Author: jessicanashart

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I like to start the year with observational drawing in the Advanced Drawing & Painting class so that I can access everyone’s skills and we can work with techniques that we don’t focus on when first beginning drawing in the lower level classes. We study the works of Dutch Golden age painters and the use of symbolism in the objects used and then I have groups of students set-up their own still life’s, working with more difficult objects such as glass and skulls, to create interesting angles and symbolic combinations. Students learn to find accurate proportions while loosely drawing with vine charcoal and then learn to gradually add a range of value starting with the darkest shadows first. Then students begin to add more shading with the choice of adding color and we discuss adding light to areas using reductive “drawing” with a kneaded eraser.

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The Art Dept. worked together to create sets of “supply bags” for students to take home in case of school closures as well as for remote students so we could continue to offer a variety of materials and do a range of projects this year. We will also focus on student well-being, personal choice, and coping with the changes Covid brought.

We will still have Art Honor Society as an extra curricular, put on student art shows, and celebrate our students at the end of the year awards. I have also realized how important it is for students to be able to socialize and “have fun” something that is probably harder to do in other classes but in Art we have the ability to do that all while learning and I can’t wait!

I participated in the Open Studios again this year but a bit differently due to Covid- I displayed my work outside Blackbird Attic Boutique along with a piece in the member show at the Hudson Beach Glass Gallery on the other end of town. It was a great weekend and I truly appreciate everyone who bought a piece or stopped by to say hi and chat about art with me. 

These are trying times, but I am happy to do what I love and share my love of art with my students! I appreciate all of the support and patience of families trying to make it work, and with that I have been revamping my lessons to focus more on getting to know students, allowing them to experiment, and to learn that there is no “wrong way” to make Art. We started the year discussing all types of Art and learned that almost anything man-made could be considered Art since someone took the time to plan, create, and put out into the world a product of their imagination.

We started off the year creating “Personal Ice Cream Characters” after playing a few ice breakers where we got to know each other, students thought about their interests, personality traits, and of course- their favorite ice cream flavor, to design a character that represented themselves. Students were given a choice of materials and practiced drawing a variety of ice cream cones, sundaes, and popsicles, before choosing their favorite. Check out some of their work below!

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