Student Success Block: Parkway West & BMC Partnership

Reviving Blog

2012-02-15T22:23:00.000-08:00

We spruced up room 318 and are turning it into a true Student Success Center. More info to come about 2012 Senior Projects and the 2012 seniors stars! Photo above: Matisse (Parkway senior) works with Martha (Bryn Mawr).

'I Survived the Senior Project' 2011

2011-06-04T12:59:00.001-07:00

Mural and Parkway Featured in ABC News Story!

2011-06-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

Click HERE to see the video of the ABC News video about the Mural honoring the contributions of women from the very local to the global scale.

The video clip features students from our class, muralist Shira Walinsky, Parkway graduate Latahsa Billington, and Parkway teacher Sharon Carter!

2011-05-02T06:03:00.001-07:00

Everyone in our Class is a Fabulous Artist

2011-04-15T14:43:00.002-07:00

WE ARE VERY CLOSE TO FINISHING THE LEGACY PROJECT! EVERYONE IS WORKING VERY HARD AND DOING SUCH QUALITY WORK.

Fabulous Friday

2011-03-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

grid

2011-03-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Portrait Painting

2011-03-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

ming soon...

The Drawing Grid Method

2011-03-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

We used the drawing grid method to transfer our photo portraits. Everyone used rulers to create a six by six inch grid on our six by six inch wooden tiles. The drawing grid method is a very easy way to draw proportionally. It helps you accurately draw your reference object, we used photographs of ourselves as our reference. Renaissance artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Leonardo DaVinci popularized the grid method in the 15th century .

The drawing grid is a simple technique with realistic results you place a grid on your reference (the portrait ) and have the same grid pattern on your paper, you transfer the image using the squares as reference. It breaks up the reference into more manageable sections making it easier to draw.

Left:This is what a drawing grid looked like when artists used it in the 15th century.

Pictures of our drawing grids and portraits coming soon....

Portraits and Drawing with the Grid Method

2011-03-14T15:59:00.001-07:00

Prepping our Masonite Tiles and Free Draw

2011-03-12T20:43:00.001-08:00

The college students are on Spring Break so we focused on preparing for our mural project. Everyone got a wooden tile and prepped the tile by painting two layers of gesso. Gesso is a white paint mixture used to prepare wooden surfaces such as the masonite for acrylic paint. Shelby, Turquoise and Lanae did some free drawing exercises.

Wednesday, March 9th: All City Choir Performance

2011-03-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, March 8th

2011-03-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

Staying on academic track to graduation & college as spring gets closer...

Monday, March 7th

2011-03-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

While the BMC/HC College students are on Spring Break this week, Parkway students are busy staying on top of their academic work for their Senior Project. Everyone is busy writing journals, creating resumes, and gathering letters of recommendation. Portfolio and Powerpoint presentations are underway!

Some folks have taken time during SSB to get some "creative relief."

La'Nae made the drawing on her folder "pop" by outlining her work in colored pencil with black lines.

Make ANY color with: red, yellow and blue.

2011-03-06T10:07:00.001-08:00

Did you know that you can make ANY COLOR in the world with Red, Blue and Yellow paint? We started class with a color challenge. Each person got a painting palette with these three colors and had to match the colors of an object from yesterday's still life. Marc learned how to make light purple by adding more red to his mauve-brown. Brittney Spence made an apple-green using white, yellow and a touch of blue.

Each person had to draw an object from yesterday's still life twice on the same piece of paper.

Above: Levon is drawing a bunch of flowers. She made some beautiful renderings of these flowers, by adding white to her red mixture to make a light pink.

We also had each half of the class model with their objects. Everyone had to hold their pose for ten minutes. Some of the paintings were still drying at the end of class we didn't get any pictures but a lot of people did EXCELLENT work and really thought about COLOR THEORY.

Charcoal: Messy and BOLD

2011-03-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

We used vine charcoal to draw a still life and practice some drawing exercises. Vine Charcoal it is an ancient drawing tool made from burning sticks of wood. We opened up class by practicing some warm-up drawing exercises that artists often use to loosen up their arm and hand muscles.

First we used our entire range of motion to make giant circles with charcoal on our drawing paper. We loosened up our upper body muscles in this exercise because you start by using your WHOLE upper body to make the circles.

S Second we tried drawing straight lines freehand by pulling the charcoal from the top of the page to the bottom.

Lenyce got creative with her warm-up and drew an evil eye in the center of her circle.

Lanae used a piece of vine charcoal to make straight lines on her sheet of drawing paper.

For the remainder of class we used our view-finders to draw the still life in the center of the room. Lenyce and Sharaya focused on drawing the same portion of the still life. Shelby placed an emphasis on the iconic Obama HOPE poster sitting in the middle of still life.

Charcoal is a challenge, it allows you to be expressive and bold in a way that graphite does not.

Figure Drawing with Watercolor

2011-02-27T14:23:00.001-08:00

3 Models x 15 Minutes + 5 minute warm up = 50 minutes of drawing and painting.

Everyone learned how to create a view finder with their fingers. A viewfinder is a simple yet extremely useful tool for life drawing because it helps you to select and isolate particular elements in a scene to get the best composition. Below is an example of a view finder and how to use it when creating a composition.

Below:Pictures of view finders

Figure Drawing and Revising our Projects

2011-02-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

We got taste of what college level art classes are like in our Figure Drawing activity. Aaron posed for us in a series of dramatic and classic poses. He did 1, 2 and 5 minute poses we tried to capture his image in our sketches. We learned that it was TOUGH to capture his pose in 1 minute!!!

We ended class by revisiting some of the art activities from the past five weeks since some people wanted to continue to grow their art portfolios. Sharaya and Shelby took pictures of their alter egos...wait until you see Shelby's mustache!

Left: I am creating a wall hanging of some photos from the "Alter Ego" lesson. The Polaroids are held together with some metal clasps from a jewelry kit.

PHOTO DIRECTIONS FOR HOW TO SILKSCREEN @ parkway:

The LDOW image at the end is not Michelle's "Pooh" print but a fabulous silkscreen that Levon made. My camera was dying by the time the "Pooh" print was complete, I will snag an image of it later......

Who is your alter ego? Ellen Gallagher, Polaroid and Photo Manipulation

2011-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

We opened up class by playing charades. We also watched a video about contemporary artist Ellen Gallagher. Gallagher uses a hybrid of printmaking, drawing, collage, and painting when collaging vintage magazines such as Ebony and Our World to transform the faces of the people in the advertisements appear like aliens or super-heroes.

don't "SHAKE IT LIKE A POLAROID PICTURE"

2011-02-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

Polaroid Manipulations

Black History Month Assembly:

2011-02-17T07:38:00.001-08:00

Parkway's Black History Month was on Wednesday:

Click the links below to watch videos from the assembly, including Student Success Block's Michelle Hunt!

SUPERHEROES

2011-02-16T14:27:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, there was a "project runway"-style challenge: 2 teams, lots of recycled junk, 30 minutes, and one challenge: to model the ultimate superhero! Both teams came up with really inspired designs:

Team 2 getting "Hypnotica" (Denise) ready

Team 1 getting "Egyptian Coutura" (Michelle) ready

Then there was the runway show...

There was a sweet judges section (Heidi Klum-style):

And in the end, both teams had a super performance!

Silkscreening with Newsprint

2011-02-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

On Thursday the 10th and Friday the 11th we learned how to Silkscreen. We designed custom monogram stencils out of newsprint. We thought about the color wheel when picking colors for our designs.

Silk screening is involves “pushing ink” through a screen over a stencil.We are used a low-cost, eco-friendly silkscreen method today called the “Newsprint Stencil Method.” We made stencils out of newspaper by cutting our shapes and letters and sticking them on the Silkscreen. In the future, we will print our designs on pillowcases, cd covers and poster paper.

PHOTOS OF OUR PRINTS, COMING SOON!!!!!

Until then, here is some vocabulary:

A stencil is used to block out areas where ink is not wanted. Stencils can be as simple as a piece of paper or as intricate as this:http://www.prescriptionart.com/images/uploads/fairey/peace-woman-screen-print-fnl.jpg.

Squeegees are used to spread ink evenly across the back of the silkscreen, making a clean image on the printed surface. Screen-printing squeegees usually have much thicker and less flexible blades than the window cleaning variety.

An artist’s proof is pulled early in the printmaking process so the artist can check the quality of the print. The artist makes a series of prints in the edition.

Flooding the screen is when you hold the screen up, pull the squeegee across the screen and fill the stencil with the ink. Next you then lay the screen down and complete your print. The purpose of flooding the screen is to give you an even ink deposit on your print.

Parkway students meet Harlem Children Zone's Geoffrey Canada at Haverford

2011-02-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

Aaron, Myiesha, and Dominique with Geoffrey Canada after his talk.

Before going to Haverford to hear Geoffrey Canada we went to the Harcum bookstore for Myiesha to pick out some HC gear before enrolling in the fall to study Early Childhood Eduation. Dominique came along and helped out with modeling some of the options.

pizza!

After picking up Aaron at the R100 train we met Sarah and Jomaira for dinner at Haffner dining hall at Bryn Mawr.

Then we were off to Haverford College to hear educational reformer and activist, Geoffrey Canada, speak to a full house about the importance of ensuring all students receive a comprehensive and remarkable education. Talk to Dominique, Aaron, Myiesha, or Ms. Carter or any of the college students at the talk to get their reactions to Mr. Canada's talk!

Jomaira and Sarah getting books signed.

MAKE YOUR OWN ALBUM COVER!

2011-02-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

Today in class we mostly worked on our album covers. Adrienne's lesson the previous day, which included information on the history of album covers, was fresh on our minds as we decorated the record covers. We were encouraged to plan first, to sketch and brainstorm, before decorating. Adrienne was helping everyone with everything from using glue properly, to complimentary colors. In addition to working on our albums, some people were discussing colleges and looking for schools with specific programs, such as ROTC. We will continue to work on the album covers next week and on Tuesday we hope to have our CD launch party!