(Artwork above by Sally Johnson, 2nd Grade, "Tree Silhouette in Values of Blue")
The Chesapeake Academy Art Show is a unique opportunity for each student from Early Childhood (Preschool, Prekindergarten and Kindergarten) through Lower School (Grades 1 through 4) and Middle School (grades 5 through 8) to exhibit a unique piece of student artwork in a gallery outside of the school, but within our community.
First through Eighth Grades have focused on the seven Elements of Design, which are defined as line, space, color, shape, form, value and texture. Grades one through seven has emphasized one element, while eighth grade has completed a mixed-media work that has combined many elements of design that are unique and relevant to the creative process of the individual student.
The Early Childhood Classes have explored cross-curricular themes by combining the creation of the artwork with studies within their classroom. For example, Kindergarten students created artworks using Chinese tangrams and color groups, while also exploring Chinese folklore and geography within the academic classroom.
Following are examples from each grade.
Preschool
Preschoolers studied the migratory path of the Monarch Butterfly from the Chesapeake Bay to the mountain forests of Mexico and further south to Panama. While on this journey, they discovered the traditional “molas” (layered fabric) of the Kuna Indians and students created their own molas, imitating the style of the Kuna Indians.
Ryleigh Hornsmith
Charlie Carrillo
PreKindergarten
Students celebrated the beauty and tradition of West Africa by creating their own Kente Cloth. The colors and patterns have special meaning and are rich in symbolism for the people of Ghana.
Ashton Hollingsworth
Olivia Smith
Kindergarten
Students combined the study of warm and cool color groupings and the ancient Chinese puzzle or “tangram”. Students prepared a warm or cool colored background, using tempera paint and created a tangram image with foam tangram pieces, from the identical color group.
Michael Lennon
Noel Livingston
First Grade-Emphasis: Texture
Students focused on the design element of texture in Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”, “Cyprus Trees” and “Sunflowers”. Students prepared a textured background sheet using cool colors and invented texture, through the use of brushstrokes. Students rendered a fish and made texture rubbings and invented texture using oil pastels. The fish was glued to the prepared paper background and tissue paper coral, rocks and seaweed were added for further detail.
Sophie Scott
Amelia Brown
Second Grade-Emphasis: Value
Students studied Harlem-Renaissance artist, Aaron Douglas, and focused on the use of value in his paintings. Students defined value as the amount of color added with black (shade) or white (tint) and that the value became greater with larger amounts of color. Students created paintings using simple contour shapes and limited their palettes to a variety of values of minimal color.
Caleb Lewis
Aline Johnson
Third Grade-Emphasis: Form
Students began this work by comparing three-dimensional works, such as Michelangelo’s “La Pieta” with two-dimensional works such as Picasso’s “Blue Guitarist”. Very quickly, students understood that sculpture has three-dimensional form, in contrast to a painting. Using found objects (soup can) and clay, students constructed animals, both real and imagined. Consideration was given to weight distribution and the ability to view the work from all angles.
Alex Green
Harley Haydon
Fourth Grade-Emphasis: Shape
This work was based on a study of Navajo weavings. Students made stencils using geometric shapes. After dividing the burlap into three sections and fraying the edges, students printed their stencils using a limited color palette in a dominantly symmetrical design. Students finished the work by weaving in the divided sections of the material.
Taylor Goodwin
Emmaline Keesee
Fifth Grade-Emphasis: Color
Students began their concentration on the element of color by examining Matisse’s “The Green Stripe”, which served as the catalyst for the brief Fauve movement in art history. Students noticed the element of color, used independent of the natural appearance of an object. After drawing a traditional contour drawing of a still life, students explored the endless possibilities of using color, transforming a quiet still life into a vibrant, fauve-like painting.
Maddie Williams
David Treakle
Sixth Grade-Emphasis: Space
Defining ‘space’ as creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface, students began this work by drawing the basics of a one-point perspective drawing. Students were encouraged to make their works as abstract as possible so that the subject of the work was the creation of depth, rather than the rendering of an object. Students were required to include an overlap of shapes and were encouraged to make receding shapes smaller and/or higher and to narrow negative spaces as they near the vanishing point.
Soren Jespersen
Jennifer Radcliffe
Seventh Grade-Emphasis: Line
Students explored a traditionally two-dimensional element in a three-dimensional format. Students designed a “fantasy” tree using wire for the construction of the tree trunk, as well as a wide variety of line in the branches of the tree. While students were encouraged to emphasize line first and form second, it was necessary to remember to work from multiple points of view, and to make sure that the base of the sculpture would support the weight of the tree.
Andi Mayer
Dustin Crenshaw
Christian Johnson
Eighth Grade - “Outside of the Box”
This project was a way for older students to combine multiple elements and principles of design, in a work that allowed for an abundance of creative choices and individual expression. Each student received a small (approximately 4 x 4 inch) cardboard box and was asked to create an artwork that utilized the box in some way. The students were encouraged to use the box as a part of their creative process, rather than to confine their work to the shape of the box. Some students chose to use the box as a part of a 3-dimentional work, while others chose to dismantle the box and use it within a 2-dimentional work. Students were encouraged to use whatever media most suited their work.
