#mursd

Presenting Photography/Wk10 Remote Learning

“My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.” — Steve McCurry

When we wrapped up our focus on drawing during week eight of remote learning, it was time for something completely different. Photography. Specifically, a look at photographic composition based on the work of photographer Steve McCurry. I chose Steve’s work for us to study because his…

This post features the work of my fifth and sixth grade art students who have been exploring drawing through lessons primarily derived from the Drawing Instruction manuals of 1872 by Walter Smith, which he developed to guide educators after the establishment of the Drawing Act of 1870. May 13, 2020, marks the 150th anniversary of the Drawing Act of Massachusetts.

Lizzy S

This is the third of three posts about our work with Drawing Instruction as defined by Walter Smith. I recommend the reader (that’s you!) begin by reading Drawing Act 150: Let’s Celebrate followed by Drawing Act 150/Light on White/Wk 7 Remote Learning before reading this post. This post, Drawing Act 150/Human Made Object//Wk 8 Remote Learning, showcases the culmination of the exploration of contour, light, and shading for my students. Their artworks from this post and our online gallery at Artsonia will be emailed as digital artworks to be included in the statewide celebration. Everyone from across the state is invited to participate in this event:

NEW 2020 05 Drawing Act Flyer summer edition

NEW 2020 05 Drawing Act Flyer summer edition

The assignment for this final phase of the project, Human Made Object, called for students to choose a human made, manufactured object from around the house to draw. These are the instructions they read in Google Classroom:

✍️Once you’ve watched the video, choose a human made, manufactured object from around the house. Set it on a white surface and illuminate it with a flashlight or lamp.

✍️Sketch the edges/outlines of the object. Add a grayscale at the top or bottom or on another sheet of paper if you forgot to leave room.

✍️Add shading to your drawing making sure you find areas in the human made object that correspond to every section of your gray scale.

✍️Blend with a tissue or soft paper if you choose.

✍️Erase any extraneous marks. Use your eraser to bring back the bright white areas.

✍️Take a photo of the page to include only the sketch, no background, no grayscale. Crop these out if they are included.

✍️Type your first name and last initial using the Mark-Up option in the regular iPad photo editing tools. See how-to links in earlier assignments.

Still of lesson video

Had we been at school rather than in our homes with remote learning, students would have had charcoal pencils, kneaded erasers, blending stomps, as well  as Yours Truly looking over their shoulders offering suggestions and demonstrating technique as needed, AND providing reminders about how to photograph artwork, I expect the final drawings would have blown our socks off. However, given that was not the situation and my students were working with #2 pencils and tissues for blending on paper on hand, these young artists knocked it out of the park! (But then again, they always do!) See for yourself (click on a drawing to view as a slide show):

Bryant C

Adam D

Taylor F

Patrick C

Finn L

Max B

Hayden F

Jason C

Audrey G

Caelin F

Bridget L

Ben M

Emma R

Adam D

Grace S

Sean B

Anna L

Colt M

Fionn F

Orianna M

Theo B

Lizzy S

I’ve documented our process with this project for myself as well as art educators across Massachusetts who would like to celebrate the Drawing Act 150th anniversary by submitting student drawings. These were my plans based on the resources I gathered. Feel free to use as much of this as you’d like and to tweak it to make it your own great fit for your demographic of students.

I had planned to have a drawing table set up at our spring art show where visitors could create a drawing to submit to the celebration. Because of school closure due to Covid-19, that didn’t happen. I look forward to doing this again in the fall, maybe even in physical school, and will reach out at that time for submissions from the community. I’m really glad to have had this trial run, even as remote learning. It has given me a good sense of how my students will respond (eagerly) when I facilitate this again. I am looking forward to celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Massachusetts Drawing Act of 1870 with a lot of artwork and a whole lot of people in the future!

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Before quarantine, tonight I would have hosted the annual Art Show at the #MiscoeHill EXPO for my 5&6th gr art students & their families. Believing exhibition is important for young artists, I created a virtual show via ThingLink and my students and I would be honored if you could attend. Simply click on the photo below to…

Yesterday was March 1. Spring is just 17 days away. Yet, except for cold air, it hasn’t looked very wintery around here. Fortunately, my fifth and sixth grade art students can create winter from memory and their imaginations.

Baby Yoda’s Christmas by Sean Lewinsky

My drawing is Baby Yoda’s Christmas. He is warm next to his campfire and has 3 big presents. He is enjoying his time by eating cookies. Baby Yoda is inside of a mouse hole for his house. I started out by drawing presents because at first I just wanted to fill my page with Christmas stuff. I wanted to draw Baby Yoda and ended up giving him a little home. I thought it would be funny to make him be in a mouse hole. I am extremely happy on how this came out and hope I draw this good in the future. If I did it again I would not change anything because I love it the way it is. – Sean Lewinsky

We started our third term on January 23. This is the day when the middle school students switch electives and I receive nine new classes. We always start by making folders to hold artwork and works in progress throughout our two terms together.

The folders are made by folding an 18″ x 24″ sheet of 60 lb. drawing paper in half to 12″ x 18″. Students then measure and draw a 10″ square, centered on the front page. This term’s theme or prompt was “Draw something winter” with the added instruction, “whatever that means to you”. As you’ll see below, the kids had no trouble coming up with winter memories and experiences and depicting them in colored pencil.

All of these artworks plus many, many more are on display on our online Artsonia gallery and each is accompanied by an artist statement like the one about Baby Yoda’s Christmas above. You can see them here: Winter Scenes

Sean Lewinsky

Anna LaBastie

Fady Ghobrial

Nick Loo

Greyson Blalock

Sam Crotty

Alyssa Burdzel

Tiffany Constancio

Ana Tengler

Bridget LaRue

Brady Gibbons

Ben Moon

Madeline Olson

Luciana Pereira

Kaylyn Taylor

Kevin Ruddock

Cillian Scott

Will Cudmore

Riley Collura

Tyler Vance

Connor Miller

Irelyn Bradley

Kate McCobb

Thomas Garefalakis

Sydney Darragh

Orianna Murphy

Couldn’t Make It To Open House 2019?

Couldn’t make it Open House this week? No worries at all!

This is a super busy time of year and one can’t do everything! It was a pleasure to see so many parents and guardians Tuesday night and I appreciate your stopping by to say “hi” and check out the art room. If you weren’t able to make it, please know you can stop by any time. Here is what the room looks like in a 360 Panorama (click on the…

April Showers Bring May Flowers

“Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” – Stevie Wonder

For the last few classes, students have been working on drawing flowers. The focus of this project is on drawing from observation, abstraction of composition, and color, light, and contrast. But they have had their mothers in…

Charcoal Still Life Drawings at the Art Show at the Miscoe EXPO

“All the visible world is only light on form.” Andrew Loomis

For the past few weeks, my fifth grade students have been creating charcoal still life drawings. They began by sketching a still life positioned in the middle of the table, while observing light, shadow, and form in their sketchbooks. We had explored ellipses just before undertaking this assignment, and this was a great chance to employ…