Shelter in Place

In Early March, a group of 7th graders from BMS had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with architecture students from the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.  The students were part of a workshop held on the campus of The Chewonki Foundation to brainstorm ideas for refugee shelters that are lighter than traditional homes, but more substantial than tents.  These structures will incorporate advanced fabrics held in tension with poles and cables.  For an in depth synopsis of the workshop, click here.

Below are links to some of the designs created by the 7th graders with guidance from the architecture students.  Below each hyperlink is feedback from Professor Mark. 











Design #1
"Is smartly engineered."

Design #2 
"...very much in tune with larger social clustering issues we’ve been concerned with and inspired discussions within the studio. I even referred to it [during a] guest lecture to Engineering."

Design #3
"#3 & #4  have the level of consideration sympathetic to what you would want see explored in an architectural studio."

Design #4

Design #5
"...broke new ground, using one of the kits in a way we hadn’t anticipated."

Design #6 

Design #7 

Design #8 

 

"Althea R. did a series of beautiful drawings, including one of a cutaway axonometric projection."

Thank you, Professors Earl Mark and Tom Martin for offering us this amazing opportunity.  And thank you to Chewonki's Lisa Packard for coming up with the idea and putting all the pieces together to make it happen!

Students present their work to their classmates back at school

Clay Creations

Last week the Gateway art classes were able to create with clay! Ms. McKeon offered us the use of the tools and kiln. Artists were not given a specific assignment and had the choice to create anything they wanted as long as it was not flat. They had to work quickly because it is difficult to keep clay malleable over a week's time. The results ranged from cylinders to cartoon characters. Once the clay is bone dry they will be fired.

Paper Mache

Since we got back from Christmas vacation, students in the Gateway Art program have been using paper mache to create marionette puppets and sculptures. There was a lot of building first, then layers of mache and now we are at the painting stage. I love the diversity in the ideas! Please take a look at our album. https://goo.gl/photos/jKs2yTGvrMmAXnsw5

Farnsworth Museum Visit

On January 21st,  we took a drive up the coast to the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland.  The Farnsworth is a private museum which first opened in 1948, and it features a wide variety of artwork with a focus on the work of the Wyeth's, one of Maine's most prominent painting families.

The museum staff had some wonderful activities planned for us.  The group I was accompanying went to a photography exhibit where we were handed cards with adjectives written on them.  We worked with partners to find the one photograph that exemplified each of our adjectives.  This led to many interesting conversations about how we interpret art and connect those interpretations to emotions, feelings and memories.

Mrs. Polizotto's group did an activity asking students to write poems from the perspective of a person or object in a painting.  One example is below.

One of the more interesting exhibits, especially for budding artists, is the "Wyeth Workshop."  This is a small collection of studies by Andrew Wyeth, all in varying states of completion.  It's fascinating to see the evidence of the artist experimenting with composition, coloring and texture as he works toward a final piece.  

 Students were encouraged to make sketches of art that grabbed their attention, and came back with many new ideas.

It's inspiring to see the light in the eyes of the kids as they walk through the galleries and soak in all of the creativity, ideas, skill and countless hours of work on display.  Who knows where this experience will lead these students?  For some, I suspect it will make quite an impact.

Thanks to Mrs. Polizotto and RSU 1 for offering our students this wonderful opportunity!