. We looked at the work of Egon Schiele and German Expressionist painters such as Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
Students were encouraged to play with color and take risks. As usual, they blew me away with their results. Here are just a few.
Sixth grade students have been studying Ancient Mesopotamia in Mr. Moran's Social Studies class. In Art & Enrichment, we have been exploring the question, "How do humans communicate through writing?". We began by looking at cuneiform writing. With the help of the University of Pennsylvania Museum website, students roughly translated their names into cuneiform. They then wrote as a Babylonian scribe would have written; into a clay tablet with a reed-like stylus.
We later went on to create individualized pictographs. Just as an abstracted barley plant became a basis for cuneiform, students abstracted drawings of their ideas they wanted to communicate. These abstracted symbols became a coded pictograph that fellow students could try to decipher.
Here they are...the 2010 Scarecrows created by 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Scarecrows were inspired by characters from books read in Beth McCann's Language Arts class. We took over the auditorium and used any materials we could find to bring these characters to life.
(What a crowd! The red one up front is especially strange.)
The scarecrows are sponsored by the Frenchtown Business and Professional Association, who awarded prizes to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd winners. Prizes were also given by the Frenchtown American Legion. Thank you to Cathy Smith for your cloth donations.
There were so many wonderful scarecrows this year! Here are just a few.
This dragon's scales are made of many pieces of cardboard, each cut and wrapped in aluminum foil.
Chairman Mao looks a tad angry!
The Spelling Bee from The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.
A bullfighter...
...and his bull
Last school year, Frenchtown students across grade levels researched the history of our town with the help of River Union Stage who compiled the research in a documentary film. Students also explored their various Frenchtown History topics in art. Here are some of the many projects below.
Sixth grade students interviewed life-long Frenchtown Residents and paid tribute to them in portrait drawings. 93 year old Frenchown resident, Emily Slack visits her former school to see her portrait, drawn by Morgan.
Each 4th grader researched a location in town and painted a story about it for this large-scale group sculpture. Each student created a letter from cardboard, paper cups, brown packing tape, and paint.
This letter represents the local egg hatchery that used to be in town. It tells the story of how it burned down and how the chicks were transported out of town.
Frenchtown Elementary School has been in the process of creating a documentary about the history of Frenchtown. Seventh and eighth graders have researching the local Frenchtown Cemetery including prominent families, civil war veterans, and monument symbolism and construction.
In art, they created pinhole cameras from oatmeal containers and shoe boxes. We discussed the basic concepts that make a camera function. After some practice at school, we took a trip over to the cemetery to research the area and take photos with our pinhole cameras.
Photos were taken with their cameras, then developed in the "Mobile Darkroom" aka van wrapped in black paper. (Please refrain from the "free candy" jokes. Heard enough at this point. Thank you 8th graders. : )
Students quickly got a sense of the factors and technical difficulties associated with photography, a nice contrast from the ease of the digital cameras and cell phone cameras they are used to.
The film stills shown were taken by Keith and Laura from River Union Stage, who are coordinating the Frenchtown Documentary. The Frenchtown Documentary premier will be shown on June 12. More details to come.
The Open Space Gallery in Frenchtown, NJ donated their space to Kingwood and Frenchtown Schools for a student art show. Student work from grades Kindergarten through 8th was displayed. We had a huge turnout to the opening reception the evening of February 5th. Many people left the show with new appreciation for young artists and what they are capable of.
Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Mathieu for donating your space to us. Also, thank you Amber Gale for including Frenchtown School into your event. I had a great time working with you!
Here are some photos from the event.
