PROPEL STUDIO 101

Art Vocabulary 2011-2012

2012-01-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

rainbow roll or blend roll - A technique of simultaneously rolling 2 or more colors on a relief surface from the same brayer. Colors have a soft
blended transition from one to the next.

(A brayer is a hand roller used in printmaking to spread ink across a surface.)

composition - the harmonious arrangement of the visual elements of a work of art in relation to each other and to the whole.

design - Radial means anything relating to or arranged like rays. A radial design is one where all components are distributed around a center point. A star, a wheel and a daisy are examples of radial design. Also a snowflake:

puppeteer - a person who manipulates puppets.
Jim Henson is a very famous puppeteer. He created the Muppets.

Contour-
the outline of an object, body or land mass. The edge or line that defines or bounds a shape, especially a curving form.

Hot Glass/Warm Glass/Cold Glass-

Hot glass work is done over an open flame, such as blown glass and torch work or lampwork.

Warm glass is glass fused, molded or slumped in a kiln.

Cold glass is done without any heated element, such as etched glass or stained glass.

Collection-
A collection is an accumulation of objects. The works of art that make up the holdings of a museum or art collector. Museums typically have both permanent collections and traveling collections. Collections may be centered around a medium or technique or a particular artist. For example, the Andy Warhol Museum here in Pittsburgh has a collection of Warhol's artwork and The Mattress Factory Museum has a collection of installation art. People collect things such as stamps, figurines, models trains etc. as a hobby.

Mosaic - art created by assembling small pieces of colored tile, stone orglass. The individual pieces,known as tesserae are used to create a pattern or a picture. Mosaic is one of the world’s oldest artforms, dating back over 4000 years.

shading - showing a change from light to dark in a picture by darkening areas that would be in shadow and leaving other areas light. Shading produces depth.

kiln - a furnace or oven for firing, burning, baking or drying something. Our kiln in Studio 101 has been fired up lately to fuse glass. The middle school artists are creating glass fish...pictures coming soon...

Collage – a work of art created by pastingflat elements to a surface to create a picture or design. Can include “found objects.” Introduced by Cubist artists thistechnique is still used today by contemporary artists.

A collage by artist Hannah Hoch.

Font - A complete set of characters in a particular size and style of type. These are a few common examples:

Landscape - A work of art that represents a view of natural scenery.
For example, Wheat Fields after the Rain, painted by Vincent VanGogh. This painting is owned by our Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh!

Stylize - To alter the natural shapes, forms, colors or textures in a work of art, in order to represent a particular style of art.
In this Mexican amate bark painting the birds and plants are stylized, not realistic.

Studio Habits - These are the habits every artist in Studio 101 should strive to develop.

I am respectful of every artistin our studio and the artwork they create.

I have an open mind - I amready to learn new things and see new things.

I am ready to try somethingnew, and ask questions and persevere if it doesn’t come easily to me. I understand there is an opportunity tolearn from my mistakes.

I am ready to lend a hand tohelp keep our studio beautiful and our art materials organized and in goodcondition.

I am ready to look carefullyto become a better artist.

I try to express myselfthrough my artwork.

I am willing to help others.

I am ready to reflect on mywork and evaluate my own process.

I am not bringing gum/food/drink, outside aggravations or a bad attitudeinto our studio.

Technique - a technique is a procedure or method an artist uses. Think about the way you work with different media in Studio 101. What techniques have you mastered?

Portrait - a painting, drawing, sculpture, photograph or other artistic representation of a person. The example below is a self-portrait painted by artist Vincent VanGogh.

Spectrum - the distribution of colors produced when light is dispersed by a prism. Commonly referred to as "rainbow order".

Sculptor:

A person who practices the art of sculpture. A sculpture is a three dimensional work of art. Pictured below is local, Pittsburgh sculptor, Thaddeus Mosely.

Blend:

To merge or mix colors applied to a surface, with a brush, pencil or other medium. This is sometimes called gradation, such as the colors in the background of this Peter Max print.

Studio:

1. The workroom of an artist such as a painter, sculptor, dancer or musician.

2. A room or place for instruction or experimentation in one of the arts.

The word “studio” comes from the Latin word studium meaning to study or zeal. Zeal means enthusiasm.
Bring your enthusiasm to Studio 101!

Happy New Year

2012-01-10T22:49:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! OK, I am a little late...In 2012 I aim to figure out how to best utilize this blog. Because Studio 101 student work is now posted on Artsonia it seems silly to duplicate that feature here. (To view Propel East artworks on Artsonia www.artsonia.com, simply type in our school name)
One thought is to make this blog an area where I can showcase more photographs and explanations of students AT WORK. Focus on our process, more than the final products. It would allow me to share more about my practice as a teacher, our curriculum, and the resources and routines in our classroom studio. I think this would make the blog more useful for fellow art educators and parents, but less useful for students. It is a work in progress!

Our Studio is bursting at the seams with awesome art.


Some ambitious designers created the fashions on our manikans. (Yes, that is how you spell it when referring to artist mannequins. I just learned that from Ms. Neumeyer.)

Architecture Blocks

2012-01-10T22:36:00.002-05:00

The Architecture Blocks are a favorite choice form the "art games" shelves...

Proud architects Jonathan & Cameron.

TJ's creation.

David built this.

Patrick's "museum".

6th Grade Artists 2011/2012

2011-11-06T22:57:00.001-05:00

Students viewed several examples of Mexican amate paintings. Traditional amate paper is created from tree bark. We created our own, similar, surface by distressing recycled craft paper. We studied the color palette, the decorative elements and the stylized depictions of birds and nature in the traditional paintings. 6th grade artists worked from photographs of birds to create these unique compositions.

Leanna

Shakyra

Shayla


Kennedi


Maddi

Shayne


Shelby


Cameron


Robert

Arielle


Jacob


Dejah

Blake


Catie

David


Khaliqa


Tyler

Jazlyn

Paul


Kaylee


Ajaney

Quinton

Ramon

Kindergarten Artists 2011/2012

2011-11-06T21:36:00.000-05:00

Kindergarten artists are fairly new around here, but they are quickly getting used to having a great time in Studio101! We have been really enjoying trying out some different painting techniques, using paintbrushes...and...our fingers!


Ethan & Dalonna

Just putting on the "Paint Shirts" was pretty exciting.

Devin and Alexis

Miguel and Savannah

Andre and Jazlyn

Kylee

De'Asa

7th & 8th grade Artists

2011-10-03T22:42:00.003-04:00

7/8th grade artists studied the artwork of Pop Artist Peter Max. Ms. Babusci loves the early artwork of Peter Max. I fondly remember this poster from my childhood. Ms Gough remembers having Peter Max stationary. His artwork was popular in the early 70's:

Utilizing the Photo Booth application (and our new Studio 101 Apple computers!) Middle school artists worked with a partner to photograph their profiles. They created these original compositions incorporating: radial lines, profiles, color mixing and blending techniques, fantasy and repeated shapes. The paintings are quite large and artists worked for many weeks to complete them. The results are stunning.

Rebecca

Christian

Tabby

Ujinge

KaCe

Jacque

Laney

Emery

Joe

Aniyah

Samantha

Ryan

Brandon

Alyssa

Cullin

Ella

Bryan

Leah

Dominique

Brook

Elijah

Kara

5th grade artists 2011/2012

2011-10-03T22:27:00.003-04:00

5th grade artists explored monoprints this week. We used tempera paint and some tiles donated by Mr. Novak. It was an opportunity to loosen up, experiment and revisit our color-mixing learning from earlier in the trimester.

Alex paints her printing plate.

Grace produced some beautiful abstracts.

Just a couple of the amazing results:

Bunny by Paige

Creatures by Vashon

Last week 5th graders made these beautiful paper sculptures. They really enjoyed playing, and discovering how many different shapes they could invent.

The overall effect in the hallway is awesome!

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5th grade artists also enjoyed learning about the spectrum of light and colors with the Roy G. Biv video. They created color wheels, experimented with color mixing and refined their painting techniques. Next they gathered Fall leaves and studied their shapes. Each artist was given the following instructions: Combine leaves drawn by you with stenciled leaves and create a composition where all the leaves overlap, and they touch all four edges of your paper.
Determine what is positive space (leaves) and what is negative space (sky).
Paint the leaves using red, blue and yellow the primary colors.
Mix colors for leaves, including different brown hues. Try "double-loading" your paintbrush with two colors of paint and allowing them to mix on the paper.
Cut away negative space and mount leaves onto a sky background, imagine looking up at the sky and seeing the leaves falling towards you...

These are some of the beautiful results:

Natalya

Raysean

Peyton

Aumri

Nathan

1st Grade Artists 2011/2012

2011-10-02T13:52:00.001-04:00

1st grade artists made their second great trip to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. We especially enjoyed the new exhibit:

Charlie tries carving wax.

Reese and Adam build a trolley together.

We also explored the museum's large collection of puppets. We have been learning about COLLECTIONS as a way to understand the function of a museum. We tried out many different types of puppets. When we returned to Propel East, we made our own finger puppets in Studio 101!

It's the Mr. Rogers' puppets!

Lindsey tries a marionette.

Daionna watches Madison create her "Crazy Penguin" puppet.

Abby works on her "Happy Penguin".

Mia creates a "Friendly Cat".

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Wow! I LOVE these penguin paintings 1st grade artists created for the Winter Concert! We studied the different species of penguins and spent a whole period doing some practice drawings focusing on the familiar shapes we could find. Next, we used a black oil pastel to draw the penguins and the ice, water and snow. We painted the penguins, ice, water and snow with tempera cakes, but not the sky - for that we had a special plan! The next class we talked about the Northern Lights and other times we see bright colors in the sky, such as sunset and sunrise. We began using a technique called dry brushing, adding white paint to our ice and snow. Then we learned how to double-load and triple-load our brushes and used fluorescent paints to create the colorful skies! Finally, we couldn't resist adding some snowy glitter. The results were so unique and so gorgeous!

Nathaniel

Anthony

Bryan


Misha

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Once again first grade artists will participate in a year-long partnership with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. We will visit the museum throughout the year and use it as an extension of our Propel East classrooms. As we did last year we began our year with a study of classical architecture. 1st grade artists learned to recognize, dome, arch, pediment and three types of columns, doric, ionic and corinthian. We read one of our favorite books, Iggy Peck, Architect:

3rd grade artists used some of the same tools an architect uses, graph paper and rulers, an created a sort of "blueprint"of their dream house.

Ian working hard on his design.

When we went to the museum for our first visit we explored the architecture of the museum itself and contrasted the old and the new.

We looked up and found a dome and arches in the Art Studio space at the museum!

During our exploration of architecture we began to talk about other careers as well. In their homeroom classrooms, 1st graders wrote about what they might like to be when they grow up. In Studio 101 we created self-portrait puppets, artists were encouraged to add the tools and clothes of their chosen profession. We also created puppet stages with drawings of the buildings they might work in.

Skyler and Abby look to their puppets for inspiration!

Nya and Cameron work on their puppet stages.

We created short videos with our puppets too!
(If the videos are not working try refreshing the page. They seem to only work sometimes...I don't know why.)

3rd grade artists 2011/2012

2011-10-02T11:42:00.003-04:00

Third grade artists heard Ms. Babusci tell a Nigerian folktale called "Why the Sky is so Far Away". In the story the sky speaks to the Oba and his people. Each artist was asked to imagine this character and create a mask that would represent the sky. We also viewed and discussed examples of masks from all over the continent of Africa. Each artist created a unique mask using recycled corrugated cardboard, tempera paint, oil pastels, lots of tacky glue and other collage materials.

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Recently 3rd grade artists learned about the spectrum of light. They memorized "rainbow order" with the help of an old mnemonic device - "Roy G. Biv" and a song and video of the same name by the group They Might Be Giants. (see the video on our Studio 101 Facebook page!) First we made rainbow spirals to get some practice:

Tianna carefully creates a colorful spiral.

In the video Roy G. Biv is shown as a red-headed leprechaun of sorts. Ms. Babusci challenged the 3rd grade artists to use their own imaginations to create a unique portrait of Roy G. Biv depicting him or her in their own style. The results were varied and fantastic!

Jayla, Christina and Zion enjoy painting with watercolor paints.

Jason creates indigo by mixing blue and violet and carefully adds it to his painting.

Check out just a few of the amazing portraits!

Chaiem

Alex
(Riding his rainbow-motorcycle!)

Laney

Mara

Tony
(a robot version!)

Zion

Christina

Allison

This project will be the first one posted on Artsonia this year!
Stay tuned for more information on this in Friday folders.

Apples in Studio 101

2011-09-28T16:30:00.000-04:00

Brand new. Our computers are named after our "PSSA Artists": Haring, Clader, Bearden and Wright...

Natalya and Taylor check out our blog!

Enjoying the Keith Haring for kids website and Picasso Head.

Inside Studio 101

2011-08-28T14:47:00.001-04:00

Ms. Babusci shared a story with 2nd graders with the help of her puppet Anansi the Spider. THe next day Nate made an "Anansi" finger puppet during recess. A puppeteer in the making!

In preparation for the architecture focus I have planned for the new year, I have ordered new building blocks and manipulatives for Studio 101. They are available to students if they are finished with their artwork. I encourage them to experiment and explore - you're never too old to play a little.

Joe, Sara and Emily built this tower with the Keva planks.

4th grade friends built this furniture out of the Keva planks.

Patrick builds a "museum" with the new architecture blocks.

These are the new Connectagons.

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I am creating this section of the blog to give folks at home a view of the various areas in Studio 101, and the different ways our materials and resources are organized. Below you see the SMART board on the left and the white board on the right, and the color-circles rug. Three important resources we use daily.

In this picture you can see our classroom library. Lucky for me, my parents own Mystery Lovers Bookshop so I get a lot of great books for free! Propel also supplies us with many art and literacy resources, so we have quite a collection. To help keep our books organized I have color-coded them with black, orange, blue and purple masking tape. The categories are: Elements of Art Books, Artist Books, Picture Books and Non-Fiction and How-To Books, respectively. Posted on the bulletin board above the library is the Art Vocabulary word. Every single class begins with us reviewing weekly vocabulary as I project the blog on the SMART board, however it is also posted here. There are also puppets in a basket here, the students know they can ask permission to use them if they have some free time after they have finished their art project.

In the far corner of the studio we have a glass fusing kiln. It is on top of an astro-turf rug and a sign warns "Keep Off The Grass". (When it is on it also has large orange signs reminding everyone that is it HOT!) Middle school artists learn how to cut glass safely and create jewelry and sculptures. The red object on the right is a grinder, used to grind off sharp edges. Some of the stuident's work is displayed on the window and the window sill.

Art Exhibition-Children's Museum of Pittsburgh/Propel Partnership

2011-06-12T21:54:00.001-04:00

Our end of the year, Art Exhibition at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

opened last Thursday night!

Our Propel East portion of the exhibition.

One of our favorite artworks...

these paper sculptures created by the young artists at Propel Braddock Hills.

At the opening...

East 1st grader, Laini Virag, works on the collaborative plastic bag-hula hoop weaving!

Rylee and Jada attended the opening to support big sister Laini. Here they are reading Iggy Peck Architect, a great book that 1st grade artists read during our museum collaboration.

Proud artist, Stephen Byrne stands with his little sister next to the 3D museum he created.

ART VOCABULARY

2011-06-04T22:06:00.001-04:00

Each week in Studio 101 students learn a new art-related vocabulary word. Look for a new post each week titled "Vocabulary". Discuss this word at home - look up examples online - learn something new, together! Bring in a picture of the vocabulary word or something related to the word and receive a Pro Buck for taking on some extra scholastic responsibility!

Last week of the school year! / artist residency: an artist-in-residence program, or other residency opportunities, allow visiting artists to live and work and apply a focus to their art making.
When the school year ends, Ms. Babusci will be participating in an exciting teacher/artist residency at Fallingwater - a beautiful home designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It is located in Bear Run, PA. Next year, we will learn about this architect, and unique architecture of Pennsylvania!

Week 41 / photogram: is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light.

Week 40 / vendor: a person or agency that sells something. Often at craft fairs and arts festivals the artists selling their work are referred to as vendors. This Thursday at the Music and Art Showcase we will have student vendors selling their original artwork in our ARTSmart!

Week 39 / street art: is art developed in public spaces - that is "in the streets". The term usually refers to unsanctioned art, including graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting, guerrilla art, flash mobs or street installation. Many famous artists were first recognized as "street artists" such as Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey and Jean Michel Basquiat.

Week 38 / curator: the person responsible for the development of museum or gallery collections and exhibitions.

Week 37 / embroidery: the art of creating raised, ornamental designs with needle and thread upon any textile or paper. This Thursday our PSSA artist Wendy Osher will visit Studio 101. She will be bringing some of her embroidered artwork!

Week 36 / principles of design: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, unity
These principles refer to how we use the elements of art to organize a work of art.

I adapted the following excellent, explanation from the website: http://www.4-hcurriculum.org/projects/kidspace/E-P.htm

Principles of Design Balance is the distribution of the visual weight of objects, colors, texture, and space. If the design was a scale these elements should be balanced to make a design feel stable. In symmetrical balance, the elements used on one side of the design are similar to those on the other side; in asymmetrical balance, the sides are different but still look balanced. In radial balance, the elements are arranged around a central point and may be similar.

Contrast is the use of several elements of design to hold the viewer’s attention and to guide the viewer’s eye through the artwork.

Emphasis is the part of the design that catches the viewer’s attention. Usually the artist will make one area stand out by contrasting it with other areas. The area will be different in size, color, texture, shape, etc.

Movement is the path the viewer’s eye takes through the artwork, often to focal areas. Such movement can be directed along lines edges, shape and color within the artwork.

Pattern is the repeating of an object or symbol all over the artwork.

Rhythm is created when one or more elements of design are used repeatedly to create a feeling of organized movement. Variety is essential to keep rhythm exciting and active, and moving the viewer around the artwork. Rhythm creates a mood like music or dancing.

Unity is the feeling of harmony between all parts of the artwork creating a sense of completeness.

Week 35 / art exhibition: A public display of the work of artists or artisans. An art exhibition may be curated or juried, which means a person or a group of people choose what art is shown. However, in an un-juried exhibition anyone who wants to submit artwork can and it is all included in the exhibition. Art All Night is an annual, non-juried art exhibition that occurs in the neighborhood of Lawrenceville, in Pittburgh, PA. The event is this weekend and you should submit or art or come look at the art - activities and fun for all ages. More info. at www.artallnight.org or on the Studio 101 Facebook page!

Week 34 / embellishment: an ornament or decoration added to a work of art. Jen Hurrell added some beautiful embellishments to her quilt below:

Week 33 / sculpture: a three dimensional work of art. Sculpture can be made by carving, building, welding, casting etc. They can be made in a huge variety of media.

Week 32 / Folk art: Art of people who have had no formal, academic training, but whose works are part of an established tradition of style and craftsmanship.

Week 31 / straight stitch: a basic stitch made by hand or with a sewing machine. This stitch is created by moving the needle forward and up and down through the fabric in a straight line.

Week 30 / textile: any cloth or fiber produced by weaving, knitting, or felting.

Week 29 / symmetry or symmetrical balance: when the parts of a design, pattern or shape are organized so that one side duplicates or mirrors the other. Opposite = asymmetry or asymmetrical balance.

Week 28 / quilting: to stitch together pieces of cloth and a soft interlining, usually in an ornamental pattern.

Week 27 / critique: an evaluation of something, usually a work of art, with comments on its good and bad qualities.

Week 26 / monotype: a one-of-a-kind print made by painting on a smooth glass, metal or stone plate and then printing on paper. The pressure of printing creates a texture not possible when painting directly on paper. 5th grade artists recently created monotypes inspired by the paintings of artist Jim Dine.
Another word we should think about is this week is, gratitude. We are grateful for our time learning with Ms. Pace and we wish her well after she leaves East on Friday.

Week 25 / art gallery: a room, series of rooms, or building devoted to the exhibition and often the sale of works of art.

Week 24 / contrast: One of the Principles of Design contrast highlights the difference between two things. For example, black and white provide high contrast. Sometimes contrast creates excitement or emphasis in a work of art.

Week 23 / collection: A collection is an accumulation of objects. Museums typically have both permanent collections and traveling collections. Collections may be centered around a medium or technique or a particular artist. For example, the Andy Warhol Museum here in Pittsburgh has a collection of Warhol's artwork and The Mattress Factory Museum has a collection of installation art. You can touch and play with the collections at The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh; 1st grade is visiting the museum again this week!

Ms. Babusci has a collection of salt and pepper shakers!

Week 22 / text: words in a work of art, anything written or printed. For example, the work of artist Barbara Kruger often includes text:

And this famous image by street artist Shepard Fairey:

Week 21/
positive space: space that is occupied by an element or form.
negative space: unoccupied or empty space left over after the positive shape has been removed; however, because these areas have boundaries, they also function as shapes in the total design.

Week 20/ printmaking: A print is a shape or a mark made from a block or printing plate that is covered in color, usually ink, and then pressed onto paper or a textile. Prints can be produced over and over again by re-inking the printing block or plate.

Week 19/ apprentice: A verb meaning, to place with an employer, master craftsman, or the like, for instruction in a trade. Since the Middle Ages young artists and tradesmen have worked in the studio or alongside master artists to learn how to use the materials and methods of various art and craft forms.

Student teaching is a form of apprenticeship. This week we welcome a student teacher into Studio 101! Hello Ms. Pace, we are so glad you are here!
Food for Thought: How do you think learning something from a person differs from reading about it in a book or watching a video?

Week 18/ VACATION!

Week 17/ icon: A pictorial representation of a person. Originally referring to the images of saints and religious figures, the term has become a pop culture term referring to anyone or anything recognizable to the mass public. For example:

Week 16/ mixed media or multi media: The art technique where an artist employs different types of art materials and combines them in a single work.

Week 15/ tint: A tint is the result of mixing a color or hue and white. The resulting color is always lighter. An example would be white + red = pink, pink is a tint.

Week 14/ embossing: To create a raised design or relief on a flat surface of metal or paper. The design is made by pressing or hammering a design into the back side.

This is a sample of an embossed paper.

7th and 8th grade artists in Studio 101 will be creating designs inspired by Mexican embossed tin like this:

Week13/ Elements of Art: The language of the basic elements used when creating a work of art. Those elements are: color, value, form, shape, line, texture and space. They can also be used to describe a work of art.

Week12/ kiln: A furnace or oven for burning, baking, or drying something such as clay or glass. In Studio 101 we have a small glass-fusing kiln.

This week we are firing our newest designs all week long! Be careful around the kiln!

Week11/ architect: A person who designs buildings and other environmental features. An architect draws plans, elevations and cross-sections of buildings.

Week10/ complementary colors: colors that are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. When used together in a work of art they are intensified and often appear to vibrate. When mixed, brown or grey is created.
red/green, blue/orange, violet/yellow

Week 9/ abstract: Art that looks as if it contains little or no recognizable or realistic forms from the physical world. Focus is on formal elements such as colors, lines, or shapes.
Middle school artists have been looking at abstract paintings, such as the one below by Mark Rothko, to prepare for their glass fusing unit. They will create abstract designs in glass jewelry.

Week 8/ textile: Cloth or fabric that is woven, knitted or otherwise manufactured.

Week 7/*special note* At Propel students switch between art and music classrooms every 6 weeks. This week I will finally get to see grades K, 1, 3, and 5 for the first time this school year! Therefore, we will again focus on the word "studio" as we did in week 1. I like to focus on what a studio is for and characteristics of our unique studio at Propel East as we go over rules and procedures.

Week 6/ radial balance: Radial means anything relating to or arranged like rays. A design where all components are distributed around a center point. A star, a wheel and a daisy are examples of radial balance.

Week 5/ installation art: describes a type of site-specific, three-dimensional works of art designed to transform the perception of a space. The genre incorporates a very broad range of everyday and natural materials, as well as new media and technologies. Many installations are created for a specific site, often incorporating materials or physical features of the site. Locally, the Mattress Factory museum on Pittsburgh's North Side features one of the world's best collections of installation art. On Tuesday we will create an art installation of Pinwheels for Peace in the front of our school - photos coming soon!

Week 4/ line: A mark with length and direction. An element of art which refers to the continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point. Often it defines a space and may create an outline, contour or shape.

Week 3/ amate: A rough textured paper developed by the Mayan culture. It is made by boiling the inner bark of trees. The word amate also sometimes is used to refer to a type of painting done on this paper. Amate paintings are popular in the Mexico. 6th graders taking art are working on a project inspired by amate paintings.

Week 2/ collaborate: To work together and cooperate with another person or a group of people in order to achieve something. We often collaborate in Studio 101.

Week 1/ studio: the workplace of an artist. For example, student artists work in Studio 101.

Music & Art Showcase

2011-06-01T16:18:00.001-04:00

TONIGHT!
June 2, 2011 6:00-9:00 pm

Come and enjoy:

Instrumental & Vocal Music Performances

Pennsylvania Super Sensational Artwork by grades K - 8

The official debut of our new mural painted by the Art Club!

ARTSmart artists market featuring handmade-by-students art for sale from 6-8 - with more student vendors than ever before! And of course our beautiful fused glass jewelry will be for sale as well.

March of Dimes Walk - tee shirt design!

2011-04-27T15:22:00.002-04:00

Studio 101 artists Austin Spolan and Pat Byers designed the front and back of this shirt. People walking with Ms. Thomas and her service learning group to support the March of Dimes will be wearing this awesome "Bowser Power" design!

PSSA in Studio 101

2011-04-18T15:00:00.001-04:00

This year, in Studio 101 PSSA stands for…
Pennsylvania, Super, Sensational Art form!

Every year during PSSA testing I take the opportunity to teach our East artists about an artist born in Pennsylvania. This supports the PA art standards. This year we are exploring and learning about the art form of quilting - from the Pennsylvania Dutch quilt-making tradition to the work of two contemporary Pittsburgh artists.

We will be inspired by the art work of: Tina Brewer and Wendy Osher. We will look at everything from traditional geometric quilt patterns, to story quilts, to artworks that are created from untraditional materials but still include some traditional techniques. Students will learn basic sewing skills and blend some math and geometry into our art-making.

Some photos of our work so far:

Please contact Mrs. Babusci if you are a quilter, tailor or a seamstress and you want to be involved. We will also be looking for some unique donations. I will be sending another letter home about this soon. Thanks!

Do you remember these Pennsylvania Super Sensational Artists from the past 3 years?

2010

Romare Bearden

2009

Alexander Calder

2008

Keith Haring

Student Art - random images from creative folks

2011-04-05T10:22:00.000-04:00

Branden and Parker created this mini-skate park from a variety of materials, incuding recycled cereal boxes! I wanted to share these images of this creative project.

Middle School Blog Stars 2010/2011

2011-02-28T18:15:00.009-05:00

Inspired by two hip hop artists in residence at our school - we studied graffiti and street art in Studio 101. We looked at the artwork of Banksy, Shepard Fairey and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Middle school students designed an original "tag" or character. From the sketches, artists carved rubber stamps and created prints and stickers!

Katie Lehosky

Annie Brattina

Katie Fallon

Steven Chaklos

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During our PSSArt Unit 7th and 8th grade artists created Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Quilt Patterns from trash and product packaging. These geometric designs tested their math skills as they measured and pieced together these gorgeous compositions based on traditional quilt patterns.

Anina Parker

Alexis Berkeley

Greg Morris

Jacob Borkowski

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Middle School artists just completed a silk screen unit with our fabulous student teacher Carrie Pace. We began with a study of artist, and Pittsburgh native, Andy Warhol. We discussed Pop Art and how it blurred the line between fine art and commercial art. We looked at the artwork of Shepard Fairey and talked about appropriated images and copyright. Middle school artists had to choose a celebrity, a household object, or a commercial product and create a plastic stencil. Then they experimented by printing with various inks on paper and on textiles.

Jacque Gant

Angelique Williams

Brandi Pantalone

Adam McVeigh

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Middle School artists enjoyed making these multi-media weavings incorporating yarn, fabric, beads, lace and ribbon.

Brandon Geyer

Nacho Cisneros

Ricquel Cottrell

Courtney Byers

Courtney turned her's into an adorable, functional pouch!

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We are continuing our glass fusing curriculum that was so popular with the middle school artists when we began it last year. We have a small kiln in Studio 101 where we fire our original designs.

Anissa Payne

Chris Joscak

This radial design project incorported math skills, such as symmetry and using a compass, as well as a study of mandalas. Artists were asked to create an original design featuring nature. The results were laminated so they would last forever, but it makes them difficult to photograph for the blog!

Alexandra Lucas

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Middle school artists studied architectural gargoyles and grotesques. We discussed the different animals often represented in gargoyles, and we compared scary ones to silly ones. Students used a combination of Model Magic, paper mache pulp and acrylic paint to create these gargoyle relief sculptures.

Caitlyn Byers

Scott Harris

Mimi Ogunyemi

Austin Spolan

1st Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011 Children's Museum Partnership

2011-02-28T14:47:00.010-05:00

1st grade artists are working on a year long project called Spaces, Places and Changes in partnership with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. It combines art, literacy, science and social studies learning and allows the first grade teachers, Ms. Thompson and Ms. Cain, to collaborate with Ms. Babusci to plan exciting field trips to the museum and deepen the learning happening at school, and at the museum. We will update the blog with information about this project throughout the school year.

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During our PSSArt focus on quilting and sewing, 1^st grade artists used large, blunt needles, yarn and burlap to learn a basic straight stitch. After mastering this they graduated to the “crazy yarn” and some more challenging stitches like the “stars” you see on these masterpieces. The young artists showed amazing patience and determination.

Emma Kazynski

Patrick MacNamee

After sewing it was a logical leap to weaving - a similar concept. Instead of traditional textiles, we used plastic bags to create these recycled weavings. This project also tied in with our larger weavings we are creating collaboratively for an installation art piece that will conclude our year-long partnership project with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh - see images of these masterpieces below.

Abraham DeAlmeida

Narissa Baker

Recycled-Collaborative Weavings -

Action shots at the reception for our art exhibition at the Pittsburgh Children's Museum!

Laini Virag adds some green plarn. "Plarn" is yarn made from plastic bags, it was created in Studio 101 by the middle school artists in support of the 1st grade weavers.

The other non-traditional art materials? A tee shirt and a hula hoop!

Some Propel Braddock Hills artists helped out too!

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As we continue our partnership with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh we are talking about the function of museums. A museum houses a collection for visitors to learn from and engage with. 1st grade students shared their own personal collections with one another, and Ms. Babusci shared her collection of salt and pepper shakers! 1st grade artists chose a favorite salt and pepper shaker set and observed the shapes and details to create a line drawing. In the next class they observed the colors and added paint. Throughout this partnership with the museum, 1st grade artists have been using their powers of observation to improve their drawing skills.

Abby Kunkle

Nate Baker

The Children's Museum has quite a collection of puppets. During our last museum visit we saw so many puppets, including the puppets from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood! We learned about 5 types of puppets: hand puppets, finger puppets, shadow puppets, marionettes and rod puppets. In Studio 101 first grade artists created their own felt, finger puppets inspired by their favorite animals.

NeveahWessel

Roman Surratt

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Laini Virag

Laini is creating her "I'm Special" self-portrait puppet, part of the "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Mr. Rogers social studies and character education curriculum that 1st grade is using. The curriculum is woven into our museum partnership project. (It was "Pajama Day"!)

Stephen Byrne

Stephen is working in his museum sketchbook/journal in CMP's Backyard exhibit. The books incude art and written reflections by the students. The books are created out of 2 recycled paper grocery bags. They will be featured in an exhibit at the museum when the project concludes.

Jaymie Bobbin

Jaymie is creating a silhouette of a column for the silk screening station in the art studio at CMP. Students studied 3 types of classic architectural columns: doric, ionic and corinthian.

Tommy Burns

Tommy is enjoying the silk screening station. He is watching the ink being added, next he pulled the squeegee across the screen to create his print.

Kindergarten Blog Stars 2010/2011

2011-02-28T14:00:00.001-05:00

I am so lucky to have parents who own a local, independent bookstore - Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont. While it is primarily a mystery books store, they also have a passion for children's books. My mother is always looking for great books for Studio 101. In Kindergarten classes in particular, we often begin our art projects with a story for inspiration. The books are sometimes included in this blog so that families can share them at home to. Maybe check them out at the library? Read them together!

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Kindergarten artists enjoyed the book, A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni. After discussing the illustrations in the book, students used tempera paints to create a background for their chameleon. The next day they glued their chameleon into place and began adding the colors that would make the best camouflage. Artists honed their fine motor skills by tearing the colored paper and gluing it to their chameleon like scales.

Lindsey Linsenbiglar

Julian Middleton

Abby Hummert

Bryan Taylor

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The first 6 weeks of art East's youngest artists focus on the basics of color. They learn to identify colors and mix the primary colors. The turtles below began with an idea from Ms. Pam, who runs our cafeteria. She asked if I could think of a use for the trays our fruit is delivered in. After a little trimming, they seemed like perfect turtle shells to me. We mixed blue and yellow paint to create green and added patterns to the shells with oil pastels.
,

Abigail Chen

Matvey Zoukouski

One of the projects I teach every Fall is this Leaf Man collage. We go on a leaf hunt - walking around the neighborhood, and then we create Leaf Men, Leaf Women, Leaf Bats, Leaf Sharks etc. The students learn to identify and mimic basic shapes with a non-traditional art material.

Misha Billingsly

Russell Preisach

5th Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011

2011-02-27T18:20:00.022-05:00

5th grade artists learned about the Victorian tradition of creating "Crazy Quilts" from fabric scraps. The last step of a Crazy Quilt is to add embroidery. We learned some embroidery stitches from our Pennsylvania Super Sensational Artist, Wendy Osher during her visit to Studio 101 in May.

Morgan Pantalone

Maddi Riley

Adam Whisner

(image coming soon)

Samantha Everson-Simpson

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5th grade artists studied the work of artist Jim Dine. An appropriate study for Valentine's Day because he painted images of hearts frequently. 5th grade artists learned the process of monotype or monoprint and created these one-of-a-kind images. (Not sure what a monotype is? Check the Art Vocabulary posts!)

Tajah Billingsley

Jacob Adams

Elizabeth Henning

Jazlyn Moses

The following 2 students had additional time to experiment with monotype while their classmates worked with Growing Theatre on Friday mornings. Katelyn and Sarah created their own imagery for these prints.

Katelyn Hrubetz

Sarah Apte

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This year in Studio 101 there is a sewing corner filled with a variety of textiles and related art. Every student will have an opportunity to learn basic sewing and embroidery. 5th grade artists created there own original designs and sewed on burlap with yarn to create the art you see below.

William MacCumbee
(yes, that is a cow being abducted by a UFO!)

Dejah Burke

Archimboldo Inspired Portraits

At Propel East this year we are trying out a "Balanced School Day". All students have nutrition and fitness blocks twice a day. This inspired me to explore combining nutrition and art! We started with 15th Century Italian painter Giuseppe Archimboldo and his 4 seasons portraits. The students began with two lists: healthy food and junk food. They chose a mysterious folded paper out of a bowl that revealed to them whether they were creating a health food portrait or a junk food portrait - here's one of each!

Noah Chough

Kennedi Visco

3rd Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011

2011-02-27T15:08:00.049-05:00

Our PSSArt focus led 3rd grade artists to explore story quilts. First, the students wrote cinquains - simple, 5-line poems that follow a formula:

Noun

adjective - adjective

3 words ending in -ing

A simple sentence

noun

After writing their poems, and doing a preliminary sketch, artists glued fabric to create an illustrative collage. Then they embellished their collages by sewing on buttons and beads. Finally, artists wrote out their poems on the fabric and painted it, for a tie-dye effect.

Lauren Liscio
Penguins
Curious, funny
listening, helping, playing
Penguins are cute.
Penguins

Terri-Lynn Miles

Best Friends

Truthful, pretty

living, laughing, loving

Best friends are the best.

Best friends

Josh Bobbin

Leopard

Quick, huge

running, chasing, eating

A quick leopard was eating an antelope.

Leopard

Jack Miele

Desert

Hot, prickly

blazing, burning, living

The desert is sandy.

Desert

Hunter Legge

Imagination

Creative, 20 X's the fun

amazing, spinning, inspiring

It's a funny start.

Imagination

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3rd grade artists recently studied two artists, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. We began by reading this funny book that puts a slightly humorous spin on the artists' friendship and rivalry.

With Picasso we focused on cubism. Cubism is a 20th century style of art that features, many geometric shapes and the simultaneous presentation of multiple points of view. 3rd grade artists tried a quick drawing of their favorite animal incorporating some of the cubist style.

Brianna Haenel

Mekhi Jackson

3rd grade artists also learned about Henri Matisse. We looked at his cut paper collages. He called the method "drawing with scissors". Although it was challenging not to use a pencil and to use only scissors to create shapes and figures, the artists were very successful!

Jocelynn MacDonald

Ryan Novak

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3rd grade artists were inspired by a Nigerian folktale called Why the Sky is So Far Away. They created these masks to personify the character of the sky. First, we talked about the many different colors and characteristics of the sky and students used watercolor paints to create a "practice sky". Then we examined a variety of African masks as we discussed pattern and composition. Finally students used recycled cardboard shapes, tempera paints, oil pastels, foam, foil, beads and pipe cleaners to create their amazing finished masks.

Jacob Whisner

Madison Spanbauer

Josh Reto

Amelia Bogavich

Next up was the "Impossible Jar" project. Students were asked to think of something that could not possibly be placed into a jar, due to it's size, and then squeeze it in one anyway! They created humorous paintings using watercolor colored pencils. "Thank You" to my dear friend, and fellow art teacher, Renae Neumeyer for the inspiration for this project. I am lucky to have many close friends who are art teachers in Pennsylvania and New York and we often share ideas!

Gabriella Kline

4th Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011

2011-02-02T18:24:00.007-05:00

During our PSSArt Unit , grade artists began their study of quilts with a focus on symmetry. They created colorful grids and added beautiful patterns on top with a paper tape they cut and layered.

Caleb Williams

Lauryn Givner-Fleming

As we learned about quilts during the PSSArt Unit in Studio 101 4th grade artists seemed particularly inspired by the 'video game' quilts from this website: http://www.carolinapatchworks.com/

Blending math & graphing and art & design, 4th grade artists designed their own space creature on one inch graph paper and then created a felt quilt pillow! Students learned many new sewing skills while adding details like a planet or moon, stars and other embellishments.

Paige Norman

Chyna Gray

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4th grade artists chose their favorite winter time activities to represent in these monochromatic paintings. They worked very hard mixing different tints and learning brush control techniques. We started with wooden models and examined proper proportions for drawing the human body, then we added the snowy settings. Each artist chose a cool color (blue, green or purple) to mix with white to create many tints. We couldn't resist adding some sparkling, snowy glitter to complete these masterpieces!

Dvontae Eddins

Caitlyn Murphy

Kennady Holloway

Regis Sauers

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Every year I do a Shrinky Dink project with 4th grade artists. Do you remember Shrinky Dinks from your youth? The "magic" plastic that curls and shrinks in the toaster oven? Myself and my students never seem to tire of working with this mysterious stuff. For these suncatchers students chose to focus on one of the four elements: fire, water, air or earth and made the illustrations with Sharpie and colored pencils. They added their own beads and string to complete their designs. They are difficult to photograph - they are even more beautiful in person.

Jarron Best

Hallie Woodward

Trent Fuller

Alex Courtaway

6th Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011

2011-02-02T18:24:00.006-05:00

During the PSSArt unit students became experts at the straight stitch during their latest project. They turned contour line drawings of their favorite clothing items into sewn quilts by sewing 2 layers of muslin and quilt batting together. To finish their artwork they used the sewing machine too! This project was inspired by one of the workshops Ms. Babusci attended at this year's National Art Education Association conference in Seattle.

Rebecca McClure

Joe Hrubetz

TeAndra Gardner

Samantha Hurrell

Chase Calloway

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6th grade artists studied Egypt in their Language Arts class and we extended that learning into Studio 101. For this project, artists studied Egyptian imagery and motifs, including hieroglyphs. First they designed the headdress, and chose a symbolic animal to top it. Next, the artists created a portrait that included the Kohl eye makeup featured in many portraits of royal Egyptians.

Afaf Ghanem

Anne Pamphile

Branden Hickman

Elijah Gerdes

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6th grade artists were inspired by Mexican paintings on amate.
What is amate? Check out the Art Vocabulary posting!

After identifying birds, plants and flowers as frequent subject matter for these paintings student artists chose a photograph of a favorite bird to examine. However, realistic drawings were not our goal, but rather a more stylized or decorative drawing. Students were instructed to work pattern and color into their designs. They used Crayola construction paper crayons (one of Ms. Babusci's all-time-favorite art materials) on recycled paper to create these bright and beautiful works of art.

Jaysyn Evans

Haley McLure

Dazohn Edwards

Jaida Weems

2nd Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011

2011-02-02T17:29:00.043-05:00

In Studio 101, 2nd grade artists learned about quilts during our PSSArt Unit. 2nd grade artists recalled a favorite memory to inspire these "story quilts." Literacy math and art were supporting integrated throughout this project. Ms. Smith, Ms. Klingensmith, Ms. Spielvogle, Ms. Tell, Sara Resnick and Ms. Babusci all worked together to help students write their stories and illustrate them on textiles. We explored geometric shapes, tangrams, pattern, sewing, embellishment and more. Congratulations to every student that tried sewing for the first time or practiced their skills. Ms. Babusci and Miss Sara also had to brush up on their machine-sewing skills to help pull these quilts together!

Olivia Henderson

Mark Fallon

Lizzie Burtner

Cameron Sprague

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2nd grade artists learned about the process of printmaking. They also learned a lot about penguins! Did you know that most penguins live in arctic regions, but some live in warmer temperatures too? Artists used watercolor paints to create two backgrounds representing these different climates. (The background paintings look much better in real life, photography does not capture the metallic watercolor paints in the arctic settings or the colors subtlely blending.) Then the artists printed their penguin images on top of each painting using styrofoam printing plates. In the prints below can you spot the baby penguin? The penguin prey? A Macaroni penguin?

Paul Conn

Christina Fonzi

Danny Patalsky

Toree Callaway

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2nd grade artists began the year by designing folders for their many masterpieces. Students were encouraged to reveal something about themselves in their drawings. They drew pictures of their favorite things, foods, pets etc. Dominic's robot began a lively class discussion of robots. Interesting how Sofia grouped everything - I especially love the paintbrushes in the upper left corner.

Dominic Miller

Sofia Mangiafico

Next, we embarked on a study of line. These 3D line abstract sculptures are made from an adhesive-backed, colorful paper tape that I use for a variety of projects ever since I discovered it while working at The Carnegie Museum of Art many years ago. Artists titled their own sculptures.

Jadon Curtis

Analise Balaschak

Just for fun...

2011-01-13T22:28:00.004-05:00

...and because we've got snow swirling all around us, and 2 hour delays and even a snow day!

Cassie Biel

Snow has inspired many different art projects in Studio 101 lately.

2nd grade artists painted detailed snowflakes that you may have noticed on the backdrop for the Propel East's Holiday Concert!
While learning about radial design, 4th grade artists created snowflake sculptures using some very non-traditional art materials - and then they ate them!
6th grade artists created snow-men using Model Magic. Only they weren't actually snow-men. Instead there was a snow-bunny, a snow-Egyptian king, snow-rock stars and many other unique creations!

Dorian Epps

On the color wheel, what colors are called the Cool Colors?

* Blue * Green * Purple *

Partnership with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

2010-11-14T21:50:00.013-05:00

See more about this partnership under the 1st Grade Blog Stars 2010/2011 tab on the right.

Q: What are these first graders looking at?

A: They are enjoying a new perspective on this art piece installed in the dome high atop the art studio!

1st Grade Fun at CMP!

This school year, we are committed to an exciting partnership with the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Each Propel art teacher was asked to choose a teacher to collaborate with to create a year long, interdisciplinary project using the museum as an extension of our classrooms. Studio 101 and 1st grade visited the museum on 11/9/10. The students showed off their knowledge of classic architecture as they toured the museum and generally had a great time! Ms. Babusci took the photos below. Test your own knowledge of classic architecture.

Architecture Quiz-

Looking at the photos below - can you identify an arch, a pediment, a corinthian column and a dome?

Roman's drawn one too!

Izzie's drawn a couple too!

Jaymie's drawing one too!


This photo contains three of the architectural terms we have learned!

Hope for Haiti Panels

2010-11-07T20:50:00.002-05:00

The recent news of Hurricane Tomas heading toward Haiti reminded me of our Propel East HeART for Haiti fundraiser less than a year ago. Our thoughtful artists sold glass jewelry, and auctioned off these paintings to raise money for the relief efforts. These 3 panels belong to Ms. Gough, and they are on view in our first floor installation art area through the end of this school year. There were two other panels that made up the entire mural - I am the proud owner of one! The paintings were created by the Discovery Ace middle school students, under the direction of Mrs. Casey.

Sharing Studio 101 with Pennsylvania Art Educators!

2010-10-28T10:46:00.005-04:00

This Friday, October 29th, Ms. Babusci will present A Different Kind of Art Show at the Pennsylvania Art Education Association conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Ms. Babusci is proud to share the success of our Propel East Arts Festival with art educators from all over PA!

www.paea.org

Mural Painting

2010-10-21T22:48:00.002-04:00

Our mural is coming along. It was cold out there today but we persevered - we were just thrilled that it wasn't raining!

International Day of Peace

2010-09-15T21:14:00.014-04:00

Pinwheels for Peace

www.pinwheelsforpeace.com

Goto the website and look at the galleries - Photos of East in Gallery 6!

This is our first year participating.
We are proud to be joining in this celebration of Peace in our school community and the world!

Read about it. Join us - Propel Montour and Propel Braddock hills are also participating!

What is Pinwheels for Peace?

Source: http://www.pinwheelsforpeace.com/

Everyday, we are bombarded with television images, video games, music, and magazine articles/newspapers that give importance to conflict and war. Violence has become commonplace and accepted as part of our society and, for some, it is a way of life. It is our hope that through the Pinwheels for Peace project, we can make a public visual statement about our feelings about war/ peace/ tolerance/ cooperation/ harmony/ unity and, in some way, maybe, awaken the public and let them know what we are thinking.

This is not political. Peace doesn't necessarily have to be associated with the conflict of war, it can be related to violence/intolerance in our daily lives, to peace of mind. To each of us, peace can take on a different meaning, but, in the end, it all comes down to a simple definition: a state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of violence, freedom from conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people.

A pinwheel is a childhood symbol it reminds us of a time when things were simple, joyful, peaceful. A pinwheel is easily made using just about any type of material, from copy paper, to thin plastic, to lightweight metal. The stick of the pinwheel can be as simple as a pencil or as intricate as a carved stick or metal rod. Pinwheels can be made as small as one inch in diameter or as large as desired limited only by the creators materials and motivation. Pinwheels can be minimal or very complex imagination, creativity (and a mild breeze) are the only variables needed.

Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two Art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, who teach at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida, as a way for their students to express their feelings about what's going on in the world and in their lives. The project was quickly embraced by their students and the entire school community and by millions of art teachers, teachers, parents, children and adults who desire peace in our world. The first Pinwheels for Peace were installed on Sept. 21, 2005. Since then, we have grown from 500,000 pinwheels planted the first year, to three million pinwheels in 2009!

Here is what students at Propel East are saying about peace...

"I wish for peace for people in the neighborhoods to become a community." -Vashon, 4th grade

"Peace is the nation's need." -Mia, 3rd grade

"Peace is reachable." -Aubrey, 4th grade

"Everyone deserves peace." -Christian, 4th grade

"I wish for peace to flow around the world." -Alexis, 4th grade

"Spread the peace." -Aiden, 3rd grade

"Without peace, is nothing." -Jarron, 4th grade

"I wish a world of peace." -Jayson, 6th grade

"Peace means be fair and equal to the world." -DeShae Moore, 6th grade

"Your happiness is like the brightness of the sun. Thank you for serving in the Army." -Dorian, 6th grade

"I wish everyone can be friendly." -Dvontae, 4th grade

"Fix hate with Peace." -Mikayla, 6th grade

"Peace is the center of the world." -Kiara, 6th grade

"One day we will shine as bright as the sun and all become one." -Carly, 6th grade

Back to School - Back to the Studio!

2010-08-21T19:09:00.004-04:00

8/23/2010

Art Festival Gigapan Pictures 2009/2010

2010-06-15T09:13:00.010-04:00

Enjoy the Gigapan pictures taken during the 2nd Annual Propel East Art Festival. Double click on any part of the image and explore the picture.

Feel free to get an account, take a snapshot, and leave some comments about the awesome artwork on the Gigapan site

Here is the picture taken from the main lobby.
http://gigapan.org/gigapans/51230/

Here is the picture taken in the middle school hallway.
http://gigapan.org/gigapans/51231/

Here is the picture from the 2-3 hallway.
http://gigapan.org/gigapans/51219/

The students did an OUTSTANDING JOB!

8th Grade Art Achievment Awards 2009/2010

2010-06-13T21:44:00.002-04:00

The following artists were recently honored at Propel East's first 8th grade promotion. These students enthusiastically embraced the visual arts in Studio101 during their years at Propel East participating in Art Club, Curators Club and other special projects. We are grateful for their contributions and wish them well as they face new joys and challenges.

Kaylee Beresford

Acacia Davis

Will Fonzi

Tyler Gabor

Alex Gerdes

Tiona Henderson

Malayiah Jackson

Amanda Keller

Indira LaTouche

Chelsea Merck

Troy Miles

Mollie Nigra

Another year comes to an end...

2010-06-13T21:36:00.000-04:00

...4 more days of school in the 2009-2010 school year.
I am always reflective at this time of year - running the whole year over and over in my head. I try and remember all the moments that made me laugh, the projects that seemed to awaken the most joy in my students and the professional moments that made me most proud. I am so grateful for the help of Mrs. Stephanie Casey and Mrs. Alice Mentzer our part time art teachers. They brought with them so many new, fantastic ideas and a willingness to 'jump right in' to the craziness of Studio 101. I should also thank Mr. Nik the dedicated AmeriCorps member assigned to the art room. And, last, but not least, a very special thanks to my partner and collaborator Mrs. Anna Marie Joyce, Propel East's music teacher. This team has worked hard to inspire, instruct and support the amazing artists of Propel East.

2nd Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

2010-06-13T18:41:00.002-04:00

To prepare for these fantasy, self-portrait puppets, 2nd grade artists imagined themselves in a career, or as as their favorite animal or character. We had a miner, a construction worker, a soldier and one Lady Gaga! They created these handpuppets using Musilin, Sharpies and tempera cakes.

"Princess" Alexis Pantalone

"Cheetah" Marques Eberhardt

"Angry Principal" James Middleton

"Soldier" K. Adam Marie

Studio Art Blog Stars 2009/2010

2010-06-13T17:49:00.002-04:00

After studying a variety of Impressionist painters, middle schools artists learned techniques for painting with acrylic paints. Each student chose a photograph of a landscape, seascape, or cityscape to inspire their painting.

Mollie Nigra

Christine Trautman

Jena Brail

Ashley Mort

Weaving Blog Stars 2009/2010

2010-06-13T17:32:00.002-04:00

Backstrap weaving is a symbol of the life of the Mayan woman. With the loom strapped around her waist and the other end tied to a tree or post the weaver is an integral part of the loom. Thus, she is vitally connected to the nature around her and becomes one with her environment.

Mrs. Mentzer taught 7th & 8th graders this ancient art using handmade harnesses and warps tied to the table legs, creating some of the beautiful examples of cloth below.

Tyler Gabor

Kaylee Beresford

Earl Fitch

Kindergarten Blog Stars 2009/2010

2010-06-13T17:20:00.002-04:00

Kindergarten painters explored shapes using a variety of media. These final abstract shape compositions were created with tempera paints. The artists cropped them, choosing their favorite section of the painting. Ms. Babusci applied a paper frame.

Ava Grew

Stephen Byrne

Kylie Frederick

Jesse Heywood

3rd Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

2010-06-13T17:04:00.002-04:00

3rd Grade artists learned about artist Pablo Picasso. We discussed cubism and the artist's "blue period". The "blue" stories students chose were illustrated and then manipulated to mimic the odd perspectives in a cubist painting. These monochromatic paintings gave students an opportunity to practice color theory and color mixing. Notice the many shades and tints of blue? Do you know the difference between a shade and a tint? No? Ask a third grader!

Aubrey Blank

Vashon Lee

Brandon Gabor

Alex Cline

Bryanna Adams

5th Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

2010-06-13T16:24:00.002-04:00

Srcatchboard is a technique where drawings are created by using sharp tools to etch into a thin layer of black India ink over a white China clay board. We used Black and white animals as our theme. Artists learned to cross hatch (scratch) in patterns to create the textures and variety within the work.

Kamaya Arrington

Brandon Taylor

Rebecca McClure

MiKayla Bucci

Arts Festival Photos 2009/2010

2010-05-21T09:17:00.014-04:00

A few photos of our event. What fun!

More coming soon...

Making collages in Studio 101, AKA the Romare Bearden room. All the artwork exhibited in this room was inspired by our PSSA ("Pennsylvania Super Sensational Artist") Romare Bearden. Visitors watched a short film about Bearden's life and career. Artists chose to collaborate on a collage mural or create an individual collage.

Jason works on his landscape painting. Some middle school students are studying impressionist painting techniques and learning how to use acrylic paint.

Mr. Stuart and and his guests check out the Warhol inspired cat drawings created by 2nd grade artists.

Artists work together in the art installation on the main floor. Members of the Junior Curators Club conducted "Make & Take" art projects throughout the building during our festival. They were given the role of Teaching Artist, demonstrating and explaining how to make paper birds like the ones hanging on the tree in this picture.

Two of the projects inspired by Romare Bearden: 5th grade Story Collages and 6th grade Watercolor Cityscapes.

6th grade artist and festival volunteer, Greg, shows off his festival tee shirt. The festival logo that appears on the shirts was designed by 4th grade artist Kennedi. Shirts were tie-dyed by the members of Art Club.

3rd grade singers perform 'Basin Street'. The choral numbers at the festival were all jazz numbers chosen to support the study of Romare Bearden. Much of Bearden's artwork showed a heavy influence of jazz music.

Jillian posts a comment on this blog the night of the festival.

Thank You!

2010-05-15T20:33:00.000-04:00

I think it's fair to say our Arts Festival was a HUGE success! Thank you to everyone who came out to support the young artists and musicians of Propel East.

Propel East 2nd Annual Arts Festival 2009/2010

2010-05-13T18:09:00.004-04:00

Propel East 2nd Annual Arts Festival

Friday, May 14, 2010

6:00-9:00 pm

1611 Monroeville Avenue, Turtle Creek

Inspiration Museum

One exciting evening, featuring art and musical performances showcasing the talented students of Propel East. Over 800 pieces of art made by the 400+ students ranging in age from kindergarten to 8th grade will be displayed throughout the school alongside our permanent art installations. A busy schedule of musical performances will provide a soundtrack for Inspiration Museum, this year’s theme. Students studying piano and guitar in our instrumental music program will perform at scheduled times throughout the evening and our own student rock band “Kids in America” will provide an exciting finale to the event.

The Inspiration Museum features student art as well as an introduction to the artists that inspired it. Each project highlights a particular artist and a range of media and techniques. The National Standards for Visual Arts grades K – 8 require students to both: “understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures” and “reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.” This annual exhibition of student work highlights how our curriculum achieves both of these goals. Student docents will lead tours throughout the evening to underscore this learning.

Our art room, Studio 101, will feature artwork inspired by this year’s PSSA artist Romare Bearden. Each year during PSSA’s Art teacher Alison Babusci teaches every K – 6th grader about a Pennsylvania Super Sensational Artist. Romare Bearden has ties to our city and his childhood memories of Pittsburgh will mingle with our student’s impressions of their city. Bearden was especially well-known for his collages and we will have many student-made collages on display.

Beautiful fused glass jewelry and other crafts will also be featured at our festival in the artist market, ARTSMART. Festival attendees can stock up on unique gifts and support young artists at the same time.

1st Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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1st grade artists learned about pointillism by studying works of art by Signac and Seurat. They experimented with different brushstrokes to create these landscapes and seascapes.

Tony Reto:

Kenny Jordan:

Caitlyn Lucas:

Janii Nicholas:

Joshua DeLia:

5th Grade Blog Stars - Oaxcan inspired sculptures 2009/2010

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Ryan Ash:

Laney Keys:

Ujinge Ikper:

Chase Calloway:

6th Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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6th Grade artists studied masks form a variety of cultures from Africa to Japan. They designed their own masks to represent a favorite animal or a blend of two or more different animals.

They created these masks by manipulating paper to make it three-dimensional.

Jeremiah Ligon:

Ben Krings:

Ashley Francette:

Seraiah Green:

Weaving Blog Stars 2009/2010

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Middles school artists used burlap to experiment with different weaving and stitching techniques. They created these samplers and mounted them.

Amanda Ash:

Alex Berkeley:

Jessyka Wynn:

Tag Ikper:

Studio Art Blog Stars 2009/2010

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Middles school artists have been exploring the basics of painting with acrylic paint. They studied light and shadow, brushstroke and color theory.

Neal Ogburn:

Malayiah Jackson:

Acacia Davis:

Alex Gerdes:

4th Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

2010-05-13T16:50:00.010-04:00

4th grade artists studied architecture with Mrs. Mentzer. They created these buildings from recycled off cuts from a local frame shop and studio.

Olivia Kunkel:

Austin Bacasa:

Torron Best:

Sarah LaTouche:

Glass Fusing & Wearable Art Blog Stars 2009/2010

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Our students are really enjoying the glass kiln and the new glass fusing projects. In March we sold glass jewelry to raise almost $800 for Haiti earthquake relief! Way to go middle school artists. Another gorgeous fused glass creation:

Kevin Matiyasic:

These bird silkscreens will become part of an art installation that will be unveiled at our Propel East Arts Festival May 14, 2010! We will post pictures of the finished product.

Matt Mullen:

Stephanie Orwig:

Middle school artists also used their new silk screening skills to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. At a fundraiser on March 4th we sold tee shirts with original designs printed on them. According to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation "65 Roses" is what some children with cystic fibrosis (CF) call their disease because the words are much easier for them to pronounce. This inspired the design below.

Jade Jackson:

Native American Art Blog Stars 2009/2010

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Coiling is one technique of basketry traditionally used by Native Americans across North America. Middle school artists observed the pottery and learned one method of construction.

Shantel Eddins:

Michael Brattina:

TJ Korotko:

Gabrielle Toomey:

4th Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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4th grade artists were given the challenge to choose something round that they could turn into a 3D soft sculpture. Artists used acrylic paints and muslin. Ms. Babusci did the sewing.

White Tiger by Ryan Martin:

Hamburger by Jillian Ferguson:

Color Wheel by Izzy Mangretta:

Disco Man by Justin Rawlings:

3rd Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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Weaving is the textile art in which two distinct sets of yarns are interlaced with each other to form a fabric. Third grade explored weaving on a small wooden loom to create a multi-colored "Kente" cloth after reading "Seven Spools of Thread" and African tale of brothers who must cooperate to transform their thread in to gold.

Sebastien Pamphile:

Hailea Mort:

Frank Pelligrino:

Jhade Heidelberg:

2nd Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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These paintings were inspired by the book Tar Beach by Faith Ringold. In the story a little girl named Cassie imagines she is flying over NYC, her apartment building and the George Washington bridge. We imagined we were flying over the city of Pittsburgh and all of its bridges. Students used tempera paints, Sharpies, colored pencils and their imaginations to create these paintings.

Steven Hopkins:

Jillian Lehosky:

In 2nd grade artists in Studio 101 focus on line in many of their art explorations. The relief printmaking process utilizes line to create texture and contrast. Artists chose an animal to represent in their prints and they carved styrofoam printing plates. Each artist made two prints, a monoprint using washable markers and damp paper and a black ink print using more traditional printmaking methods.

Mia Catone

"Cat" monoprint and ink print:

Jonathan Parker

"Dolphin" and printing plate pictured

Kindergarten Blog Stars 2009/2010

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This fantastic picture book is a favorite in my classroom. We can all relate to this tale at one time or another. The students laughed through the story and then were inspired to create their own Grumpy Birds.

Andreina Taylor:

Nathan Parasky:

Jordan Burke:

Izzy McGeorge:

1st Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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First grade artists completed a unit on snow and created these oil pastel-resist snowflake backgrounds. They especially enjoyed the metallic watercolor paints, "The paints are sparkling! The water is sparkling!". They studied arctic animals and learned how to look for shapes to create more realistic drawings. They traced their drawings with silver, just to make the whole thing extra sparkly!

Declan Burke:

Alex Reed:

1st grade artists viewed the work of Gustav Klimt, focusing in particular on his work: Tree of Life, particularly the middle section that illustrates the structure of the tree and a bird on a branch:

After discussing line and shape in the painting artists drew their own unique trees. Because the Klimt is known for his use of metallic gold leaf, 1st grade artists carefully applied gold acrylic paint. Metallic ink and shape stamps and metallic colored pencils were used to add the additional shapes and patterns that echo the artist's style.

Brianna Skladany:

Mya Luptak:

3rd Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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After studying different types of penguins, 3rd grade artists painted paper and prepared to create their own penguins. Those crazy-looking Macaroni penguins were the most popular, with Emperor penguins close behind. We created our own ice-hockey game for the amusement of our Pittsburgh-Pengiun-hockey-loving principal.

Christian Ogburn:

For this project we read a book about a family that lives inside a snowglobe. We also talked about how to create a composition where it looks like something is set on a table and how things in the foreground would appear larger. Students created very unique compositions using tempera paints and a little glitter of course.

Nicole Lucas:

3rd graders created finger puppets using color Model Magic clay. We discussed characteristics that make monsters unique. Students used basic sculpting techniques. They also experimented with color mixing.

Ian Maccumbee:

Alaina Fawcett:

5th Grade Blog Stars 2009/2010

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The fifth grade students stayed warm this winter by focusing on the tropics! Each student chose a photograph of a tropical fish. They used pencil to draw their fish, and oil pastel to add texture and color.

Shawna Miller:

Dorian Epps:

Michael Stone:

Students continued their study of animals on the next project as well. First, the srtists used glue that was dyed with black ink to draw the outline and texture of a reptile or amphibian. Then, they finished the piece with watercolor paints.

Cassie Biehl: