Art at Abintra - August - October 2016

Early Childhood

As part of their continent study of North America, Early Childhood A students have been learning about American artist Jackson Pollock. This lesson featured primary colors through Pollock’s “action painting” technique using a paint-covered marble.  This process assists students with their coordination of movement, concentration, independence, and their ultimate discovery of secondary colors by mixing primary colors. Early Childhood B students began their study of primary colors through the work of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. 

Lower Elementary

Our Lower Elementary artists have been busy creating sketchbooks and portfolios to be used throughout the year. Keeping their drawings and paintings in a portfolio will allow for the self-reflection that is a valuable part of the art making process. They look forward to sharing their recently made drawings of outer space and self-portraits.

LE students have also been occupied with the stagecraft elements of their upcoming theatrical productions, making a very large backdrop painting and various props for the plays. Students are again working with professional actor and former Abintra alum Christy Berryessa to present two African tales, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain and Kitoto the Mighty.

As part of their study on the African biome, LE students were treated to a performance of African drums and dance led by Windship Boyd and Sory Diabate.      

Upper Elementary

In the visual arts, our Upper Elementary students have been primarily focused on the fundamentals of design, drawing, and painting. They began the year with the construction of portfolios.

Drawing from the still-life, they have been very occupied with the making of contour and perspective drawings and learning more about creating the illusion of three dimensional shapes upon a two dimensional surface. They have also been delightfully focused on the making of illustrations for an upcoming songbook. 

In music, Upper Elementary students been singing traditional songs from all over the world--Japan, Korea, Indonesia, France, Spain, Germany, Finland, Mexico, Canada and the US.  A number of these songs are rounds, which provide a wonderful introduction to harmony. 

Middle School

Our Middle School students have been primarily focused on the fundamentals of drawing. Drawing is a fundamental tool for thought, creativity, social and cultural engagement. Learning to draw is primarily about the discipline of close observation and learning to see. Our students, using a variety of media, are making many contour drawings of various objects as well as drawings from the still life. Though based upon observations of the same objects, the students’ work is often quite varied and personally expressive.

Middle Schoolers have also been researching and discussing the work of contemporary African American artists Kara Walker and Kerry James Marshall.

After School Photography

After school photography students have learned the fundamentals of operating a DSLR camera and are experimenting with different perspectives, shutter speeds, and apertures to capture unique images that represent their artistic styles.