2nd Grade Fine Arts Night 2015-16: Metamorphosis! A Celebration of Transformation

This year 2nd Graders explored the idea of Metamorphosis, or Change. In Art class we talked about how artists have used this topic as inspiration for their work, but also as impetus for creating work in general. On Thursday, April 28, we celebrated the culmination of these studies.

Our first project of the year introduced students to Pablo Picasso and his Cubist style. We discussed why an artist would want to abstract their subject matter, changing the way it looks and possibly the way we think about it. Students created abstract animal portraits in glue and pastels.

Next we learned about the drastic metamorphosis our mascot, the Monarch Butterfly, undergoes, and honored this majestic transformation with clay butterflies.

Finally, we looked at the Pop Art of Andy Warhol, and thought about how our color choices can effect the way we feel about a piece of art. Students created a series of 4 Pop Art prints in varying colors and engaged in a class critique of their work.

During the Art Show, students and their families were invited to participate in Origami, the ancient art form of paper folding. Origami takes the flat, mundane square shape and transforms it into complex, sculptural forms. Students practiced 6 different techniques to share with their families at the show.

Pacon Creative Products was kind enough to send us some of their Pacon Origami Paper and Pacon Bright Fun Pad to use for this event. The papers were bright and colorful, and easy for everyone to manipulate and decorate. Thank you, Pacon!

And thank you to everyone that helped make this event a huge success:

Mr. Ermel, the 1-2 MyPath music teacher,  our principal, Mr. Kallieris, the 1-2 MyPath team of teacher, Mr. Loftus, Ms. Medina, Ms. Tristan, Ms. Chavez, Mr. Castro, Ms. Perkins, Mrs. Bonazza and Ms. Alvarado. A special thanks to Isidro and the custodial staff for being so accommodating with set up and clean up, and Maribel Velasquez, and Laurie Lenzini for helping with translations and supplies.