Middle School Still Life Drawing

Focused on a single vase

Achieving a sense of volume

Working with charcoal

Gray scales

Pencil and charcoal at this table

Gray scales

Coffe pot taking form

Beginning a unit on still life drawing, the middle school students chose objects from a simple set-up and began with rendering them with soft pencils, then charcoal, they gray scale pastels. They will work these exercises into a final pastel composition.

Empty Bowls Evening

 Bowl selection

 Deciding which one to purchase

 Appreciating the monster bowl

 The soup was delicious!

Eighth graders serving

After all the weeks of bowl making, vegetable gleaning, soup preparing and rehearsing, the eighth grade hosted Empty Bowls. Families came to "buy" the bowls their students made as well as many donated by Buxton School students. Eighth grade students spoke about issues of world hunger, a speaker from Joseph's House spoke about issues of local hunger and homelessness, soup was served and bowls were admired. It was a hugely successful evening!

4/5s Craft Historic Figure Paper Masks

 Matching the eyes

Trimming the features

 Collaborating

Ready for the mouth

Amelia Earhart

Anne Frank

As each 4/5 student studies a specific historic figure in the classroom, they are making a paper mask of their person in art class. By cutting, folding and gluing they are coming up with remarkable likenesses while learning about symmetry and the possibilities of paper.

2/3s Paint Changing Landscapes

 Figuring out the colonists' mural

 Drawing the cityscape

Working on roads leading to a bridge

 Native American Landscape Beginning

The Long View

Finishing Up the Farm Mural

Colonist's Farm Mural

The City Mural

Native American Mural

Kids explaining their work to visitors

Flowers of appreciation to RCHS

In collaboration with the 2/3s class work on changing landscapes, the students painted large scenes of life in the times of the Native Americans, the Colonists and City Dwellers. These murals will be followed by a fantastic look to the future through the eyes of the 2/3s. All these works will be exhibited at the Rensselaer County Historic Society in mid December.

K/1s Draw People

 Parker alum, Nora, visiting and helping out with K/1art class

 Using a model to help with proportions

A full figure filling the paper

 Painting the vegetable farmer

Painting the trash collector with his can

 Cutting out two workers

Beginning to paint the farm

Apple Orchard Keeper

Baker

Harvester

Goat Farmer

K/1s Sharing their work in their classroom

As the K/1s begin their study of community workers who help to make bread and bring it to our shops, they will draw a specific worker and then paint the place where that person works. This will be assembled to demonstrate the path bread makes from farm to table.

4/5s Alphabet Art

 Filling in spaces

The overall design emerging

The 4/5s covered 8x11 inch paper with random letters, forming abstract designs. The negative spaces between the lines of the letters were then colored in with solids or patterns creating interesting overall designs.

K/1s Work with Clay to Make Bowls for Empty Bowls

 Rolling out the clay

Forming a fine slab

 Glazing a fired bowl

Careful glazing

 A finished bowl

And another

The K/1s learned the basic techniques for working with clay, beginning with kneading to get out the air, rolling a slab and forming it into a bowl. After the bowl was decorated and fired, glaze was carefully added to provide the finishing touch.