Nest+m Winter Art and Music Festival Snapshots

Ms. Hopenwasser preparing artwork to hang

We had an amazing night of Art and Music where parents, families, friends, students and staff celebrated the achievement and talents of grade 6, 7 and 8 students in The Arts. With hard work and a commitment to excellence, we displayed over 100 artworks that showed the exemplary work being created at Nest+m in our robust, vital art program.

We had a array of projects and you can click here to read about them. Below are some photos from the eventful night.

Abstract Collage Experiments, Grade 7 Students

Cupcake Drawings, Grade 6 Students

Portraits with Personality, Grade 7 Students

Positive and Negative Space Collages by Grade 6 Students

Charcoal Animal Drawings, Grade 8

 

Wayne Thiebaud, Food Paintings, and Generating Ideas

We just completed our cupcake drawings and then were introduced to the artwork of Wayne Thiebaud, who is an American Artist famous for his dessert paintings.  We watched a great video about his retrospective from CBS News from the early 2000's. Click here to check it out.

Next, we are starting our Painting Unit, which involves learning new rituals and routines in the art room, as well as developing our painting technique and style.  We analyzed Thiebauds' painting style that used a lot of white, cool colors, prominent shadows and repetition of subject to name a few characteristics of his dessert paintings. Food is the theme for our first painting project and students will apply their newly learned drawing skills to create a 3-D form on a 2-D surface.

Students responded to the following questions to generate a list of ideas to be the subject of their paintings and then we shared our answers in a group discussion. Students loved talking about food and it was fun to discover what students liked and gave insight into their personality and identity.

Brainstorm Activity:

In your sketchbook brainstorm in response to the following questions …

1.What are your favorite foods/dishes? (List 5)

2.What are your least favorite foods/dishes? (List 5)

3. What is your favorite snack/candy?

4. What is the food/dish most cooked in your home?

5. What food do you love the smell of?

Tips On Creating a Composition and Taking a Good Photo

Many of our projects use reference images or draw from observation so students can develop their eye and learn how to see things in terms of shape and line to "breakdown" the image so they can learn how to draw better.

In Grade 6, we discussed reference images and how to take a good photo, rather than just find one on the Internet.  We also talked about composition, white balance and temperature and were introduced to the Rule of Thirds.
Below are some of the points/lessons reviewed in class.

Art and Music Festival Winter 2013

This Thursday, January 24th, the Art and Music Departments are hosting an evening of musical performances and the annual Nest+m Winter Art Exhibition that showcases the creative talents of grade 6, 7, and 8 students at Nest+m Middle School in Manhattan. Save the date and come out and celebrate The Arts at Nest+m.

Important Dates in January 2013!

Call for Art: Nest+m Middle School Art Exhibition

Reception: January 24^th 2013
Submit your best work completed in class this school year by Friday January 11^th. Include your full name and title of artwork.

Scholastic Art Award Submissions for Grade 7 Students
Deadline: January 8^th 2013
http://www.artandwriting.org/the-awards/how-to-submit

Mission Patch Art and Design Competition
Deadline: January 18^th, 3:00pm
http://studioartwithmsh.blogspot.com/p/student-art-competitions.html
Check out examples of other schools patch designs here.

Winter Music Concert Program Cover Design
Deadline:  January 18^th 2013 

Create the cover art for the Winter Concert program. Artwork must be in grayscale and be in excellent condition on 4.25 x 5.5 inch paper. Check out the example below.