EXAGGERATION & DISTORTION

ABSTRACTED SELF PORTRAITS

ADVANCED 2-D ART

acrylic paint on canvas

This year the kids were able to deviate off the traditional list of famous Abstract Artists, 

and look to the internet and chose anyone they wanted to try and mimic their style,

using themselves as subject matter.

Senior Jonathan Hsu picked the famous american J.C. Leyendecker,

poster, book and advertising illustrator.

J.C.'s work actually inspired the infamous Norman Rockwell.

This work that Jonathan painted of himself was by far one of my favorite pieces 

that was created this year.

I was fascinated watching him bring himself to life.

Each day as he worked,

 I felt like the piece looked just right, 

but then he would repaint over parts of it,

and it just kept evolving into the splendid work that it is now.

Did I mention that I adored the colors he was inspired to work with,

the ones Leyendecker used.

Fabulous!!!!

You are so very talented Jonathan!

 And senior Elias Rodriguez chose Spanish artist Miguel Laino 

who has been living in London since 2001.

Laino interprets images from online and print media.

He also incorporates collage images from different time periods and genres 

to bring the past and present together.

In many of Laino's portraits he completely paints over the facial features,

a trademark of his.

After seeing several of Laino's works,

 I really felt that Elias nailed his style

with large slashing brushstrokes against the stark backdrop. 

FRAMED

MOSAIC FRAMES

BEGINNING 3-D ART

glass & clay shards, wooden frames, paper images & text, Modge Podge, wood burning tools, watercolors, acrylics & other misc. goodies like buttons & jewelry parts

My students love, love, love this assignment.

It's super fun & fairly easy,

and the results are always stunning.

The most challenging part is the grouting only because it takes time, 

patience,

and impeccable craftsmanship.

I personally love grouting because it's so tedious.

And that's right up my alley  LOL

Let's check out this first one by junior Helen Park.

Love her well balanced design & the variety of objects she found to use.

I also find her high & low relief interesting,

makes me want to run my fingers over her piece.

Below a close up of the fun buttons she used and how she had to grout around them.

This next one,

Esperanza,

was created by senior Clarissa Gutierrez.

What a cool design she was able to get thru her use of curves.

Senior Jenna Llamas built this beauty above.

(sorry Jenna that it's a bit blurry)

I like how she limited her color scheme and also included dinnerware shards.

And of course senior Elias Rodriguez gave us a very different look with this asymmetrical work.

I like how he moves the colors from dark blues thru greens to yellows.

As you can see below,

he also did that with the back of his frame only in acrylics for a bit of extra credit.

He has even include a title,

Breeze Blocks.

Very cool Elias!

In this next one ,

English teacher Deliana Park,

goes with the yellows and aquas that she loves to work in.

Look closely and you will see text & music notes under some of her transparent glass shards.

And check out her backside.

I believe she used watercolors to build this lovely design.

I also like that she stylized her flowers and butterflies with blocks of color.

Really inspirational Deliana.

I admire all the thought and time you put into everything you make.

And oh, oh ,oh,

what wonderful pieces and colors senior Eileen Wang has put together.

Really eye-catching Eileen!

And then there is the back side of her frame.

She has used paint to stain the wood,

lovely!

I rarely showcase this many works by my students in one post,

but there were just so many outstanding pieces to chose from like this one above by senior Iris Xu.

Very clever color work here 

with the monochromatic greens then bringing in a touch of complementary red to give it a "pop".

One of my strongest 8th grade designers this year was Sydney Eng.

She created this brilliant design.

Using analogous colors with those striking linear black lines running thru,

and then that unusual shade of grout color that pulls it all together,

stunningly beautiful my girl!

And junior Thulashi Raveendran has outdone herself both on the front and backsides.

Wow!!

Several of the kids this year took advantage of first collaging text or patterned papers 

to the raw wood before gluing down their glass shards.

That's what 8th grader Elliana Lee did here.

Love the rose paper she found to put down using the Modge Podge sauce.

It's so lovely she really doesn't even need the glass shards on top.

But let's she what she did next.

Adorable Elliana!

She drew these cute little figures on white paper and glued them to clear glass,

then glued those pieces down on the roses.

Adding more clear glass to show off the roses underneath 

along with a few buttons and opaque shards,

and then mixing the right shade of pinky mauve to pull it all together.

A lot of these kids mixed their own grout colors

which can be really scary if you run out before you are done grouting,

cuz you will never mix the exact color again.

But they were fearless in their quest for just the right color.

I adore this next one by junior Insha Khan.

Both the front and the backside.

On the front,

her color choices, 

the glass arrangement of the challenging symmetry,

the small sizes moving into linear shapes moving into rounds.

So well planned out!

Insha also thought to use the woodburning tool to draw designs on the backside.

Along with the paint stain,

it compliments the front perfectly.

And one of my sweetest young ones,

8th grader Malia Pulido,

was also brave enough to use the wood burning tool on her backside.

And look closely at her front,

she spent a lot of time gluing down text in just the right places.

I also love that she's incorporating the dinnerware pieces that add great textural interest.

And we end with one of my favorite students this year,

one of the best people I've ever met in my whole life,

senior Hapshiba Kwon.

This young woman has so many gifts that she has brought to our school,

to our teachers, 

and to her peers.

She is a phenomenal writer as well as an exceptional designer.

But so much more importantly,

a genuinely good person.

I have showcased many of her pieces over the last two years.

I hope you will put her name in the search engine and find what other pieces she has created.

Her work moves use all because she most always finds a way 

to incorporate her words in her art pieces.

If you look closely under the clear shards you will find either her words

 or inspirational words from one she admires.

Perhaps she will send in a comment to let use know which she used in this piece.

Now I want you to scroll back up to see what she has done with color.

How she has patiently and purposefully moved the colors from blackest black thru blues to pink.

Seamless, 

and extremely difficult to do.

It took her so long I was scared she wasn't going to finish on time.

But she never lets us down,

always doing her very best because that's who she is.

And look how perfectly she has stained her backside to flow with the front.

Thank you,

 all of you,

for creating so much beauty for me to share with the world.

I feel so blessed and incredibly lucky to be your teacher.

PUSHING BOUNDRIES

ACRYLIC WORD COMPOSITION

ADVANCED 2-D ART

acrylic paint & paper collage

This piece is senior Elias Rodriquez's largest work to date.

It measures 24" by 36".

He wasn't required to work this large but he wanted to challenge and push himself

(I love that :)

The assignment was to use text as 60% of their subject matter.

In the past the kids have lettered out words and painted them in,

but Elias being Elias,

 wanted to change it up and do it differently.

He asked if the words could come from newspapers that he could collage down first,

then lightly paint over.

I really liked the idea so he tried it out.

The rest of the subject matter was up to the kids,

so he gives us this very thought provoking figure partially hiding behind a mask.

Deep!

Bravo Elias for always pushing yourself farther!

FOR THE BIRDS

HAND WOVEN BIRD'S NESTS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

wire, hand dyed handspun yarns, various recycled ribbons, yarns and laces 

So many wonderful works to show off from this group.

My extremely talented and motivated 8th graders have set the bar extremely high as you will see.

Let me give you a tease with this first nest by 8th grader Sydney Eng.

Remarkably crafted,

beautifully designed,

and clever as well with her "Happy Times" felt made pillows.

Syd was one of many 8th graders who wanted to come back to art this year,

who signed up for the Beginning 2-d course,

got in,

but then was removed to make way for the seniors 

who procrastinated taking their Fine Arts requirement for graduation till their senior year.

These seniors who didn't even want an art trumped my 

8th graders who might want to be Art Majors.

A revolting situation I say,

life isn't always fair.

So Syd and several other 8th graders were put into my Beginning 3-d class

because it still had space.  

Sadly a couple others were sent to other classes they didn't want.

The GOOD NEWS,

these 8th graders who got to stay in the 3-D class are doing AMAZING work,

as you will see.

Let's see a couple of them getting started.

First we have Maia Calanoc.

She is the first,

 in the last several years that I've been teaching this assignment,

 to think to alter the 

foundation spokes of her nest.

What a clever girl!

I give them inexpensive re-bar from Home Depot to work with.

It's not easy on the hands,

but it's affordable since we go thru a lot of it.

And it's strong and holds the shape well.

Next is Micah Yim.

Since the re-bar is difficult to work with,

check out he ingenious idea to hold it in place

 and transport it so it doesn't move until he gets it built!

So here we go,

more of the finished nests.

This first one was created by 8th grader Malia Pulido.

One of the things that Malia and a couple others did this year

 was to turn their nests into something else that was recognizable.

They've inspired me so much that I think I will make this a new requirement next year.

There were other ideas as well as you will see future down the post.

I really like when assignments evolve and don't remain static.

So thanks young ones for this great idea.  :)

Malia's idea of a tea cup and tea bag was so very clever.

Plus as  you can see,

so beautifully executed.

Look at those tiny & perfect stitches on the tea label.

Also noticeable was her handspun yarn from the previous Unit (the grey-blue yarn)

Weaving with their hand dyed hand spun was a requirement in this assignment.

Love it Malia!!

And let's take a look at what English teacher extraordinaire,

Mrs. Deliana Park came up with.

She has thought outside the box to create a whole environment to house her nest,

this festive and seasonal wreath.

So much creativity from this group of students.

A much closer look-see

 of the copious amounts of time and effort young Deliana has put into her piece

to impress her teacher and please herself.

And yes,

she even made her pompom chic-a-dee,

paper collaged her eggs,

sewed on her buttons,

the list is long!

Another favorite of mine was this very soft & sweet nest made by 8th grader Elliana Lee.

I adore how delicate it is,

 and how she has gently moved the color from peach to lime greens.

Small but mighty as they say.

 8th grader Iris Lin,

another student with impeccable craftsmanship did this lovely nest above.

The piece of eyelet she has added and the bow along with her pretty needle felted eggs inside,

give this one a very special feel.

The class favorite was this next one by junior Helen Park.

We were all so impressed

 that she thought to turn her nest into a holding area for the planets and stars,

resting on a cloud.

Of course Helen spent hours making all those origami stars that she filled her nest with.

And again, 

check out the perfection in which she is weaving her weft.

I gave the kids a short demo. on needlefelting,

and many of them used it to create goodies for the inside of their nests.

I love, 

Love,

 LOVE

that junior Insha Khan thought to incorporate a branch into her very cool elongated nest.

And then to string and dangle beads .

YES!!!

And we don't get thru a Beginning 3-D post without seeing the work of senior Hapshiba Kwon.

Even though Hapshiba doesn't want to believe it,

she is a very special young woman to all of us teachers here at Whitney.

We adore her for so many reasons.

She is a terrific writer,

 a thoughtful designer and fabulous craftswoman,

a good & dear friend to many on our campus,

a qentle leader amongst her peers,

and smart as a whip.

She's such a hard worker,

knows how to manage her time,

which then gives her time to give back to her community thru church functions and organizations here on campus.

You didn't think I knew all that about you ,

did you Hapshiba.  hee hee

I get around, 

and always have my ears open.  LOL

I love you sweet girl,

 always have (since the 7th grade when I met you)

always will.

Anyways,

back to our topic on hand,

 her nest.  

This in large part is a recycle assignment.

All the yarns are leftovers, 

same with the raffia, 

the jute,

 and whatever else the kids can find in my classroom to weave with.

Including newspaper,

as Hapshiba has though to do with.

And just like Hapshiba,

humble,

not wanting too much attention (sorry Hapshiba),

but there like a shining star that you have to look closely for,

the tiny seed beads that she has spent hours sewing onto the bottom of her nest.

Didn't think I'd notice this either ,

did you?

ha ha

Finally,

we are back to 8th grader Maia's nest that we saw her building at the beginning of this post.

Look at the cool movement she got by twisting her spokes.

And then the topper,

those angelic fishes swimming underneath.

What a great idea,

and how pretty Maia!!

Where do these young ones come up with such cool ides??

Frequently inspired by Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas,

is the work of senior Elias Rodriquez.

We've seen many years of work on this blog by Elias,

and as you may have noted,

most of his work is very "dark"

And now that he's a senior and feels very comfortable working with me,

he enjoys interpreting the assignments in ways no one has thought to do before.

For instance, he asked me if I minded that he used more wire then the other kids,

knowing what a tight budget I have to adhere to.

He also asked to have permission to have some of the wire showing,

 and to enclose his piece rather then keeping it open at the top.

Over the years I have learned that it pays off  to be more flexible with the kids when they ask,

it often leads to new ideas and inspiration for projects,

like Elias' piece has done here.

What a cool work his sculpture is,

so that maybe next year we will weave a non-objective form that's enclosed.

Love it!

Here is Elias getting his foundation started,

and then the weaving begins.

A close up of the finished top.

These next two furry nests were woven by close friends and seniors

 Clarissa Gutierrez and Eileen Wang.

Both are so tactile and yummy.

A knitter donated that fun furry yarn for the kids to use.

It's super thin,

so to weave with it 

the kids had to quadruple it to get it thick enough to fill the weft space.

Lots of extra work and effort involved here.

I thought it very clever of Clarissa to use the seed pod to fill her nest with.

Then both girls did sweet needle-felted eggs.

And speaking of yummy,

check out this last one by junior Cheryl-Mae Alvarez Mallabo.

Like all my favorite candy colors mixed together.

Delicious!!

Cheryl will spend copious amounts of extra time outside of school perfecting her pieces.

She is super smart and creative,

 and always thinks of original ideas.

In this case,

a jelly fish mounted on reflective water.

This one was also the class favorite!

It is now on display in our Principal's office.

Some close-ups of all her time consuming work.