7th Grade Takes a Good Long Look at Themselves

7th Grade students will be working on self-portrait drawings over the next couple of months. Students will be developing and using many skills and disciplines as they tackle the difficult possibilities of the self-portrait. Self Portraits have a long history, and many great masters have tackled the challenge of representing themselves via a 2D surface. Like these artists, 7th graders will consider not only the technical steps necessary to complete a portrait drawing, they will also consider composition and style as a means of conveying a sense of themselves to the viewer.

Beginning steps for this project include skill development in areas of line, shading, and observation when drawing, accompanied by taking photos of each other that will be used as the "subject" for their self-portrait drawing. Over the next classes, students will continue to sharpen their drawing skills in addition to creating a transparency drawing from their photo and creating a grid on another photo copy, both for use as accuracy tools during their self-portrait process.

6th Grade Looks for the Vanishing Point

6th graders applied their minds and mark making skills to the technique of one point perspective drawing. Students viewed demonstrations of the technique, learning the steps and rules necessary to transform a 2D surface into a 3D space. 
Most valuable rule, all vertical lines are drawn parallel to each other at 90 degree angles; otherwise the drawer finds that all of their objects are leaning to and fro. 

One Point Perspective Basics using a computer.

One Point Perspective Video using pencil, paper, and ruler.

8th Grade Embarks on a Fashion Journey

The 8th graders are embarking on an end of the year fashion adventure via their creativity, the art studio, and community donations of clothing. Students will be working together in groups to create a "fashion forward" repurposed outfit to be worn by the group's model in an end of the unit Fashion Show on May 29th. 

Outfits and accessories will be constructed by altering/sewing unwanted clothes and using unconventional materials (metal washers, paper, wire, etc.). Students are required to created their outfit using repurposing techniqures and basing the design on their current style preferences (preppy, hip, casual, sporty, etc.), drawing from a historical era of fashion (e.g. the renaissance, the roaring 20's, disco 70's, etc.), or costume (knight, animal, nature, etc.). Design groups will receive certificates for attending to assignment parameters and achieving group goals by working together, considering each members ideas and strengths when making decisions. 

March 26, 2013
Set Design - Middle School Performance Exploratory

Performance of Small Actors, March 22, 2013

Preparing emotions for the backdrop.

For this year's Middle School Play, Set Design was challenged to create a single backdrop that could embody a range of stage performances and convey a conceptual interpretation of the content in this year's play Small Actors. After reading the entire play as a group, set design brainstormed and discussed the complex feelings of identity, family, love and loss explored in the play. 

 Ideas for the backdrop revolved around quotes and the play excerpt below and led students and I to develop a conceptual backdrop meant to convey/represent that internal "audience" we all carry around inside our minds. 

“There are no small parts, only small actors” -Konstantin Stanislavisky  

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts," - William Shakespeare's As You Like It

Small Actors by Stephen Gregg:

MR. PHELPS. There are no small parts, Emily.

EMILY. It's not even that it's small. It's just so...It's ex-actly the kind of part you'd expect a person like me to play.

MR. PHELPS. I'm sorry?

EMIL Y . You know. You look at  her, (Referring to WENDY.) and you think, "Oh, Juliet." Of course. Of course she's the lead. She's never in her life going to have a part that consists of four one-syllable words.

WENDY. How do you know?

EMILY. I just know. And then you look at me, you look at my life, and you think, ''Oh, crappy little walk-on." And, I mean, if you were me, wouldn't it worry you that that's going to be it, your whole life? Like your whole life is going to be the equivalent of this four-word role?

MR. PHELPS. People play all sorts of roles.

EMILY. I don't think that's true. I think if you play the second servant in Romeo and Juliet, you end up playing it your whole life. (ALL stare at herfor a moment.)

Students contemplated the emotions they felt reading the play, and those they feel daily and created a color coded system that would link the color of each face on the backdrop to the emotion it is meant to represent. The ultimate design consisted of a thought bubble containing a cropped section of stadium seating in a theater, showing a multitude of faces and emotions extending off into the distance.

Students utilized drawing sheets, themselves and each other as inspiration for the eyes, mouth, etc. drawn to convey each emotion; Pink = shy, embarrassed, Yellow - Happy, funny Orange = strange, weird Green = Envy, Sickness, Purple = suspicious, guilty, Blue = Sad, Sleepy. 

Great Job Glee, Band, and Drama on your performances and thanks for giving our back-drop context.

Middle School Student Art Show

More photos will be updated to this post in the future, but this snippet represents a great success for Middle School students. Every student in grades 6-8 have completed a long term (15-20 hour) explorative, skill-building, multi-discipline unit in the TBS Art Studio and the project results are stunning. Student focus pages will contain documented photos of these works in the next month, please come back and enjoy the online Art Show.

And because it can not be said enough...
Art Show Thanks

Our many heartfelt thanks to all of the people who gave their time and talents to make the 11th Annual All-School Student Art Show a celebration of our children’s art a success. First, a big thanks to Head of School Mitch Bostian and Associate Head of School Zachary Roberts, who value and support art as a way of learning.

With gratitude,
The Berkeley School Teaching Artists
Julianne Hughes, ECC – 5th
Benicia Hill, 6th – 8th

Teaching and installation:
Julie Walton – Teaching Artist
April Netzer (Gabriel 8th)
Nicole (teaching K/1 Laurel)

Building and Installation:
Yu Ren Lin & Randy Yee

Moving, building walls, and all-around physical plant support:
James Mandel (Brian 4/5 Strawberry)
Blue Camancho (Josephine ECC Cedar & Dylan 2/3 Sweet Briar)
Charles Gibson (Clara K/1 Laurel) – shelves construction & painting
Jim Bruce (Gabriel 8th)
Catherine Buchanan (Michael K/1 Laurel; William 2/3 Temescal; Alex 4/5/Cerrito)
Kim Headlee Swisher – TBS Teaching Musician
Danette Swan – TBS 2/3 Sweet Briar teacher

Volunteer Organization:
Gina Tega – TBS Family Association (Jude 2/3 Temescal, Soli 4/5 Strawberry)
Jean Littlejohn (Anna 4/5 Cerrito)

Balloons:
Sarah Hendlish (Benji ECC Magnolia)

Food and Opening:
Kim Andersson (Jasper, ECC Cedar and Will, 2/3 Sweet Briar)
Joan Bostian (Amalia, 4/5 Strawberry and Roxy, 2/3 Temescal)
Wil Burns (Shira, 4/5 Cerrito)
Keiki Fujita (Sunny 4/5 Strawberry, Star Middle School)
Elizabeth Grimes (Ethan, K/1 Blackberry and Emily, 4/5 Cerrito)
Tamar Meidav (Shira 4/5 Cerrito)
Alyssa Levy (Kiara, K/1 Laurel)
Jean Littlejohn (Anna, 4/5 Cerrito)
Barbara McDonald (Frankie, 4/5 Cerrito)
Willie Pettus (Charlie, Middle School and Sam, 2/3 Sweet Briar)
Dobee Snowber (Jesse, Middle School and Michael, 4/5 Cerrito)

Extended Gallery Hours, March 2, 2013 from 10:00 am -2:00 pm:
Suzanne Guerlac (Maquel, K/1 Laurel – grandmother)
Lisa Thompson (Nina K/1 Blackberry)

March 6, 2013

Annual TBS Student Art Show is a Huge Success 
for Students and Families!

(More Photos Coming Soon!)

Last night's Student Art Show was a hit! 

 From the moment the University gate swung open, the campus was filled with children and adults looking carefully -- and admiringly -- at student art.  A large number of ECC families made the trek over, and many grandparents and special friends were in the mix:  the buzz was positive and excited, and that didn't come from the sparkling apple juice:  it was the art.

The art!  

Self-portraits; puppet shows; a Calder circus and tipis destined for the playscape; lamps of all descriptions and lighted works of fused glass.  Folks circulated back and forth from the Depot to the Art Studio, and all were justifiably impressed by the scope of the projects, the clear agency that student artists were displaying, and the range of ideas.

Major congratulations and appreciations to Julianne and Benicia for translating their classroom work into a show that everyone could appreciate and enjoy.  Putting this many hours into something that will "live" for a few days and then come down is a labor of love -- with emphasis on both "labor" and "love" -- and The Berkeley School really benefits from such dedication.  Thank you both!

- Mitch Bostian
     Head of School
             The Berkeley School