Fall Field Trip To Storm King Sculpture Museum

Earlier in the fall the Sculpture, Photo, and Drawing classes went to Storm King Art Center on a beautiful fall day.  We made sure to see the important sculptures that Sculpture class is studying this fall, but saw many other things along the way. 

Be sure to see some more photos on the Sculpture page. 

Maya Lin's "Wave Field"

Taking a break from running on the hills

Andy Goldsworthy's amazing stone wall

E.G.'s beautiful reflection

Great aperture- Photo student took this one!

Great light shot- another Photo class student

Portraits by Studio Students Inspire

This year's Studio Art classes have amazing talent! We just finished our Portrait drawings.  Students chose to draw someone who influences them or inspires them.  They tried to convey the special qualities in the person they drew.  

I was amazed to see such skill with the materials; pencil, ebony pencil, and pen.  The students really embraced going to the next level of mastery.  Rendering to make a portrait look more realistic is not easy. 

Good Ole' Dean

Love the expression!

Amazing rendering

Doing the thing he does best

Great ball player

Sometimes it's the people we know who inspire us the most

Art Club to Face Paint at Annual Margaretville

Cauliflower Festival

Come join us and get your cheek or face painted by our artists!  10am-4pm the Art Club will be face painting as a fundraiser for events this year. It looks like a beautiful day!

Michelle MacNaught Memorial Art Auction

has another amazing Fundraiser in August

Artists were busy creating art to be auctioned in Andes this summer.  The artwork was created in memory of amazing, young local artist, Michelle MacNaught.  Michelle went to school at Delaware Academy and to art school at SUNY Purchase.  She battled ovarian cancer and lost that battle in 2011 at the age of 21. Before she passed she was able to attend her own art show down in NYC at the Leo Koenig Gallery.  Much of the work was beautiful woodcut prints, many about her battle with cancer. 

Michelle's woodcuts

Michelle MacNaught

   

 Her mother, Mary, and other friends have begun memorializing Michelle's amazing personality and talent through scholarships and local grants.  MCS has been blessed with receiving some of the grants available.  In 2014, MCS senior C. Shultis received an Art Scholarship to pursue her dream of becoming an Illustrator at Marywood University in PA.  The Olympics of the Visual Art Teams received funding to buy supplies for their 1st place winning Fashion entry, another Fashion entry, a Drawing entry, and Painting entry.  This summer MCS received funding to replace some of the old iMacs in the Art Department.  We are so blessed to have this opportunity and are excited to keep moving forward in the Arts. 

At the Art Auction this August the Olympics of the Visual  Arts artwork was showcased at the auction; the Fashion Dresses and the Drawing Project.  The paintings completed with Roshan Houshmand were also showcased.  

 Michelle's memory will live on in so many amazing young artists in our area.  Thank you Mary and Team, thank you Michelle. 

Mural in Arkville Complete!!

with Joanna Murphy

Joanna Murphy has been coming into our classroom for two years now.  It has been a great opportunity for MCS students to work with such an amazing painter and exciting artist.  

Student artwork 2014 in Catskill Artisan's Guild Art Space

During the summer of 2014 Joanna finally completed the mural in Arkville by Crossroads.  Local students helped Joanna paint as she worked her way across the scaffolding in June. 

http://www.joannamurphy.com/pages/index.php

Beautiful landscapes created by Studio Art Students

What an amazing project to be part of, thank you Joanna! Best of luck in your future adventures!

Photos of mural to come...

Working with Artist Roshan Houshmand

During the spring of 2014 the Painting class as well as a few students worked with local artist, Roshan.  Roshan has a rich background in many different styles and teaches Art at SUNY Delhi.  Here is her website to check out all of her artwork:

http://www.roshanhoushmand.com

Roshan travels a lot and explores many different approaches to art.  It is exciting to see what she is working on next! 

C.Shultis

C.Shultis

The Painting class explored the Masters: Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Cezanne.  We studied each artist and painted a copy of one of their pieces.  We learned a lot from copying, learning the style and approach.  

C.Shultis

C.Shultis

After the paintings were finished they were hung in 768 Main for a month.  They looked beautiful on their walls of their store. 

K. Todd

S. Beers

C.Shultis

C. Buckholz

In 768 Main

We hang a lot of art in here! Thank you!

Art for Art's Sake

Gallery show of local artists who are donating the sales of their work to

 RAG- Roxbury Arts Group

http://roxburyartsgroup.org/2013/07/07/july-19-for-arts-sake/

Mrs. Wentland is selling a mixed media piece.  The opening is Saturday, July 19th at 3pm.  Lots of beautiful work done by amazing local artists.

Museum of Modern Art

MoMA

Here we come!

On our way down

One of my favorite Picasso pieces

High School Art Club was lucky enough to take a Charter Bus down to NYC last week. We did a quick tour through the scaffold-full St. Patrick's Cathedral before entering the MoMA; the Museum of Modern Art. 

The Museum was packed! For a Thursday, it was unusual.  Throughout the day we did not hear much English or American, but a lot of French (Canadian French perhaps), German, Italian, and Flemish languages.  We managed to see the highlights; Picasso, Monet, and Van Gogh, among others.  

De Stijl at its best, kid's toys as well

Not the usual Mondrian

Inspiring Monet's...hard to believe one went up in flames years ago

The 5th floor was amazing- all of the Masters- Picasso, Monet, Mondrian, Van Gogh.  The crowds were tight, we moved slowly between paintings.  Some were larger than we had expected, some were smaller. 

Wow, what can you say? 

Picasso's "Musicians", do you see the dog? 

Tired after seeing lots of Art...

Great day at the MoMA

It was a great day at the MoMA.  Too much to see in one day though with so many people.  We will have to return some day to see it all. 

Until next time...

Olympics of the Visual Arts 2014

MCS High School Students Compete at

Olympics of Visual Arts 2014

Two Teams compete- Drawing and Painting

Team members 2014

The Olympics of the Visual Arts were held on Thursday, April 10th at the Saratoga Springs City Center.  It was a creative success and NYSATA (New York State Art Teacher's Association) appreciated our participation.  There were 900 student participants, teachers, chaperones, judges, and parents at OVA. 

There were 30 school districts that participated this year.  Over 45 professional artists, architects, and/or Visual Arts Educators adjudicated the event.

The artwork was exceptional, demonstrating that the Visual Arts are vital to education across New York State.  NYSATA sponsors OVA every year.  Every person who organizes the event and the judges does this of their own free time and talent to make it the event that it is.  You can read more at NYSATA's website; www.nysata.org. 

Drawing Team Set up

Our Drawing team consisted of Alana, Itahy, and Issis.  The problem this year was "Reflection of You";
"They say that the eyes are the reflection of one's soul, that they give a look beyond the physical (visual) appearance of a person and into the intellectual and spiritual aspects of the person.  Create a drawing that reflects you and/or your team, both physically and metaphysically.  Research how artists have conveyed spiritual, philosophical, and intellectual themes in their artwork beyond the base visual affects.  Brainstorm on how you will interpret the various themes you might convey.  Incorporate what you have discovered into an original composition."

Drawing Team working on Spontaneous Problem

Below is what our team came up with; the idea that a person is always under construction, constantly being built upon with the help of others in their life.  The woman is similar to a building, with many architectural elements and features.  The architecture is influenced from Victorian Architecture with arches, gilded gold, patterns, gargoyles, etc.  We also looked at Automatons; robotic people that did simple tasks, with interesting and intricate frameworks.  The clock in place of the face symbolizes the passage of time in one's life, also with reference to Big Ben (Victorian Architecture). 


As Alana said in her reflection, “I am strong, like I’m made of bricks.  I hold my head high, like a tower.  I am an ever-expanding building project, one that will continue until there is nothing left but rubble.”  Itahy stated, “When you look into her windows you see beautiful colors.  It illustrates beauty not only on the outside, but also on the inside.”  Issis reflected, “I can’t take full credit as to who I am or becoming.  If anything I was built and am still in the process of being renovated.  Our environment and everything in it builds us, and continues to build us.”

Final Drawing Piece

The Painting team was Lindsay and Rhiannon.  The problem this year was "Nano Space". 

"Create an original painting that interprets images taken from extreme magnification.  Research how scientists and artists manipulate the scientific imagery they capture and create artworks.  Discover how artists alter the scientific images using traditional artistic media and techniques. Creativity is an important part of your final solution."

Working on Spontaneous Problem

Painting Team Final Set up

Above is what the Painting team came up with.  It is the electron dot diagram of a Calcium atom.   The big canvas in the middle represents the nucleus of an atom and the small canvases are electrons.   Each painting had its own color scheme, a monochromatic color scheme.  Each small painting was unique and intricate.  It was amazing to see the beauty in nano scapes.   The paintings were on round canvas that were then suspended with fishing line in a wooden frame.  The idea of leaving space is that electrons would be very apart from a nucleus and the team wanted that space to be real. 





Even though we did not place in either Drawing or Painting this year, we were extremely proud of our work and it was an exciting day! It is so amazing to see the work of other students and the abundance of creativity and wonderful ideas.  We are excited to return next year! 

"JW"- Made my year! :-)