An ArtPartners visit from Professional photographer and graphic designer Garrett Highhouse

Sixth Grade students are living in a vast landscape of digital imagery. More than any generation before, these students will live with an intuitive visual vocabulary created by bearing witness to thousands and thousands of images, made available through internet culture.

But there is an art to creating images, and masters of the craft are able to understand their choices and create images to fulfill a goal. Garrett Highhouse, a local sports, surf, lifestyle, and fashion photographer graced us with a visit to share about a wide range of topics. We looked at lighting, composition, equipment, and motivation. We talked about the business of photography and the necessity to create a visual "brand". Needless to say, the sixth-graders were mesmerized.

ArtPartners: Mark Sherman

ArtPartners at Del Mar Heights School: A program to connect students to artists and their work

Students at Del Mar Heights Elementary School will have the opportunity to learn about the work of professional artists through a new program at their school. ArtPartners is an initiative created and coordinated by art teacher Andrew Smith. ArtPartners brings local artists into the school classrooms to share about their life, work, motivation, and process of creation. “I want to demonstrate to our students that creativity and art in practice is not limited to the classroom or to the world of the art show.” reflects Mr. Smith, “I want students to understand that art is a living, active part of the lives and livelihoods of adults and artists in our community.” Artists scheduled to visit Del Mar Heights as participants in the ArtPartners program include local painters, sculptors, textile designers, photographers, surfboard designers, and performers.

The first artist to participate in ArtPartners during this school year was local watercolorist Mark Sherman. He spent an afternoon with fifth-grade students sharing about his work and helping them explore their own creativity in his chosen medium. The fifth grade students responded with interest as they learned from Mr. Sherman and engaged in a simple proportion activity. Later, Mr. Sherman will be back to work on watercolor technique with the students. 

The fifth grade is just in mid-stream on two other large projects, a collaborative mural and a "Ghost ship" printing. However, it's easy to press pause on such things when an opportunity to visit with an practicing artist arises. Please enjoy one of his paintings below and see more of his work in the Del Mar Art Center.

Thank you, Mr. Sherman!

In the news...

It's always great to have our programs featured in the local news. This article was found in the Del Mar Times a week or so ago. It can also be found online. 

Artpartners visit from Surfboard Designer Josh Oldenburg

Local Surfboard Designer Josh Oldenburg paid a visit to our fourth grade classes as part of our ArtPartners program.

He spent the hour describing and demonstrating the process of design, sculpture, pigment and color use, materials use, and functional considerations that go into custom, handmade surfboard design. Oldenburg's process stands in stark contrast to the vast majority of surfboard manufacturers' who rely on assembly line production. Oldenburg creates each board from start to finish from design to final polish in a process that is much like sculpture.

Students were also asked to try their hand at using a basic template to design an outline for a board. It was really neat to see the kids' creativity come to the fore after they heard from Mr. Oldenburg.

ArtPartners visit with Dragan Radoicic: artist, architect, and engineer

 

Machine is aloft in the upper-right section of this image

ArtPartners at Del Mar Heights School: A program to connect students to artists and their work

Students at Del Mar Heights Elementary School will have the opportunity to learn about the work of professional artists through a new program at their school. ArtPartners is an initiative created and coordinated by art teacher Andrew Smith. ArtPartners brings local artists into the school classrooms to share about their life, work, motivation, and process of creation. “I want to demonstrate to our students that creativity and art in practice is not limited to the classroom or to the world of the art show.” reflects Mr. Smith, “I want students to understand that art is a living, active part of the lives and livelihoods of adults and artists in our community.” Artists scheduled to visit Del Mar Heights as participants in the ArtPartners program include local painters, sculptors, textile designers, photographers, surfboard designers, and performers.

Sixth grade students had the opportunity to explore the creative process of Dragan Radoicic, a local architect, engineer, and artist who uses ground-controlled flying machines to create stunning films for both artistic and professional purposes. Mr. Radoicic shared about his education and the pleasure he finds in blending his creative nature with the technical aspects of his training. The session highlight was watching the flying machine launch on our own field as it took film of the students. Keep your eyes peeled here as it will be posted in the future. Please enjoy a sample of his work below.

Sequoia National Park from Altitude CAM on Vimeo.

A visit from local watercolorist Mark Sherman

ArtPartners at Del Mar Heights School: A program to connect students to artists and their work

Students at Del Mar Heights Elementary School will have the opportunity to learn about the work of professional artists through a new program at their school. ArtPartners is an initiative created and coordinated by art teacher Andrew Smith. ArtPartners brings local artists into the school classrooms to share about their life, work, motivation, and process of creation. “I want to demonstrate to our students that creativity and art in practice is not limited to the classroom or to the world of the art show.” reflects Mr. Smith, “I want students to understand that art is a living, active part of the lives and livelihoods of adults and artists in our community.” Artists scheduled to visit Del Mar Heights as participants in the ArtPartners program include local painters, sculptors, textile designers, photographers, surfboard designers, and performers.

The first artist to participate in ArtPartners was local watercolorist Mark Sherman. He spent an afternoon with fifth-grade students sharing about his work and helping them explore their own creativity in his chosen medium. The fifth grade students responded with interest as they learned from Mr. Sherman and engaged in a simple proportion activity. Later, Mr. Sherman will be back to work on watercolor technique with the students. 

The fifth grade is just in mid-stream on two other large projects, a collaborative mural and a "Ghost ship" printing. However, it's easy to press pause on such things when an opportunity to visit with an practicing artist arises. Please enjoy one of his paintings below and see more of his work in the Del Mar Art Center.

Thank you, Mr. Sherman!