Photos from around the Art Department this past semester!
Congratulations to all of our graduating seniors – Shay, Lydia, Hannah, Dayna, Mario, Abyl and Cayetana on an extremely successful final exhibition! Student work ranged from sculptural installations to incredibly constructed fashion garments – both sculptural and wearable, penetrating, emotional photography and energetic, architectural models, and expressive mixed-media works. Our seniors have all worked extremely hard these past two years, putting countless hours into both their studio work and their investigation workbooks. They’ve compiled exceptional research, developed and refined extraordinary technical abilities, and they’ve produced impressive portfolios of work. We’ve added a gallery showing some of the preparations for their final exhibition as well as their opening night reception. Enjoy!
I recently had a chance to interview Kyle Lemon, who is an independent-study photography student here at TASIS England. Starting off, I asked him what is his inspiration for taking landscape photographs. Kyle said that his inspiration comes from his love for and interest in nature, his Canadian heritage, and his curiosity in architecture and its similarities and relationship with nature. I also talked to him about the techniques he uses in the dark room. Kyle replied by saying that, though his techniques are similar those developed and taught by Mr. Smalley and Mr. Seaberg in the photography course, Kyle has found that a clear work space combined with an almost assembly-line attitude towards the developing and fixing stages of creating prints allow him to be efficient and successful. He also remarked that coming outside of class time, especially after school, allows him to dedicate a longer period of time towards his work and at full concentration. When taking a photo Kyle looks to have a balance in composition, using a echoes and rhymes, and patterns to create an immersive and emotional photograph. He likes to capture seemingly simplistic photos, but as you dive deeper into the details of the photo it becomes more complex and intricate, as specific parts of the photograph become increasingly essential to the success and beauty of each photograph. Kyle would like to become a professional photographer, though he feels that it will probably remain as a hobby. When you look at Kyle’s work he would as if you are actually in the exact space and time that he took the picture in, though question and think about the location; to recreate the same atmosphere and emotion as he felt encapsulate and experience similar to when he took the photograph. Well that’s a little bit about Kyle Lemon. Stay tuned for more!!!
I recently returned from my second service trip to Romania with TASIS students. We work with Hope and Homes for Children (HHC), an organization whose goal is to close poorly run government institutions and place children in small family homes with caring staff and much better living conditions. TASIS has been working with HHC for eleven years and our students visit several times a year to help with ambitious construction and painting projects in addition to spending time with the children.
Below are several of the projects we completed this past February break.
A basement room that we made into a new hangout space for this small family home. We painted a geometric design for the wrap around mural and installed new flooring. To see an interactive panoramic image of the full mural taken by one of our students, click here.
Some of the team with the finished mural! Due to child protection laws, we are required to blur out some of the smiling faces of some of our Romanian friends.
Our second large-scale mural was in a play room for younger children in the main day center. Inspired by Sol LeWitt, students created another large, colorful, wraparound design.
8th Grade Photography and IB Visual Arts classes had a special treat on Monday as TASIS England Alum, Photojournalist Conner Jay dropped by to share his work with photography students. Conner has been working as a photographer and multimedia journalist for the Salinas Californian and has recently been awarded San Francisco Bay Area Press Photographer Association’s National Journalism Award for his documentation of gangs in small towns of rural California. Conner shared some incredible work from his extensive portfolio site, pathosphoto. During his talks, Conner offered students great advice on being open to unexpected moments, capturing peak action and moments of emotion. He also explained the importance of developing relationships and building community in documentary photojournalism.
The most unawaited pictures of all time! Hope you like it guys!!
Mrs. Bird’s Intro to Art students have been using a variety of materials and approaches to investigate the structure of seeds, bulbs and other organic forms. Students’ mixed media pieces embody the ideas of growth, volume and energy, and will lead to a ceramic piece of their own design at the conclusion of the project.
We were very fortunate to have two talented visiting artists spend some time working with TASIS students earlier in this school year. Below are several images of studio projects and activities with both Carolyn Genders and Annabelle Elford.
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- Visiting artist Carolyn Genders works on clay tiles with TASIS middle school students
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- IB students work on a collaborative drawing activity with visiting artist Carolyn Genders
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- IB students use ink and sticks to create collaborative drawings
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- IB students critique their finished work
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- Visiting artist Annabelle Elford talks with IB students about their artwork
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- Annabelle Elford’s studio demonstration with a drawing and painting class
TASIS photography students have been following the unfolding story of the incredible Vivian Maier with great interest. Maier, unknown during her lifetime, is gaining immense critical acclaim as more and more of her work is being uncovered.
Check out the trailer for the upcoming documentary to be released later this year:
For more on Vivian’s story, check out: http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com and http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/?s=maier
