November Arts

Early Childhood A students have been studying South America. They created God's Eyes, a traditional craft that the Aymara people make as symbols of protection. They believe that each end of the stick represents one of the four elements (land, water, air, and fire). By thinking about each element while weaving they believe that they gain protection from the elements. They typically hang these in children's rooms so the child will be protected.

Early Childhood B students learned about the work of Georgia O'Keefe and created flower paintings inspired by her work using oil pastels and watercolor.

In Early Childhood music with Kari connections are being made, lights are going on. Their confidence in their ability to solve musical puzzles and create melodies is skyrocketing. There is a musical community developing where they respect and help one another. This is foundational for ensemble work. From the beginning, the students have been working on a group experience. Music is communal. They dance and play instruments together with intention and skill, AND enjoy one another's creativity. They have worked on many new tonal patterns and now are learning triple rhythms through dance and scarf movement with partners. 

Lower Elementary students have been collaborating with all the Upper School classes and After-School Sewing students to create props and costumes for their upcoming play.

Lower Elementary students learned about the parts of the leaf as well as the process of printmaking. They picked several leaves from the Abintra campus and used them to create these colorful leaf prints. 

  

Lower Elementary students are spending time singing through group activities. Working together to learn about rhythm and counting is fun and allows for creative movement. New songs are being introduced often while more familiar songs are revisited to build confidence, camaraderie, and accuracy.

Middle Elementary students moved from the study of organic to geometric shapes with a series of drawings using rulers and compasses. Following the geometric drawings they created mandalas dedicated to the well being of people or situations whom we hold dear. They looked at images of the Rose Window in Notre Dame de Paris, talked about medicine wheels in indigenous cultures, about mandalas in eastern cultures and reflected on our own practice of sitting in circle.

Little adventures with watercolor: Middle Elementary students used blue painter's tape to mask out certain areas, and sprinkled salt over watercolor wash to create a starry effect when it absorbed the water.

After their trip to the Frist to see the Michelangelo drawings, Middle Elementary students undertook sketching people, using them to compose a lively page for painting.

Middle Elementary students are singing a variety of songs from around the world, including rounds in German, French, Italian and Finnish. They have also explored songs which grew out of the period of slavery and emancipation, including "Wade in the Water" and "Follow the Drinking Gourd". Their repertory includes a number of songs from the folk tradition, like "Fox Went Out" or "Rattlin' Bog" as well as a few songs from musicals. As they enter the darker days of winter they are memorizing a song called "Green" by Peter Mayer.

On November 20, 2015, Upper Elementary students put on an incredible performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, adapted and directed by Christy Berryessa. Congratulations to the cast and crew on an amazing production!

The composers and compositions of the Renaissance open up a new world of music to explore and enjoy. Upper Elementary students discovered how inventions like the printing press changed music as well as society, and how the innovators of the time pushed the limits of theory and instrumentation. Discussing music during the Renaissance wouldn’t be complete without introducing the beginning of opera and the many styles of group dancing. The class ended the unit by group activities and circle dancing just in time to begin the Baroque period.

Middle School students continue to practice the art of drawing and have each made notable progress. As of late they have been learning how to create the illusion of increased depth and space with the practice of both one and two point perspective drawing. They then furthered this practice by rendering architectural elements of various buildings here on our campus. They perfectly capped off several weeks of drawing studies with a field trip to the Frist Center to view the exhibition of Michelangelo drawings, Sacred and Profane, Masterpiece Drawings from the Casa Buonarroti. With sketchbooks and pencils in hand they made lengthy and detailed observations of his masterful drawings. And many of the drawings made were also quite impressive, Michelangelo would be proud! Most recently they researched and reported on artists of the German Expressionist movement, including the groups Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke. We gave particular attention to the works of Franz Marc and Edvard Munch.

Middle School students finished their clay masks inspired by masks from Central America and Africa.

Students in After-school Robotics have been learning to program the robots they built. As an extension, they have written programs and attached Sharpies to their robots to create Spirograph art. 

Digital Art launched the school photos website and has made it easy and convenient for parents to order school photos. If you haven't already, be sure to order your child's photos!