Middle School Blog Stars 2010/2011

Inspired by two hip hop artists in residence at our school - we studied graffiti and street art in Studio 101.  We looked at the artwork of Banksy, Shepard Fairey and Jean-Michel Basquiat.  Middle school students designed an original "tag" or character.  From the sketches, artists carved rubber stamps and created prints and stickers!

Katie Lehosky

Annie Brattina

Katie Fallon

Steven Chaklos

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During our PSSArt Unit 7th and 8th grade artists created Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Quilt Patterns from trash and product packaging.  These geometric designs tested their math skills as they measured and pieced together these gorgeous compositions based on traditional quilt patterns.

Anina Parker

Alexis Berkeley

Greg Morris

Jacob Borkowski

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Middle School artists just completed a silk screen unit with our fabulous student teacher Carrie Pace.  We began with a study of artist, and Pittsburgh native, Andy Warhol.  We discussed Pop Art and how it blurred the line between fine art and commercial art.  We looked at the artwork of Shepard Fairey and talked about appropriated images and copyright.  Middle school artists had to choose a celebrity, a household object, or a commercial product and create a plastic stencil.  Then they experimented by printing with various inks on paper and on textiles.

 

 Jacque Gant

Angelique Williams

Brandi Pantalone

Adam McVeigh

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Middle School artists enjoyed making these multi-media weavings incorporating yarn, fabric, beads, lace and ribbon.

 

Brandon Geyer

Nacho Cisneros

Ricquel Cottrell

Courtney Byers

Courtney turned her's into an adorable, functional pouch!

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We are continuing our glass fusing curriculum that was so popular with the middle school artists when we began it last year.  We have a small kiln in Studio 101 where we fire our original designs.

Anissa Payne

Chris Joscak

This radial design project incorported math skills, such as symmetry and using a compass, as well as a study of mandalas.  Artists were asked to create an original design featuring nature.  The results were laminated so they would last forever, but it makes them difficult to photograph for the blog!

Alexandra Lucas

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Middle school artists studied architectural gargoyles and grotesques.  We discussed the different animals often represented in gargoyles, and we compared scary ones to silly ones.  Students used a combination of Model Magic, paper mache pulp and acrylic paint to create these gargoyle relief sculptures.

Caitlyn Byers

Scott Harris

Mimi Ogunyemi

Austin Spolan

1st Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011 Children's Museum Partnership

1st grade artists are working on a year long project called Spaces, Places and Changes in partnership with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.  It combines art, literacy, science and social studies learning and allows the first grade teachers, Ms. Thompson and Ms. Cain, to collaborate with Ms. Babusci to plan exciting field trips to the museum and deepen the learning happening at school, and at the museum.  We will update the blog with information about this project throughout the school year.

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During our PSSArt focus on quilting and sewing, 1^st grade artists used large, blunt needles, yarn and burlap to learn a basic straight stitch.  After mastering this they graduated to the “crazy yarn” and some more challenging stitches like the “stars” you see on these masterpieces.  The young artists showed amazing patience and determination.

Emma Kazynski

Patrick MacNamee

After sewing it was a logical leap to weaving - a similar concept.  Instead of traditional textiles, we used plastic bags to create these recycled weavings.  This project also tied in with our larger weavings we are creating collaboratively for an installation art piece that will conclude our year-long partnership project with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh - see images of these masterpieces below.

Abraham DeAlmeida

Narissa Baker

Recycled-Collaborative Weavings - 

Action shots at the reception for our art exhibition at the Pittsburgh Children's Museum!

Laini Virag adds some green plarn.  "Plarn" is yarn made from plastic bags, it was created in Studio 101 by the middle school artists in support of the 1st grade weavers.  

The other non-traditional art materials?  A tee shirt and a hula hoop!

Some Propel Braddock Hills artists helped out too!

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As we continue our partnership with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh we are talking about the function of museums.  A museum houses a collection for visitors to learn from and engage with.  1st grade students shared their own personal collections with one another, and Ms. Babusci shared her collection of salt and pepper shakers!  1st grade artists chose a favorite salt and pepper shaker set and observed the shapes and details to create a line drawing.  In the next class they observed the colors and added paint.  Throughout this partnership with the museum, 1st grade artists have been using their powers of observation to improve their drawing skills. 

Abby Kunkle

 Nate Baker

The Children's Museum has quite a collection of puppets.  During our last museum visit we saw so many puppets, including the puppets from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood!  We learned about 5 types of puppets: hand puppets, finger puppets, shadow puppets, marionettes and rod puppets.  In Studio 101 first grade artists created their own felt, finger puppets inspired by their favorite animals. 

 NeveahWessel

Roman Surratt

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Laini Virag

Laini is creating her "I'm Special" self-portrait puppet, part of the "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Mr. Rogers social studies and character education curriculum that 1st grade is using.  The curriculum is woven into our museum partnership project.  (It was "Pajama Day"!)

Stephen Byrne

Stephen is working in his museum sketchbook/journal in CMP's Backyard exhibit.  The books incude art and written reflections by the students.  The books are created out of 2 recycled paper grocery bags.  They will be featured in an exhibit at the museum when the project concludes.

Jaymie Bobbin

Jaymie is creating a silhouette of a column for the silk screening station in the art studio at CMP.  Students studied 3 types of classic architectural columns: doric, ionic and corinthian.

Tommy Burns

Tommy is enjoying the silk screening station.  He is watching the ink being added, next he pulled the squeegee across the screen to create his print.

Kindergarten Blog Stars 2010/2011

I am so lucky to have parents who own a local, independent bookstore - Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont.  While it is primarily a mystery books store, they also have a passion for children's books.  My mother is always looking for great books for Studio 101.  In Kindergarten classes in particular, we often begin our art projects with a story for inspiration.  The books are sometimes included in this blog so that families can share them at home to.  Maybe check them out at the library? Read them together!

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Kindergarten artists enjoyed the book, A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni.  After discussing the illustrations in the book, students used tempera paints to create a background for their chameleon.  The next day they glued their chameleon into place and began adding the colors that would make the best camouflage.  Artists honed their fine motor skills by tearing the colored paper and gluing it to their chameleon like scales. 

 

Lindsey Linsenbiglar

Julian Middleton

Abby Hummert

 Bryan Taylor

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The first 6 weeks of art East's youngest artists focus on the basics of color.  They learn to identify colors and mix the primary colors.  The turtles below began with an idea from Ms. Pam, who runs our cafeteria.  She asked if I could think of a use for the trays our fruit is delivered in.  After a little trimming, they seemed like perfect turtle shells to me.  We mixed blue and yellow paint to create green and added patterns to the shells with oil pastels.
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Abigail Chen

Matvey Zoukouski

One of the projects I teach every Fall is this Leaf Man collage.  We go on a leaf hunt - walking around the neighborhood, and then we create Leaf Men, Leaf Women, Leaf Bats, Leaf Sharks etc.  The students learn to identify and mimic basic shapes with a non-traditional art material.

Misha Billingsly

Russell Preisach