West Warwick High School Student Mural, 2015

Riverside Middle School Student Mural, 2017

Select 6-8 Student Visual Art Showcase and Interdisciplinary Arts Event

Organizer and facilitator

Organizer and Facilitator

Select 6-8 Student Visual Art Showcase and Interdisciplinary Arts Event

PreK-8 Interdisciplinary Arts Showcase, Organizer and Facilitator

Four Student Acceptances & One Cover Artwork

Students evaluate the Tibetan visual art tradition of creating sand mandalas. Students then apply their own symbolic mandalas, answering the essential question: How can you represent your personality through line, your interests through repetitive symbols, and color? Using rulers and compasses, students first find the measurements of their papers in order to develop a consistently measured group of concentric circles, applying radius and circumference. Applying principles of radial symmetry- students develop a quadrant of their design, then transfer it symmetrically around the center point to fill their picture plane. Students then develop their colors schemes, applying value to create dimension of space.

Students apply observational drawing techniques, using their hands as a subject. Through the exploration of a positive gesture, students create contour line drawings of their hands, practicing light pencil drawing, erasing, and sharpie use. Students self-assess their tool use, while practicing accurate scale and proportion

To complete this project, students use primary colors, tints and shades of tempera paint to mix an accurate shade of their own skin tone. Students paint using smooth, blended strokes to cover the entirety of their hands.

Students evaluate the visual and cultural traditions of the UNESCO recognized Mexican heritage and holiday: Dia de los Muertos. Part 1: Students first develop their armature- or sculpture foundation- based on shape and form. Through the blending of plaster strips over a pre-formed mold- students carefully build up a sculpture base for their designs to be painted on. Students consider iterative strategies to create balance and symmetry (or asymmetry), resulting in a culminating mask that they will sand for painting.

Advanced art students evaluate color theory, and how to apply color using acrylic paint to represent their mask sketches. Through their planning- many students created mask designs that are a homage to an important person in their lives. Others chose to work with the aesthetic qualities of traditional sugar skulls related to Dia de los Muertos. Students worked with values, tints and shades to complete balanced final designs using appropriate brushes.

Students evaluate the food sculptures of Claes Oldenburg and sketch their own 3D food designs. By focusing on the transformation of their 2D sketch into 3D form, students focus on the elements of art: Form, Shape- accurately representing real life food, and the Principles of Design: Balance and Proportion. Students also develop proficiency in the technical skills: Taping form neatly and smoothing layers of paper mache.

Seventh graders connect to other cultures by learning about the Huichol Indians and their yarn painting traditions. Students apply observational drawing techniques to create a symbolic animal drawing using contour line. Students then create with visual art elements and design principles: color families, pattern, visual rhythm and symmetry to create overall designs in sharpie and colored pencil that they will "paint" with yarn. Students will assess each other's work in peer reviews, as well as individual reflections based on rubric criteria.

Students create a comic narrative and illustration applying a story arc. By applying the elements of art through the use of line - word and illustration, shape, space, color, and the principles of design using: proportion in illustrations, balance in the arrangement of a template- students create using technical skills: pencil, colored pencil, sharpie, and ruler to develop their final comic pieces.

Step 1: Students create a storyboard using a narrative story arc about a globally relevant theme. This is used to plan the visual construction of our stop motion animation film project.

Step 2: Introduction to Stop Motion Animation with Sculpture or Illustration- From Storyboard to Edited Film Essential Question: How can form, line, shape and color be used in Claymation (Model Magic), Silhouetting (Paper Cutting), Action Figures or Pixilation style Stop Motion Animation? Students evaluate which design principles apply to their own project designs: Emphasis Harmony Scale Proportion Assemblage

Step 3:
Students learn to manage photo files in Google Drive and WeVideo and self-assess using editing software skills, such as: time duration, audio, overlays, transitions and fades.

Students evaluate the artwork of Op Artist Bridget Riley and create their own optical illusion "tube" illustrations. Through the use of value- students apply shadows, midtones and highlights, in order to create a sense of depth on a 2D plane. Students finish their drawings using their choice of pencil, colored pencil, eraser, or sharpie.

Passersby admiring RMS artist’s paper cut stop motion video on climate change.

Video Poems-Stop Motion Animation, Rising Senior Spring 2021

Seventh and eighth grade students learned Green Screen and Stop Motion video editing techniques using WeVideo, a Chromebook extension.

Intro to Graphic Design: Pixlr Editor (Photoshop skill set)

Assignment: Impossible Situation

Middle School Digital Photo: Neil Winokur Self-Portraits, After School Photography Club