Portrait of an Artist

Julia Apr 20, 2013 2 Comments

For this assignment, students learned how to draw a portrait from a photograph using pencil-measuring techniques. Above left is my example, and the right image shows a student’s progress. While students worked on their drawings, I delivered presentations introducing them to interesting facts and important works for each artist.

Below: Pop artists Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.

Below: Surrealist artist Salvador Dali and photo-realistic portrait artist and photographer Chuck Close.

Below: American painter Georgia O’Keeffe and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.

Below: Cubist painter Pablo Picasso and surrealist Salvador Dali.

Inspire!

Julia Apr 15, 2013 0 Comments

Kapa’a Middle School held a cover-art contest for its annual Literary Magazine publication. This was an optional assignment for students who had extra time in class or who were motivated to create something at home. Here are a few entries that students submitted…

Below are the 2013 winners! The left image was used for the front cover, while the right was printed as the inside title page for the magazine.

Scratchboard Art

Julia Apr 12, 2013 2 Comments

Students tried to capture the life-like expression and character of an animal, bird, reptile, or sea creature for this assignment. The main focus was on rending a naturalistic form using value tones created through visual texture.

Advanced students were given more creative freedom when choosing the subject for their scratchboard design, since they did a similar assignment in my class last year.

Elective Night 2013

Julia Apr 11, 2013 0 Comments

Families, faculty, and community members were invited to enjoy an evening to celebrate the hard work and talents of Kapaa Middle School students in their Elective classes. Basketball and square dancing kicked things off, followed by chorus and ukulele performances and delicious cookies made by Home-Ec students. The Science teachers also joined in this year with interactive labs and demonstrations for a combined event.

The Art display was enhanced this year with our purchase of professional display boards! This was an exciting development from last year when I was literally hanging artwork from the window-blinds. It was impressive, if I do say so myself!

Chris did a fabulous job with his media crew, and live-streamed the whole event on Kauai Stream. Other media included a sneak peak of the Yearbook, Computer Class projects, photography, and viewing/listening stations highlighting the GT Media students’ films.

Thank you to everyone who helped put on this fun and successful event!

Copper Tooling with Colorful Borders

Julia Apr 1, 2013 5 Comments

This 3-dimensional relief project involved creating an abstract design using expressive lines to divide the composition, and a variety of textures to fill the spaces. Students created the center of their formal design with Copper Repousse, and continued the lines and patterns on a wide border using vibrant chalk-pastels and colored pencils.

The details above show an angled view that reveals the 3-dimensional relief pattern at the center of each design. Below you can see the finished projects, which are fairly large at 25″x25″.

Lilli Kessell-Fay & Halle Lazo

Isaiah Sacramed & Jazmine Kaleiohi

Alyssa Pinoliar & Maeghan Fostanes