Sixth Grade Makes Grecian Artifacts

MS 223's students from 601 & 606 took an artistic journey into the past as they portrayed Greek vases called amphora, during art sessions with me in the Fall. Giving a contemporary twist to four different styles of the urns, students drew inspiration from this past summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. The Olympics began in Greece.

Students drew pictures of olympians playing sports and competing in the games, oon their vases. Some put them in arenas with spectators in the background. Then they added embellishments to their vases, many in the forms of Greek design. After all the design & color were added, students covered their entire piece in black paint. Scratching through the paint to magically reveal the colors was like making a find in an ancient archaeological dig.Guests came to our art showing and celebration, including several of the students' parents.

Eighth Grade Celebrations At MS 223

Eighth graders at MS 223 in the Bronx, celebrated the completion of their visual arts rotation with me as their Resident Teaching Artist. Students from 803. 804, 805 & 877 spent the Oct. - Dec. working on personal identity collages and learning how to draw. They made contour drawings and learned about portraiture as they drew their own self portraits. They learned about self portraits created by Vincent Van Gogh and Schmidt Rutluff and Picasso's portrait of Dora Marr. They worked as "modern artists" to create stylized and abstracted portraits of themselves. Their teachers, Ms. Flood, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Trust & Ms. Concepcion were highly supportive of all their efforts. During the celebrations of completion, visitors including principal, Mr. Gonzalez, as well as teachers & other school personnel, came to view the artwork and leave comments for the artists. All the students felt a great sense of accomplishment.