Arts
November 13, 2020
Book Design—Cover to Cover
Jason Knarr’s Upper School graphic class is working on an extensive project, in which each student will design a book from start to finish, including a unique cover design, title page, table of contents, and text and images, which will incorporate industry standards for book illustration and layout. During a recent lecture, Knarr encouraged the students to get a handle early on the scope of their work in order to produce an intentional and polished finished product. “Each student has researched an indigenous culture of North America, and is now designing a book that they will create,” said Knarr, adding that the students’ books will be shared with Lotspeich third-graders.
Fourth-graders Study Work of Kehinde Wiley
Fourth-graders in Lotspeich art teacher Jody Knoop’s class are studying the style of African-American portrait painter Kehinde Wiley. Wiley is known for his highly naturalistic portraits of black people, who are placed on backdrops of complex patterns and brilliant colors. His portraits of the Obamas are two of his most well-known pieces. In order to capture Wiley’s style in their work, students used a pattern-making application, Kaleidopaint, on their iPads. Students then took photos of themselves, and used Procreate’s digital manipulations to paste the photos of themselves onto the patterned background. “There are so many gifted contemporary artists of color,” said Knoop. “One of my goals this year is to explore the talent of people who reflect the faces of my students.”
Learning the Art of Grafitti
Middle School art teacher Elissa Donovan is using a street art lesson to teach students the ins and outs of font design. The students chose a word of significance to them and, using curved upper and lower guidelines, wrote the word in capital letters to a consistent size. They boxed out the letters and explored overlap, severed angles, connecting letters together, and the art of adding decorative serifs. After writing the words on a large scale in their newly created font, the students added color to their pieces using marker and colored pencil.
Unit III Music Students Learn Unique Percussive Techniques
Unit III Doherty music students are learning the intricate musical technique of percussion using nontraditional instruments, such as cups and buckets. In the spirit of actor Anna Kendrick’s famous cup act from the movie, “Pitch Perfect,” music teacher Maria Eynon’s students are beginning to make the very complex art of cups look easy, all while singing the song, “When I’m Gone.” The students are also working hard on learning how to pull together crisp percussion by tapping out rhythms with sticks using buckets as their drums. The drumming will eventually be performed to Bruno Mars’ song, “Uptown Funk” and “Old Town Road.” Both the cup and bucket songs are typically performed during Doherty’s end-of-year ceremony in the spring.
Tapping into Kandinsky
Unit II students in Doherty art teacher Kacey Watkins’ class recently studied the work of Wassily Kandinsky and created colorful weavings reflecting the artists’ work. Student started out by painting paper plates with circles inspired by Kandinsky’s Squares with Concentric Circles painting and then proceeded to paint patterns to add interest. “Once the plates were dry, students learned how to create a loom and weave with a variety of yarn and beads,” said Watkins. “It was difficult to find a stopping point to this project as students enjoyed the rhythm of the weaving process.”
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Five Stingers Sign to Play in College
Five Stingers from the Class of 2024 signed their letters of intent to continue their athletic careers in college.
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