Fall 2014

Projects and Events / Fall 2014

As soon as the year starts the speed of time becomes really REALLY fast. Along with regular classes we have many school and community based projects going on. Our chapter of National Art Honor Society is getting bigger and more diverse all the time.

Given that there are so many things to post, I felt it was best to do a bullet point list with a few high points. For more information on any of these events please see Mr. Johnson or myself.

We are off to an AWESOME start!
Ms. B.

- 2014 Camp Sunshine pumpkin Festival

•  250 pumpkins carved
• over 100 students participated
• 28 students got out of bed on a day off to install pumpkins in the rain
• the theme was the 200 Bicentennial Birthday of Westbrook
• we set up a Replica of Maine Street including the river and both mills as bookends
• to see the album click here

 

2014 Archangel Russia Student Exchange / Photo Exhibition and Contest

• three Archangel Students and two Teachers visited WHS this fall
• students participated in a photo exchange program with WHS students
• 200 images were submitted from WHS students
• 3 students were selected as winners and will travel to Archangel this Spring
• Winners are 1st Place Kaitlynn Hutchins, 2nd Place Isaiah Gave, and 3rd place Lizzie Stalling.

PHOTOS COMING / CHECK BACK

2104 Celebrate Origin Fundraiser

• beautiful works based on the origins of our students countries continue
• this project was a beautiful backdrop for the multicultural food fair this fall
• all families got a gift from the CO country they originate from
• cards, t-shirts and prints of all sizes are available and will be ongoing
• to see the images we have so far click here

National Art Honor Society 2014 /15
This Art in Service organization has lots of projects in progress. Below is the short list of activities students can get involved with.

• Girl Scouts troop Art Badge event / Contact Lizzie Stalling
• Improve the words of "Inspiration" art work around the building / Contact Ms. B or Mr. J.
• Family Art Night Supports Literacy @ Canal school at the Spring book fair
• "Art Builds Bridges" quote middle stair case by the Art Office
• Help the French Club with the "Festival of Trees" Francophone decorations
• photograph "Visit from Frosty" at Canal School
• many individually based projects that are ongoing that have been specially requested
• help with Seeds of Peace flags idea / contact Mr. Dyer
• 2015 NAHS Induction Ceremony Events
• 2015 Annual Art Exhibition / Installments / Free Art Making

SUMMER 2014

Hello Art Students! Summer is finally here!

This post will be for anyone interested in the following subjects - ART / Photography / The Art Process and AP Art. As you all know I spend a lot of time setting up pins on my Pinterst boards for inspiration and learning. I have boards for just about everything and add more all the time! Be sure to check out ones you think will encourage and inspire you.

First! Please watch this short video by Artist Gwenn Seemel. Her views on "process" are interesting and her habit of taking photos of that process is incredible to watch. Studio Art - Plan on taking a series of photos of at least one assignment this year.

 

I also want to talk about journals.....sketchbooks, visual collections of thoughts and inspiration. In a way, Pinterest is just like a journal...a journal of what inspires you on line. It is a collection of digital information kept in visual form. The variety of formats for visual journals is endless. When you do a general search for art journal / sketchbook you get millions of hits and an enormous amount of inspiration. I would like to focus on the blending of photos with the idea of a journal in this post.

Photography is just another medium. No different really than a pastel, a hunk of stone or any other raw material. You capture light and trap the instance within a format and composition of your choosing. You choose what the viewer will see and how they will see it. The image you create is just the start! There is no end to what you can do with that image once you capture it! It's yours and it can be manipulated however you see fit to enhance meaning, CHANGE meaning, evoke meaning, or even destroy meaning!

Here are but a few spectacular directions you might consider going in. These images are all from just ONE artist. All of them use photos as a spring board. Her blog entry - CLICK HERE.

This image is soooo inspirational. At it's core it has several design ideas. Repetition, pattern, positive and negative space, surface feel, contrast both high and low, TEXT, text as design, flipped image and more. Consider doing a journal entry that spring boards off of an image....yours or another artists. How can you use the image to inspire a new image with a different flavor.

Disect an image! Re-frame it. Reposition to create Movement. Add commentary! Enter related images. This journal entry is really clean and simple but of high impact. The composition gets your attention with clean lines and mixed with irregular frames. The use of simple red and black integrates the parts. The dissection of an image or images reworked back together or combined expresses a whole new take on the original idea.

Personalize Your Journal!!!! Make this puppy Y.O.U.R.S.! Select that one image that keeps you going! Place an image on the cover that screams I BELONG TO __________.  An artists journal is like a museum of thoughts and ideas. A museum needs a Marquee.

Combine two or more images into one. Be thoughtful about the composition. Consider color and value and how they interact in the whole. Cropping is GOOD! What you leave out is just as important as what you decide to include. Use principles of design to create rhythm, and flow. Get out your other art mediums and see who plays nice. Have some fun. Explore possible ideas for final works.

More resources:

Art Journals and Book Arts my board on Pinterest
Digital Media Art Board

Photography Board

AP Studio Art Board (KH - :-) see the shoe designs that incorporate art styles on this board....I see some fun possibilities for this concept with Architecture and photo manipulation or set up shots. This student scored a 5 on his portfolio.)

2014 Annual Exhibition / NAHS / Celebrate Origin

It's Art Show time again!

And that means crazy busy art rooms. Below is a list of whats going on.


First:
We are heavily into our current fundraiser "Celebrate Origin"
NAHS and art students are working on over 26 images that represent our diverse learning community. We now have students from over 26 countries and we are creating images to represent each one. Cards, prints and T-Shirts are available.
Click here for pricing and items.

Here are some examples of the beautiful works.

  



Next up: National Art Honor Society Activities.
On Tuesday May 6 during our annual exhibition we will be inducting 15 students into our new chapter of National Art Honor Society. NAHS is an Art in Service activity. Students participate in community art related services such as "Camp Sunshine Pumpkin Festival" "Archangel Sister City Celebration" and the "Celebrate Origin Fundraiser." They also perform countless school improvement projects. The following students will be inducted on Tuesday May 6 at 6:30 in the art suite.
For more information about National Art Honor Society click here.



Lizzie Stalling President
Annie Pryor VP
Emma Berry Secretary
Leah Driesen
Paul Gorham
Maggie Harnois
Doaa Khalil
Sam Clark
Kaitlynn Hutchins
Aleah Manoogian
Janessa Corbett
Sierra Cameron
Abby StClair
Dana Ledue
Aymen Khaleel

Finally - 2014 Annual Art Exhibition.
Our annual celebration of visual arts learning will be held during the week of May 6 - 8. All students in art classes will be represented at this show. The exhibition is attended by WHS classes and community members. Our show is an interactive show that provides many ways to interact with the art and the students. There will be voting for prizes, Artist making cards hands on activity, a WHS grad studio talk about study and employment in the arts and Celebrate Origin items on sale. Below is the schedule.

 

Westbrook Women's Club Competition 2014

This year the Annual Westbrook Women's club had 31 entries into the annual competition. Over half of the WHS students chosen to compete in this event were able to attend the ceremony and celebration. All 31 artworks are shown in the slideshow to the right. The chosen winners are below.

1st Place Maggie Harnois

3rd Place Sam Russell

2nd Place Kaitlynn Hutchins

Honorable Mention Leah Driesen

The following students were honored at this event:

1. Abby StClair   

2. Marty McKinnis  

3. Kaitlynn Hutchins   

4. Courtney LeClair    

5. Catherine Galipeau    

6. Tylor Work     

7. Lizzie Richardson     

8. Julie Mudasumbwa    

9. Caitlyn Stearns    

10. Sierra Cameron   

11. Leah Driesen   

12. Jessie/Sawyer Bartlett  

13. Shammah Gahomera   

14. MacKenzie Rayner   

15. Diego Ramirez    

16. Lizzie Stalling  

17. Annie Pryor    

18. Corey Williams   

19. Haleigh Barrett

20. Aymen Khaleel

21. Dana Ledue     

22. Sean Gagnon    

23. Jenessa Corbett    

24. Ethan Nash   

25. Jasmine Im    

26. Christina Wormell    

27. Emma Berry     

28. Doaa Khalil  

29. Maggie Harnois  

30. Dana Abdulhay  

31. Sam Russell  

WOW!
This has been an incredibly busy year so I must apologize for the lack of updates.

This post will be about what we have been up to and what is coming up. I decided to make a list of what has happened and what WILL be happening. I will come back and update the info with more links later on.

Oct. 2013 - WHS Art Department participated in the annual Camp Sunshine Pumpkin Festival again. One of our students even put on the Pumpkin Suit Mascot and went to a local Freeport elementary school to engage with the students during lunch. This year we carved over 250 pumpkins. We still have a position of honor up at Beans and plan on doing this next year too.

Oct. / Nov 2013 - The Art department with help from students interested in starting a chapter of the National Art Honor Society put together a Photo Exhibit and artwork for the 25th year celebration of our connection to the city of Archangel Russia. Many students helped make all 21 district flags, learned how to make a traditional Mezen Folk Art work and helped set up the Photo display for the Russian delegation visit. Three Russian students and their teacher spent the day touring WHS and working on projects in the Art dept. Art students Annie Pryor and Elizabeth Stalling helped make this a very special day for our Russian visitors. The Archangel exhibit is at Westbrook School Central Office until mid April.

Feb. 2014 - Westbrook High School's newest chapter of National Art Honor Society had its first meeting. Eighteen students participated in the process of application for our chapter. Our meetings will be held on the 1st Thursday of each month right after school. This organization is an "Art in Service" group who's purpose is to provide art related enrichment activities and projects to the community both school and beyond. Upcoming events TBA

March 2014 - Annual Art Exhibition Fund raiser. This year the theme is "Celebrate Origin" We have many new students joining our learning community from all over the world. This years theme is an attempt to learn more about our new students while celebrating all of our origins. We hope to launch our fundraising options by March 18th at the annual Women's club show.



March 2014 - Students will get a chance to compete in the Vans Custom Culture contest. Mr. Johnson has 4 set of Vans shoes ready to receive the winning designs for this years contest! The themes for this year are Music, Art, Local Flavor and Skate/BMX Sports. Student entries will be entered for a chance at a trip to NYC!

March 2014 - The annual Women's club competition is this month. This local competition has several levels of awards and winners can move forward to the regional and state level.

March 2014 - Youth Art Month! Senior Maggie Harnois will be representing WHS at both the Portland Museum of Art and The Maine Education Association office in Augusta. Maggie's work will hang in Augusta for one year and at the Museum for a month to celebrate this yearly event.