EXCELLENCE IN ART

What an amazing year! Such beautiful artwork was produced from these hard-working scholars.

A few projects from the end of the year:

5th grade one-point perspective drawings in oil pastel: master study of Claude Monet's The Avenue

Monet

5th grade agave still life study in watercolor

4th grade master study: Albrecht Durer's Great Piece of Turf in colored pencil

Durer

4th grade Chinese landscape hanging scrolls in dry pastel

 

 

4th grade watercolor seascapes: Winslow Homer inspired schooners

3rd grade master study: Georgia O'Keeffe's Bella Donna in oil pastel

O'Keeffe

3rd grade Grant Wood inspired watercolor landscapes

Wood's Stone City Iowa

3rd grade Navajo saddle blanket designs in colored pencil

   

Well done! I hope everyone is enjoying a safe and relaxing summer.

ART WALK

It is time for the annual spring Art Shows at Trivium East and Trivium West! These events will feature each scholar's best works from the year displayed in the hallways for friends and family to view. Archway Trivium East will be hosting their Art Walk this Friday, May 6th and Archway Trivium West will be combining spring concerts next week with the Art Walk on Tuesday, May 10th. Hope to see you there!

MICHELANGELO INSPIRED HAND DRAWINGS

The Renaissance was a “rebirth” of education, science, and the arts. It was a time of humanism, or the study of classical antiquity and its lifelike qualities. The Renaissance looked for realism and human emotion in art. Michelangelo Buonarroti was not only one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance but in all of history as well. He was talented in many fields including sculpting, painting, poetry, and architecture. He studied human anatomy to perfect realistic qualities of subjects in his work such as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and statue of David. 5th graders studied their hands and learned how to draw from close observation to depict contours and a range of values to achieve realism. They shaded their hands using a hatching or cross-hatching technique as Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists utilized in their sketches.

4TH GRADE GOTHIC CATHEDRALS

As we finished our Middle Ages Unit, 4th graders learned about Medieval architecture. Gothic architecture was ornate, decorative, and included many features including stained glass rose windows, pointed arches, spires, relief statues, and gargoyles. After viewing several buildings including the Notre Dame cathedral, students created a symmetrical design for their own Gothic cathedral using several of these features. The students used Sharpie to outlines their drawing to create contrast and shaded their rose windows with colored pencils to create a focal point.

   

 

   

ICARUS

3rd graders have created a master study of Henri Matisse's Icarus this quarter. They learned about how Fauvist artists such as Matisse used bold shapes and colors to express a feeling or emotion rather than a realistic portrayal of the subject matter in their work. We talked about how Matisse painted using bright colors and organic shapes which transferred to his later work which he called "painting with scissors." In his old age, Matisse continued to create art by making paper cut-outs even though he couldn't paint anymore. 3rd graders discussed the story of Icarus and how Matisse used a simple but effective design to convey meaning in his work.

The 3rd graders are now finishing Georgia O'Keeffe's Bella Donna, and pictures will be soon to follow!

INTO THE NEW SEMESTER

Greetings Archway Families,

I hope everyone is settling into the new year and enjoying this beautiful, warm January in Arizona. After the week of evaluations and conferences, students took home their portfolios from last semester and created new ones for this semester. They took home all work (mostly from the fall quarter) but not any final projects yet. Most of the work they took home were bell work assignments, practice drawings, art critiques, and other classwork.

During the spring, each Archway campus will be hosting a fine arts week that includes spring choir concerts and the annual art walk. This is a time for students to show off their best work from the year, so their projects will stay safely in the art room until then. Each student will choose one or two of their best artworks to be hung in the halls for everyone to admire. This is an exciting time to see all of the hard work that the students have been doing all year. After the art walk, students will take home all of their projects from the year. More information about the art walk for Trivium East and Trivium West will be coming soon!

New projects will be posted soon as the students are finishing up their work. In 5th grade, we are studying Michelangelo Bunarroti and his iconic Renaissance figure drawings and sculptures. Students are creating a drawing of their hand using close observation like the old masters did to create the illusion of realism. We discussed the importance of drawing from closely looking at details and relationships of shapes to create correct proportions of the hand. We looked at several artists' sketches that are lesser known to appreciate that they all began as art students and studied the human form before they went on to create master paintings that we recognize today. A few of the artists' drawings we looked at are shown below.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam

Pages from Da Vinci's Sketchbooks

Durer's Hand Sketches

Van Gogh Hand Sketches

Phoenix Art Museum is hosting a Michelangelo exhibit that is going on now through March 27th entitled Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane. I haven't experienced this yet, but I am looking forward to visiting the museum soon to view some of the rarest Michelangelo figure sketches, architectural drawings, and memoirs. This would be an exciting opportunity for the students (especially 5th grade) to be able to get a first hand experience of the master artist's sketches and drawings! The Phoenix Art Museum is free Wednesdays from 3-9 pm; there is a small fee for admission into the Michelangelo exhibit (adults- $8 and students- $5, or free for museum members). More information about this event here: http://www.phxart.org/exhibition/michelangelo. Have a lovely weekend!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

New artwork is up at ATW as well! The students worked so hard this semester on their projects and assignments and I can't wait to see what they create next semester! Thank you families for your support and generosity. Have a safe and relaxing winter break, and best wishes to your families for the new year :)

4th grade Unicorn Tapestry drawings in oil pastel

5th grade Renaissance still life drawings in colored pencil