International Music

1) Gajah Mina from Tyler Yamin on Vimeo.


I'm not sure if you've heard, but our World Music Program has been stellar this trimester, with Brazilian rhythm, dance, and song teacher Stefanie Schmitz and Balinese Gamelan musician Tyler Yamin welcoming our young musicians to encounter unique instruments and traditions.

Our PTA, through the Center for World Music, has arranged for a complete Gamelan orchestra to be hosted on our campus for our students' use. As students enter they remove their shoes and take their positions. Within minutes they are creating fascinating, mesmerizing music. Examples of two Gamelan pieces are found above.



 

Celebrating Art Together

Student-designed art show programs (I have one or two left if you'd like a copy)

Thank you for attending our annual Del Mar Heights Art Show! The media and innovations center was transformed with vibrant, thoughtful work representing every child in the school on exhibit. Thank you for supporting the creative work of our students and taking your time to enjoy the evening with me.

Missions complete!

If you were to survey fourth-grade teachers to determine what single topic they most enjoy teaching the results would show a strong love of teaching about California history and the Missions. These iconic California structures have remarkable resonance with kids as they are both aesthetically interesting and culturally fascinating. Students learn about the differing perspectives of the Native Peoples, Spanish Missionaries, and political and military interests as they research the Missions. 

For fourth-grade students in art class, there is an opportunity to use art ideas such as layered depth, contrast, color relationship, and medium technique as they create interpreted renderings of a chosen Mission. 

We begin by researching and taking on the perspective of various participants in the Mission stories. Then we take a look at the architectural elements and design characteristics of the buildings themselves. Students are then required to make a series of sketches of missions, determining a favorite from which to draw their final piece. Finally, chalk pastel is used to create the high-contrast, high-interest pieces with bold black outlines to set off the color zones. The results are quite stunning. I think these will likely be hanging in our art show in the spring. 

Marvelous Missions

If you were to survey fourth-grade teachers to determine what single topic they most enjoy teaching the results would show a strong love of teaching about California history and the Missions. These iconic California structures have remarkable resonance with kids as they are both aesthetically interesting and culturally fascinating. Students learn about the differing perspectives of the Native Peoples, Spanish Missionaries, and political and military interests as they research the Missions. 

For fourth-grade students in art class, there is an opportunity to use art ideas such as layered depth, contrast, color relationship, and medium technique as they create interpreted renderings of a chosen Mission. 

We begin by researching and taking on the perspective of various participants in the Mission stories. Then we take a look at the architectural elements and design characteristics of the buildings themselves. Students are then required to make a series of sketches of missions, determining a favorite from which to draw their final piece. Finally, chalk pastel is used to create the high-contrast, high-interest pieces with bold black outlines to set off the color zones. The results are quite stunning. I think these will likely be hanging in our art show in the spring. 

More Fourth Grade Portrait Boxes

So very many creative projects in one. 

The First of our Portrait Boxes is completed

As each grade level is tasked with creating self-portraits of varied complexity and representational quality, I consider the developmental ability of the students to grapple with abstraction and their technical abilities to grapple with the task of making an object. In fourth grade, students are beginning to understand themselves as individuals and can also begin to work with abstraction in basic symbolism.

With this in mind we have begun to design portrait boxes as a way to show who we are. Inspired by the subtle work of Joseph Cornell, students began by working through a series of questions about themselves that were then turned into appropriate visual symbols to be included inside their boxes. Then students were taught to create a box out of only flat cardboard. This step involves a fair helping of math work as well as some great spatial engineering work. Seeing the students make choices about what kind of box they wanted to create and then think through the practical considerations of how to make such a box was inspiring. The engineering and math thought that was apparent became the topic of good conversations.

After the box was made students were asked to select fabric, ribbon, lacing, buttons, and other textiles to give their box a representational "skin". These choices again were to reflect a part of the students' self. Next comes the inclusion of small and meaningful items both drawn and gathered from the home and in class that can be mounted within the box.

And of course I must take the opportunity to revisit the appropriate proportionality of portrait drawing. There will be a proper, fully representational self-portrait included in each box alongside all of the symbolic portraiture.

Finally, a poem, written with simple and direct metaphors, is crafted and added to the box. Using metaphor allows us to visit again the idea of symbolism in creative art in an obvious way. 

Though these projects take a while to complete, they offer a multi-disciplinary, multi-media, and complex problem-solving task that allows for rich, thoughtful learning and self-expression.