Another year of amazing art has come to an end and here are the final lessons from each grade. Please enjoy a couple of classic still life drawing projects, and pen & ink animal study, and a gorgeously colorful painting lesson just in time for summer.
Click the images below to link to the galleries.
Have a wonderful summer.
-Mr. Adams
8th grade Artist Pets are on display in the hallways of FMS as well as here on the web. Students based their work on famous pieces from art history and had a lot of independent choice in this project; including which artist they chose to emulate, what material they wanted to use to make their piece, and what animal they decided to incorporate into the original work. This year we have added to the ranks of Artist’s Pets Van Gogh’s alley cat, Miro’s sheep, Marc Chagall’s bouquet of cardinals, and a swimming pool even David Hockney wouldn’t want to swim in.
Grades 6 and 8 have just finished up some colorful projects despite our long, gray spring.
Sixth graders were inspired by the Nigeria celebration of spring known as Ebune. They painted fabric and then carved traditional symbols of power and rebirth from rubber stamp material and printed them on the painted banners.
Meanwhile, eighth graders were working on fabulous crazy teapots. All pots needed to be functional and were tested at a real tea party once the project was complete. Can you find the Empire State teapot? Or the tentacle teapots (there are 2)?
The 2017 issue of Motley is finished and ready to be viewed ONLINE!
As usual the students have created an amazing array of great works from photos to drawings to stories and poems. This year’s issue also has an eight page comic book and several science labs. Thank you to all that submitted. We didn’t use every piece we received, but we were very pleased by how many people sent in work and we at Motley hope you will send more in next year. Happy reading!
Even more exciting is that this year we have figured out a way for people to order hard-copy versions of the magazine on demand!!
Follow the link to Blurb.com and order as many copies as you want.
HUZZAH for technology! ORDER HERE.
Past issues of Motley can be viewed here.
Grade five has examined the many and varied landscapes, biomes, and ecosystems across the globe and used them as inspiration for these detailed sculptures. They tried to capture the three-dimensionality of the land masses and then add tiny textural details to make them look as real as possible. Students finished the sculptures with acrylic paint.
Seventh graders have recently completed an intense charcoal self-portrait lesson. They began by studying the proportions of the face using pencil. Then spent a whole class simply exploring how charcoal can be used to show a wide range of values from dark to light. They then toned large paper with charcoal and a chamois and proceeded to slowly and carefully produce detailed portraits with dramatic lighting and precise drawing. It was a messy, challenging, and sometimes frustrating process, but the final drawings are beautiful.
6th graders have completed a unit exploring the details and parts and pieces of Chinese dragons. We looked at the elements that make up a Chinese dragon as well as the differences from “western” dragons. Students sculpted their creatures out of clay adding many details and textures. When they were fired we used acrylic paint to finish them with a well considered color-scheme. Some are “complimentary”, some “warm” or “cool”. Some “monochromatic”. Take a peek at them all.
The 5th graders in Mr. Adams’ class have just finished a unit exploring the beginnings of architecture. After looking at many images of cities and noting the patterns and shapes, students set about drawing their own cities using rulers and shape templates. No free hand drawing was allowed. They filled their cities with windows and balconies, smoke-stacks and stairs and then used light boxes to trace their creations onto a new piece of paper. The new piece became a painting in which students were only able to use one color but with as many shades and tints as they could create within their monochromatic world.
Falmouth students artists (alongside students from Brunswick and Bucksport) had the chance to meet the First Lady and received a certificate of excellence for their artwork in Augusta yesterday. The Excellence in Visual & Performing Arts exhibition is showcasing work from the three districts in government buildings until the end of May. Students from all grades (K-12) are featured in the show. Mr. Adams did a lot of organizing of the pieces and parts but wants to thank all the teachers in the district not only for helping choose student works but for their continued efforts in the arts and the amazing work they draw out of their students. These art teachers inspire daily and the spectacular collection hanging now in the capital couldn’t happen without you.
There was also a great musical element to the event featuring the Falmouth Jazz Singers and some truly excellent high school actors. Thank you also to Beth Lambert (who was the amazing contact person from the Dept. of Ed. through the entire process) and Argy Nestor (director of Art Ed. at the Maine Arts Commission). A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into pulling this all together and the final results were stunning. If you can get up to Augusta and check it out I highly recommend it.
Students with the First Lady are below, and their artwork is below that.
Despite many hours in front of the mirror, the self-portrait can be an intimidating project for an adolescent. But just look at the awesome results of a long and complicated screen printing lesson inspired by Pop artist Andy Warhol.
Students photographed themselves, printed the photo and carefully cut 3 stencils for the light, middle, and dark values in their face. Then they printed each color in turn to create a tri-tone portrait with the extreme contrast that Warhol’s work was famous for.
