Here’s What’s Going On In Our Classrooms! – January 2017

Here’s what’s been going on in our Fine, Practical and Performing Arts classes in grades 7-12 during the month of January!

Mrs. Blanchard – RHS

• The Concert Choir students presented projects on various topics that relate to the music that they will be singing in their spring concert. Students researched Cole Porter, Randall Thompson, Shakers, the underground railroad, and Aerosmith.  The presentations were a fun way for the students to connect with the music that we will be learning.  We are also preparing for our upcoming Choral Day at Union Middle School on Friday, February 10.  Chris Thomas from Rowan University will be coming to work with the students.  We’re very excited to work with him!

Mr. Brigante – UMS

• The UMS Concert Band is currently preparing music for our Spring Concert in April as well as the Bergen Teen Arts Festival in May & The High Note Music Festival in June. The music we are preparing is: Pinball Wizard, Acclamations, Metrix , Ammerland, and
• The UMS Jazz Band is currently preparing music for our Spring Concert in April as well. The music we are preparing is: Back To The Basement, I’m Beginning To See The Light, Groove Daze, and

Mrs. Grillo – RHS

• Basic Drawing 1 – RHS welcomes a new semester of students as the courses switch from fall to spring. Students will begin with foundational drawing exercises that involve right brain training and focusing on spacial relationships, line weight, and general drawing expectations involving observation and accuracy.  The first few weeks involve heavy focus on the elements of art, including various exercises to reinforce each element.
• Basic Drawing 2 – Many students have moved up from the Drawing 1 level and are ready to take on more advanced projects/training. Students jump right into the course with a series of linoleum carvings that will explore a variety of stylized subject matter, including pattern and repetition, designing a book cover, and illustrating their version of “life.”  In each version of the project, they will overcome different challenges regarding space, shape, texture, color, and surface.
• AP Studio Art – Students are moving through the course slightly ahead of pace as they create their fourth concentration in a series of 12. The students are delving into well-rounded and visually compelling topics such as modern day addiction to social media and the cell phone, visual interpretations of dreams from a personal dream book, and a future surgeon’s fascination with the relationship of the insides to the outside of a figure.  Each are sensitive to the subject matter they are conveying and indicate investigation and development.
• Photography 2 – As students move into the Photography 2 class, they will quickly familiarize themselves with the DSLR camera and the available camera modes alongside a refresher for base digital editing techniques. Students focus first on part one of a series of portraits they will complete.  Initially, they will study key points in lighting and angles, supported by examples from the remarkable works of Richard Avedon.  They will use these portraits to practice digital color theory with an Andy Warhol style pop art portrait.

Mrs. Howard – RHS

• In textiles, students are working on projects of choice. Students are making a variety of things with fabrics.  Examples include bathrobes, dresses, vests, polar fleece jackets, and quilts.  One male student created an evening dress for one of the girls to wear at the senior fashion show.
• Advanced textiles are finishing projects that emphasize the elements and principles of design. They will soon begin projects that emphasis color theory in clothing and quilting.

Mr. Kinne – RHS

• The RHS Concert Band & Wind Ensemble large ensemble classes and small lesson groups, have been adding new works to our Spring Concert Repertoire. We have seemed to stumble on to a nature/weather theme serendipitously! If I wrote everything that is going on this would be 3-5 pages long so I will highlight a new piece each month over the next few months. First up- Lightning Field by Charles Mackey. This large ensemble work attempts to musically emulate the massive art project in the New Mexico Desert called The Lightning Field(1977), by the American sculptor Walter De Maria. It is a work of Land Art situated in a remote area of the high desert of western New Mexico. It is comprised of 400 polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid array measuring one mile by one kilometer. The poles — two inches in diameter and averaging 20 feet and 7½ inches in height — are spaced 220 feet apart and have solid pointed tips that define a horizontal plane. This work features traditional Band Instruments as well as Thunder Tubes which will be placed antiphonally in the audience during the performance.
• AP Music Theory has been utilizing our newly acquired, cloud-based Music First Software program which has proven thus far to be a great asset in learning and reinforcing the advanced concepts of college-level music theory. We have entered the exhilarating world of figured bass and 4-part chorale writing!

 Ms. Klubeck – UMS

• Students in Drawing and Design learned about Vincent Van Gogh’s life and artwork. The class studied the famous “Starry Night” and discussed his painting techniques. Students then created original compositions, while applying Van Gogh’s paint application style. These unique “Starry Night” interpretations are displayed in the hallways for all to see!
• 3D Design students looked at the artwork of Wayne Thiebaud, which inspired our cupcake-themed clay project! The class used techniques, such as pinching and coiling, to create their clay cupcakes. After, students decorated and painted their projects to reflect their interests. The cupcakes look good enough to eat, and are sure to make anyone hungry!

 Mr. Mett – RHS

• The TV Production 1 classes have completed learning our TV studio. This unit concluded with two final projects.  The students are currently taking over the production of our live morning announcements for two weeks.  The classes also produced two live-to-tape classroom productions showcasing our previous projects.  We are now working on our Commercials / PSAs unit.  We discuss the role advertising plays in TV and film as well as many of the methods that ad agencies use to hook our attention and then sell us their products.  This unit concludes with the production of an entire ad campaign for a self-chosen product, service or event.  This ad campaign will include a TV commercial, a radio commercial and a print media ad.  In creating these ad campaigns, the students will add to their editing skills in Final Cut Pro but also begin to learn Apple’s Sound Track Pro and Adobe’s Photoshop.
• The TV2: Studio Workshop classes have completed their “Documentary” projects where, in small groups, they produced 7 documentaries showcasing all of the course and club offerings in the different high school academic departments.  We hope to share these documentaries with the public via YouTube soon. We are currently working on our “Mockumentary” projects where the students will explore the use of sarcasm, irony and satire as story-telling elements.  The process of planning for our “Short Film” projects included a Q2 Treatment and will continue into Q3 with script-writing and the production of the opening title sequence.
• The TV 3: Portfolio Development class closed out Q2 with the production of a “Free Choice” project. The students were each allowed to design a project through the creation of a treatment that defined a project overview, project goals, a production schedule, and technical and media requirement assessments.

Ms. Subbie – RHS

• Ceramics 1 Is currently learning about the pinch hand building technique and how clay can be molded into representational objects. The class is looking at line, texture, and form to create their pinch projects.
• Ceramics 2 is currently experiencing throwing on the wheel for the first time to understand how thrown works of art are produced. They are also leaning how to incorporate texture onto a three dimensional form.
• Photo 1 is learning the elements of design to take a series of still life pictures. This allows them to have a hands on experience with the camera equipment they will be using throughout the semester. Photo 1 is also working with Adobe Photoshop to edit the images to create a professional finished work.
• Art by Computer Design is currently learning about negative and positive space to create an artwork using Adobe Illustrator. AbCD students are introduced to both the Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator programs in order to transition into the world of graphic design.