Hey there, Bulldog community! Today is a good day to look back on the amazing things our young artists did last cycle, especially because it is the beginning of Youth Art Month, aka YAM. When reflecting, I noticed an overall theme developing in our art. It seems that in all things we did, our art always tied back to generating a deeper understanding of the world around us. Young artists have been observing and creating from what they see around our world, both in nature and within our communities. They also have been taking a closer look at some of the other cultures that are found on the globe and how they compare to our own. Last, students have been developing art in a way that leaves little waste in the wake, if any, while thinking about how their art could make our world a healthier and more beautiful place. Below is a recap on most of these projects that students, Pre-K through 12th, participated in.
I would say that our biggest success last cycle was the 5th grade art field trip, and the fact that fifth grade work is being exhibited at the esteemed Texas Quilt Museum of La Grange, TX. Thank you to all involved in helping create this opportunity. I wrote about the event a few weeks back. You are more than welcome to search it out on the blog.
Our other great success was the fact that the art department had Science-based art to feature at this year’s Science Night. I thank all the students who were involved in the creation of these pieces, installations and break downs. Featured art were as follows:
Pre-K Collage: Pre-K collaborated to create a collage of Staghorn Coral, a species that is on the top ten endangered species list for North America. To use little resources, the piece was created by reusing old paper, and then painting it and collaging it in a way to show an image of coral. You can see more of our elementary students' collages at the digital gallery Artsonia.
Third Grade Cells Inside Cells Installation: For this work of art, third graders drew and painted images that were taken from inside a transmission electron microscope. To see individual work visit this link. Later, these works of art were cut and folded into the shape of another type of cell - the hexagonal cell of a honeybee comb. Once the hexagonal cells were completed we were able to install them into a pattern of a tessellation.
4th and 5th Grade Assemblage: For this project students used found objects and recyclables to build and dream big. The sculptures themselves were intended to be robots, computers and machines. If these objects were to actually function, they would have different jobs that help keep the world a healthy and beautiful place. Artists who inspired the students were sculptors Louise Nevelson and Angela Hazeltine Pozzi. Before students take these sculptures home, we would also like to exhibit them a little longer at school. More information on that will be coming soon.
Secondary Artist Books: Secondary art students also had a hand in Science Night. Last semester they spent time drawing from observation to create scientific studies like naturalist John James Audubon. Later they created prints that were mounted into three large, handmade books, mimicking the Birds of America a magnificent compendium created by Audubon and the science community in the early 1800’s. To check out students’ preliminary studies, visit this page at Artsonia.
Moving back to three-dimensional form, secondary art students took a stab at sculpting with papier mache during the fourth cycle. It was a messy project (a BIG THANK YOU to our custodian Zenaida Castillo!!!) but the end results were amazing. If you have not visited the secondary library, I encourage you to go check it out. On display are the sculptures of personified food made by 8th - 12th graders. It is evident that these young people have a lot of creativity to work with.
As for contest art, 8th-12th grade also participated in the 2019 Doodle 4 Google contest. A lot of thought and work went into these creative drawings of the Google logo, designed around the theme “When I grow up, I hope…” You can see some designs below. Again - beautiful minds.
Students also observed and drew around local traditions within our community. For example, we always have fun walking out to the Auction Barn during the annual Livestock Show to take a closer look at the animals and their owners as they put them on display for competition. Students used their well-practiced drawing skills and created visual representations of the going-ons of the show. Below are some of the beautiful pencil drawings created that day.
Third graders also got a chance to draw from observation. Students tried to artistically document the QU Wedding, a Pre-K community tradition that creatively explores relationships within phonics. Below are images of students creating during and after the event. They will be finishing these works this week with splashes of watercolor.
Last we ventured away from our own culture to take a look at another across our globe: that of Australia and the Australian Aborigine. Kids especially had fun learning about the animals of Australia and comparing them to the animals we have here in Texas. We observed how Australian animals are artistically represented in Australia, and then we tried our own hand at the Western Desert Aboriginal style but with Texas state mammals. The end results were lovely, and each child’s art has been photo-documented and added to our page on the Artsonia digital art gallery (click to see 1st/2nd grade armadillos here and kinder bats here).
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Expanding beyond the Island Shore:
This year a big goal of mine was to reach out to parents and the community. We need to increase the visibility of the art created by students at the FISD Art Department, plus we need to create more opportunities where students and the community can artistically work together. The gallery at Artsonia, social media (aka the Twitter feed) and this blog are great tools to reach this goal. Let’s face it, physically hanging artwork on walls around the campus takes time and resources, access for viewing is extremely limited and, honestly, Ms. Demel only has 24 hours in a day.
If you would like to keep up with what your child is creating in the art room, you can do any of these three things:
- Follow our Twitter feed: CaitlinE.Demel@DemelFineArt
- Follow this blog :)
- Activate your child's account at Artsonia. You can email me if you lost the parent code that was sent home for your child. My email is cdemel@flatonia.txed.net
Currently we only have 21% of our students’ artwork viewable on Artsonia due to low parent permission rates. Help us raise this rate. Let’s get to 100%. Every child deserves to have their artwork seen. What they create in the art room is extraordinary. Also, fun fact: the gallery will keep documentation of your child’s art pieces during all of their years at FISD, so you will be able see their artistic development take place, all in one place, under one click in the years to come.
In closing, I wish you a wonderful March - the month when we celebrate the art created by our youth! Happy YAM!
