Art II & III Tessellations

Last month the high school Art II & III class learned about the artist M.C. Escher who is well-known for his optical illusion style art and tessellations. A tessellation is an arrangement of shapes closely fitting together in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping. An every day example is tile-work on a floor or bathroom wall. Students in the class were challenged to create their own tessellation. It was a bit tricky but they came up with some pretty neat designs!

(Click on each photo to see more closely.)

High School Art 1 - Perspective Drawings

Students in the high school Art 1 classes just turned in their finished perspective drawings today. After learning about vanishing points, and one and two-point perspective. students got to create a drawing showing perspective. They had to include at least one building and make it an interesting scene with details like trees, plants, people, etc. They could also color it with their choice of medium (color pencil, marker, paint...) For some it was pretty challenging but I'm proud of their efforts. Enjoy taking a look at their masterpieces! 

(click on the photos to see more closely)

Inspirational Art Moment - The Love of Life

Today while visiting my dad in Houston I found myself unexpectedly drawn into a special exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science. At first I thought it was just a bunch of dead animals and insect specimens creatively arranged in shadow box frames but then as I took the time to really look and read the artist's thoughts, it became a profound and inspiring experience. 

Entitled "Biophilia", which I learned means "love of life", the intent of the artist's exhibit was to instill a renewed way of seeing the beauty of nature and creation. However, it also inspired me to see life again as more than just an automatic repetition of the daily routine. I'm so thankful for a good God and Creator who gives us ways to rise above the mundane or entanglements of living to renew our love of life like getting outdoors and breathing in the fresh air of a hike in the mountains, soaking in the sunset after a rain in the desert, looking at the stars in a clear vast night sky, or going for a walk in the local park with a river and deer grazing nearby. Even more, just a quick search in the Word for verses containing the words "love" and "life" on BibleGateway.com brings up some great reminders. I hope they encourage you. 

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord you God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life... Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life... Psalm 23:6

By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8

Following are some of the quotes and displays from Biophilia:  

(Click on photos to see more closely.)

"In the modern era...We not only divorce art and science but have put them so often at odds that they seem to speak completely different languages...Yet, by minimizing natural history's comparability with art we not only disparage the very impetus that birthed the artistic impulse, but also underestimate natural beauty's role in inspiring scientific discovery." 

- Artist Christopher Marley, Biophilia exhibit 

"Without meaningful interactions with nature, we begin to deteriorate emotionally and spiritually." - Artist Christopher Marley, Biophilia exhibit

"We could survive without color as we could without taste, but it's presence seems to indicate that we were meant for much more than survival." 

- Artist Christopher Marley, Biophilia exhibit

High School Art II & III Beauty for Ashes Project

by Anna Nunez

Before Christmas break, GPA High School Art II & III students got to watch a film by Bentzi Avtzon called "The Light of Fire" about a very talented artist named Yoram Ranaan who lives in Israel. The film documents the story of a fire in 2016 that burned down Ranaan's studio destroying a great number of his paintings and life's work. They got to see how he and his family were affected and how they came through that season together. They also were interested to see how Ranaan's process of being creative changed somewhat. After we watched the film we had a class discussion about it and about how God can take the difficult and painful things in our lives, and the mistakes we've made, and use it for our good or even do something new in us. This inspired our "Beauty for Ashes" project. The students were allowed to create, paint, or draw whatever they wanted in this theme. Some illustrated seasons or events from their own lives and some illustrated scripture from the Bible that speak to this theme as well. To find out more about the film "The Light of Fire" or the artist Yoram Ranaan and his beautiful artworks go to the following links.
(Be sure and click on each photo to see the students' art more closely.)

https://www.thelightoffirefilm.com/

https://www.yoramraanan.com/

by Moriah Young

by Olivia Wilburn

by Caleb Carter

by Emily Porter

by Hayden Tondre

by Faith Penrose

by Grace Lyles

High School Art 1 Pen and Ink Still Life

High School Art 1 students have been busy being creative with our drawing unit. The past couple of weeks we learned about how to create shading when drawing with a marker, Micron, or Sharpie pen. There are different techniques like hatching (lines), cross-hatching, contour hatching, stippling (lots of dots), and scumbling (scribbling). After practicing these techniques, the students drew a still life and used what they learned to shade. I loved what they did! (As always, click on each photo to see more closely.)