MCS High School Students Compete at
Olympics of Visual Arts 2014
Two Teams compete- Drawing and Painting
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| 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.
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| 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."
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| 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.”
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| 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."
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| Working on Spontaneous Problem |
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| 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!
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| "JW"- Made my year! :-) |
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Wizard of Oz room! So cool! Follow the yellow brick road! 
