Germantown Academy
Student Teacher: Avery Rogusky
Cooperating Teacher: David Love
Lesson #1: Expressive Self Portrait Project
All grade levels explored the expressive self portrait project. Students first learned about artist Marlene Dumas’s portrait process and how to create dramatic lighting. They then learned about an alternative painting process of crushing charcoal and making it into ink and then using only their fingers, paper towels, and Q-tips to paint. Students were asked to think of three emotional states they experienced over the past year and to recreate it using this technique. To create a safe space to reflect on emotional moments, students discussed community agreements on how to support one another during tough times.
Lesson #2: Foundations Positive & Negative Trace Monotype Project
2D foundations and 2D foundations II classes learned about the trace monotype printmaking technique by doing a collaborative class print and inverse of the print. They then experimented with combining the two together to invent something new. Both classes took their new knowledge and applied it to making individual prints. 2D foundations based their prints off of personal objects that hold meaning. 2D foundations II based theirs off of their go-to drawings, doodles, or imaginary scenes. Students combined photocopies of their positive and negative prints together to create experimental prints. Many lessons were learned during this project. Their favorite was learning to take risks to get to somewhere new and exciting.
Lesson #3: Honors Floral Still Life Project
2D Honors Art were asked to do two, one-day still life paintings of flower arrangements, each done different painting techniques. For the first still life, students learned a traditional technique of doing a neutral underpainting using burnt umber acrylic. For the second still life, students learned how to layer primary colors with acrylic glazes to build up color. Students found that working fast and having options felt refreshing and exciting.
Lesson #4: Botticelli’s Primavera Sidewalk Chalk Mural
Originally this was just an Honors project that eventually led to the whole upper and middle school making contributions over a period of one week. Honors students started the mural by gridding out the space and blocking out the figures. They delegated tasks to upper school friends and middle schoolers and shared their art history knowledge to those who were curious about the subject matter. This sidewalk mural is another form of proof that art has the power to bring people together, even during a pandemic!
Lesson #5: 2D Foundations II Abstraction Project Part 1
2D Foundations II were asked to select a word that describes an aspect of their personality that they are proud of. They then were tasked to create a photograph that explores their word. Students had to simplify their image by only using shape and avoiding any outlines with sharpie. They then had to zoom in on a spot and simplify further, repeat the step once more, and then do an inverse of their last zoom. This was a difficult project to take on because students had to retrain themselves on how to draw without using any outlines.
Lesson #6: 2D Foundations Signature Project
2D Foundations were asked to write their signature. After many thumbnails of possibilities, they had to select a part of their signature that felt complex and intersecting. Students then zoomed into this area and simplified the lines into one flowing shape. Students completed their projects by creating an inverse of their zoomed in area.