Nearing the End

Cody touches up the Valerie portrait

Well folks, our second project is coming to a close and everyone is doing their part to try and wrap things up. Some are working on touching up the borders, some are finishing the figures and some are working on the community share projects.

The teachers are nearly complete. All that remians are minor details such as finishing eyes or simply adding clothing details and depth. Some of our class is working on making the final touch: the "swoosh" that is linking all of our murals together. It is the bond that unites the boards. Nikki exhibits her mixing skills and shows off the lovely green she has created for the swoosh.

While those artisitc and talented students finish the murals, many of us work on our community share projects. The blog entry is looking promising as well as the SMArt board presentation. As for my group mates and I, our movie is coming together nicely. As a whole, this project is wrapping up quickly and perhaps will even be done before break. Only time will tell. Until next time.

~Sam the Boy

series

In this picture we have Alex, Lindsey, Lexi and Sean working on the Plaque. This plaque has the purpose of explaining the purpose of our project which is to honor the hidden heroes of Hopkinton High School.


This is an example of a series that is almost complete, This is Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan along with the other people honored in these paintings is someone who is liked by all and appreciated.

This all did not come easily. As you can see many people worked on it and had a helping hand.

In class today we all worked on something different. Ranging from the Bulletin Board to Plaques to finishing the series of certain staff members of Hopkinton High school. As well as the community sharing assignment which will incorporate an advisory class. This will be good to show our school what we are doing in SMArt.

The Grand Finale

After several weeks of working on propaganda art, promoting several of the school's leaders, the Scholars Making Art class has finally finished. In the class, students have learned about ancient propaganda and how civilizations used different forms of art to emphasize the power of important people. The class also learned about how people often choose to represent their leaders with symbols that encompass the appreciated values of their leader. With this knowledge, the students designed a way to demonstrate power throughart about leaders of our school. The class decided to represent Kathy,the lunch lady, who is valued for her comfort and nourishment. Larry, the Custodian, is valued for his organization and humor. Valerie, the Drama teacher, is valued for her safe place and creative expression. Mr. Sullivan, the psychology teacher is valued and appreciated for his critical thinking and philosophical wisdom. Ms. Welch, the wellness teacher, is valued for her wellness of body and mind.

The class learned about Ancient Assyrian propaganda that illustrated the power of the king. We learned how they would use hierarchical scale to emphasize importance of a specific object or person. Like hierarchical scale, contrast was also used to show power of an object or person in society. Gradation was used to focus attention on the important figure in each painting. The propaganda was made by the people and successfully portrayed their king as someone who was very important, almost God-like. Each leader represents a different symbol that we believe is important. Using the techniques si

milar to the Assyrian empire, our class designed 5 separate posters that try to embody the special characteristics of the chosen school leaders.

Gradation and Stenciling

Today in class most of the stencils were finally finished! Larry, Valerie, and Kathy were the only ones that I saw finished, but they look fantastic! Larry is pictured in the center on the top. Valerie is a bit further back in the picture, and Kathy on the bottom.

Most groups today also finished gradating the boards. It's really cool to see how different each of them look, and how each person interpreted their own way to gradate. The one to the bottom looks a bit more like a halo effect with a little less subtly. While the one on the top is more subtle and seems like light is more radiating from the person. They are both different but both have the same qualities of gradating.Valerie's group even finished their board! How awesome is it to see how this project will turn out? It really looks great!

Justine's Blog:

I obsrve scholars making Art class on Tuesday 12611. I noticed to activities. The fist was painting a picture from paper to mural. I painted on the board down below. We took pictures of the teachers. We also took pictures of a finished ar project Burt and Ernie. To get a picture from paper to mural you have to make the picture into squares, and then paint each square on the mural. We also took pictures of the teachers drawung with grid squares on it, You can see the picure with grid lines. To stencil, cut out stencils out of some boards and paper. Paint the stencils. Stamp the stencils onto the mural.

Fixing the Stencils!

We all set off into our assigned groups like everyday. The students working on the griding with the teachers we were using, put the finishing touches on their portraits. They then go ready to put the portrait on the actual board! This was exciting because they have been working on theportraits for so long.

While they were finishing up the portraits, the group that was doing the gradations started to put it on the board. To start this, they drew a circle where the persons head would be and went around that with a very light gray.

The stencil group ran into a problem. During the past classes when the stencils were being put on the board, the paper that the stencil was on started to come off on the board and ruin some of the designs. To fix this, we decided that the stencils should not be on regular paper but something that would hold up with all the wet paint. Ms. K. had some thick, plasticy paper that we used instead. We also painted over the mess ups on the boards so we can use the new ones to fix it.

Lastly, the group that was doing the ribbon for the background of the board that connects all the portraits together, finished it up and it looks great! We got a lot done today and hopefully tomorrow we will be able to put the actual portraits on the board.

The Series Project taking Shape!

This class period was very productive, and the class was able to take major steps on the road to the final product of the series project. We maintained the groups that were made 2 classes ago, but some new jobs were created and groups merged together since the priming process was finished. The stencil group continued to make stencils for the border of the boards, and some members (along with previous members of the priming group) had started to paint on the "H" border around the primed board so that we could get an a better idea and scale for both the size of the portraits and the impact the bold H border might have on each of the portraits.

Many groups did continue to work on their previous assigned projects, such as the gradient group, which continued to improve value and color gradient skills for the ribbon that would be flowing through each of the portraits.

The griding group continued to work on their drawings of the 5 people chosen for the series project and it was discussed the possibility that these drawings might be adhered to the boards and painted on, making these illustrations part our final projects. We are all very enthusiastic to not only see the final products and the incorporation of unity through the ribbion the flows in each of the portraits, but to see the reactions of the staff members that have been featured in our project!

Priming!

Today was an interesting class. We were updated on our series project by Ms.K and were informed that we would be priming the boards that we would be creating the series on. However, the primer that we used wasn't aloud to get on the hallway floors because it would be unable to be removed. Considering this and that it was really sunny out (which is weird because its like december) we decided that we would rather work out side for the class. This lead to some problems. Even though we were out side in natures great wilderness of Hopkinton High we were unable to get primer on the ground, so we still needed to lay down paper under our boards. As soon as we succesfully layed out the paper over the area in which we would be priming, the wind picked up and swept the paper from its place. After a few more attempts at lying down the paper we only gathered the same result. This lead to a unaminous class vote to move the project back to the safe indoors of the school. There we were able to lay the paper down succesfully with out chaseing after it. Then the boards arived and were layed out on the paper. However there was not much space so two of our groups moved to the tech room to complete their priming jobs. Dividing and conquering isn't always the best tactic (the British proved that in the revolutionary war) but today it worked well. Each group was able to complete their two coats of primer on their respective boards and clean up before the class was ended with time to spare. This apeared to me and hopefully the class as a fun yet productive class.

The Planning Process Continues with the Creation of a Series

At the end of last class, we voted on our favorite propaganda series of murals. We all agreed that we liked the first two groups' ideas but that they were basically the same. Both groups had the same general idea of glorifying or commemorating some of our favorite staff in the high school, so we decided to combine them into a series that incorporated aspects of each. At that point, we had established our concept, but we still needed to decide who we wanted to represent. It was quickly agreed upon that both Larry, our main janitor, and Kathy, our motherly lunch-lady, would be portrayed in our murals, but we considered many other people as well. Listed on the board were Ms. Welch, Mr. Sullivan, Mrs. Moothart, Valerie, along with some other members of the HHS staff. Recognizing the importance of every staff member and challenge of choosing only four, it was decided that rather than creating only four murals, the class would create at least five. This allowed us to add three more people to our series. After some debate, we decided as a class to include Mr. Sullivan, Valerie, and Ms. Welch. Mrs. Williams and Ms. K also added that since Mrs. Moothart is so important to the organization of the school, she should also be included, but we never reached a group consensus on the matter. After that, we were divided into even groups based on who we wanted to work on. We were given all the materials we would need to create a rough sketch of what we envisioned.

The next day (today), we went through a powerpoint that showed examples of mural series. We noted how certain aspects were the same in each mural of a series, like borders, compositions, colors, and the overall styles of the artworks. Our goal was to, in our groups, design a poster that could be a part of a series, and thus have certain aspects that would be the same in each mural.

My group began to work on a new design of the mural of Kathy the lunch-lady but realized that we had not actually gotten her approval. So, my group and I took a trip down to the lunch room to find her and request her approval. She was very flattered by our proposal and quickly accepted it. When we got back, we drew a sketch of our idea that we plan to present in class tomorrow with the rest of the class's ideas and sketches. My group and I believe a simple, lined border should be part of each mural, but that will be up for debate tomorrow. The question of whether or not to include the names of the people in the murals was also brought up. It seemed some people believed it might draw attention away from the timeless values presented by each mural, but again, that will be up for debate tomorrow in class.

The sketching process took all period long, but tomorrow the plan is for each group to present their ideas to the class and to hopefully vote on a series style that we all like. I suspect we will all like different things about different presentations, and our final designs will model them all, but we'll find out tomorrow!

Beginning the Process Again :)

Now that our "Prism" project is finished, it is time for this SMART class to start the process over again. Today we did just that, and we started right back at the beginning by brainstorming new ideas. The new ideas were for murals that we are going to be hanging at 4 chosen places around the school. The murals are supposed to act as a sort of propaganda, supporting the school or individuals in our school that have an influence on our school. This was meant to relate to the unit we are currently studying, which is Ancient Mesopotamia. We are learning about different forms of propaganda that ancient rulers used to show their intimidation and power to the surrounding cities. We are translating this to Hopkinton High School by trying to recognize some of the people in our school that work really hard and people that our school could not run without. Or by showing the influence of different parts of our school that enable it to be so well-rounded.

We were split up into four groups for the brainstorming process, and then the four groups presented their ideas:

• The first group to present, pitched an idea that focused on showcasing the work of the Custodial staff and the Cafeteria ladies.

• The second group presented a similar idea, except each person that the mural focused on had a golden object that represented them and their part in our school.

• The third group was different than the previous two, it was a series of signs that focused on different wings of the school. There was one for the "Art Wing", "Technology", "Wellness" and "Academics". And above each of the letter there were silhouettes of people doing things that represented that wing of the building.

• The final idea was different from all of the other. It was inspired by the giant mural of the Kenyan runners at the Boston Marathon that is hung in the Athletic Center. It was the Hiller "H" that was split into four parts, and each part was made up of pictures. But the four sections had different themes. All of the sections promoted the school and the different parts that made it up. One was pictures of the town, one was pictures of students, one was pictures of teachers and one was pictures of the administrations and other staff.

The voting process will take place next class when we have more time, but once we decide, we will be posting about it, so stay tuned!

Color, Composition, Value, and Size

In Friday’s class, we continued to learn about art and architecture in Ancient Near East civilizations. After looking at various works of art, such as the Standard of Ur and the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, the class began to lean about a few new concepts. For example, we learned that hierarchical scale refers to use of size in a work of art to denote status.

We then began a discussion about the use of many different artistic techniques that can be used to tell a message. Composition, the way things are arranged, value, how light or dark something is, as well as size and color can all be used to send a message. In order to illustrate this concept, groups of two students worked together to create an advertisement that specifically favors one product out of a group of products. They were each assigned one technique (composition, value, color, or size) that they could use to accomplish this task.

All of the groups did a fantastic job using the techniques to advertise their assigned product. The class could successfully identify which product was being indicated in each of the group’s final posters. Many of the “size” groups made their product much larger than the others, while the “color” groups made theirs much brighter than the others. “Composition” groups often rearranged the picture so that their product was more visible than the others, while the “value” groups made their product stand out by making it the lightest possible. The activity really made the point that many different techniques can be used to send a message in a work of art.

Finally Done!

In class on Friday, we went outside even though it had snowed the night before. We knew we were going to finish this project in this class period, so we got to work. Everyone grabbed a bag of mulch or gravel and began spreading it. The mulch was to go in-between the cross sections and the rocks. This material represented the sophomore class. The gravel was to go around the spiral mound and in a rectangular shape at the very bottom of the installation (by the street). We did have some changes we needed to make with the cross sections when the mulch was added, but other then that everything went smoothly! In no time we had finished our installation!   

We then went back inside to work on our community sharing portion of this project. Some groups went into the library. My group had to make flyers, so we sketched out a few designs for a couple of flyers that we could post around school to let our peers know about the installation. On our flyer we put where the project is located, the blog address, and briefly described our reason for making the art piece. The other groups had to design the bulletin board, make a video, and write articles for HHS Press & Metro West. Overall, we are all really happy with the outcome of our installation!

To Name, or Not to Name.

Today, our extended lunch block period, was spent inside. Although it was slightly different than what we've been doing for the past few classes, it was just as busy! Today we began working on the final aspect of our project, essentially, getting our work noticed by the public. We

also had a very important decision to make about our piece.

We split into groups of four or five people, and each group picked a media in which we are going to tell the community about our work. Our first task was spreading the word to the people right here at the high school, so one group worked on posters to hang around the school, while another group worked on designs for our bulletin board. Next we had to think a little bigger, so we had a group working on an article that will be published on hhspress, and a group working on a movie that will be posted on the blog, possibly the school's website, and maybe even HCAM (the local tv station). Finally there was a group working on the plaque that is going to be placed on the site of the installation. These tasks may seem simple, but in addition to being creative and eye-catching, each has to successfully convey our purpose, process, and the overall meaning of the piece to the public.

As we worked we also had to vote on a very important issue. Whether or not to name our piece of art. After the initial vote that decided that it was going to have a name, some suggestions were brainstormed.

(This is Ms. K writing our ideas on the white board

so that we could tally a vote.)

All of the ideas were great! However, in the end, the winning idea was to name the piece "Prism". So now it has a name to put on the plaque, in the article, movie, and on posters.

All that's left to do is lay down some mulch, gravel and add the finishing touches! We're getting close to the end, and when we're done we're going to have to put our names on it somehow. That is where our logo, that is a compilation of class ideas, comes in! Thanks to Hannah we have an awesome logo, and today everyone signed it :)

(Signing the official "SMArt" logo)

Close but No Cigar

So today we came into the class with one goal. It was to get as close as humanly possible to finishing our project. We first wanted to start the placing of our freshly cut wood slices. We got the majority of the wood slices down on the ground. We saw that there wouldn’t be enough wood slices to fill our desired area so we devised a new plan. Our plan was make the wood cuts a series of waves, such as you would see in a river, with little indents between them. We eventually changed this back to the way it was originally supposed to be because we placed the six more huge wood slices at the end making our freshman section complete.While this was going on, a group was forming the mound to have more of

a point with a trench at the base.Our project was still missing some key components such as a more reasonable way to finish. We decided to make the bottom of the raging river was to flow so the sticks and rocks flow around the bottom of the project. The reason we did this was because the lack of the wood slices and how they would only reach a certain point.We finished off our day by deciding that one of our middle sections would be covered in mulch to give a better appeal to more people. Once the mulch section is complete then the project in general will be pretty much done except for some cosmetic work

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Pep, Prisoners, and Preparations!

During our last class, the wonderful members of SMART decided on one simple goal for next class: we need rocks, LOTS OF ROCKS. So on the day of Hopkinton High School’s Pep Rally, the arrangement of orange jumpsuits and green camouflaged shirts made their way out to the art site. Can you imagine 15 or so teenagers dressed in bright orange jumpsuits? Escaped prisoners or merely prisoners making art ‘tis the real question of the day!

Our goal in mind Ms. K and Mrs. Williams picked out a crew to go retrieve rocks in the Hope Trail by Hopkins to find more rocks. The rest of us were surprised when we noticed Ms. K’s trunk of her car filled with rocks at our disposal. As we began arranging rocks, we noticed the pile was diminishing very quickly while our path was still rather bare. Once again we were taken by surprise as Mr. Williams drove up with another trunk filled with rocks, as well as Megan and Lucy for moral support! Instantly we formed an assembly line to pass rocks down for arrangement, a rather effective strategy. Our assembly line proved to be worthwhile as the once bare path of rocks was soon filled.

With our shortened period, as well as the seniors having to leave early to prepare (GO 2012!), we still managed to accomplish a lot of work! Our art was beginning to take form and look less like some bare dirt and more like an art installation. In addition to rocks, we were also able to add sticks to their own row, adding diversity. We managed to keep our message of unity and diversity, a key controversial subject on the day of Pep Rally, despite our revisions. Overall, the day was a huge success and our art project will be finished very soon!

The First Day of Work

Yes, yes this post is extremely late, I just got my invite to the blog to work so here it is. From the first day of work.

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Today was the first day that we were able to get outside and start gathering materials and clearing the area for the construction. Before leaving the classroom, Ms. K divided the class into five separate groups. Each group had their own project to work on for the start of the art piece. There was a group in charge of weeding the area, a group in charge of collecting tree branches, a group to collect medium size stones, a group to layout the area for digging, and a research and development team to figure out the best way to use the materials collected.

When we got outside, Ms. K showed us all of the equipment that we could use for the project. There were shovels, clippers, buckets, a wheelbarrow, and more. We talked about what each group needed to do and what the plan was for today. After our discussion, each group went off and did their own thing. I was in the group in charge of collecting rocks along with Phil, Barrett, and Brian. We used the wheelbarrow to bring rocks from the Hope Trail back up to meeting area. From there, we could see what every other group was up to. People cutting weeds, digging and edging for the spirals, collecting sticks, every group had a job to do and everyone was working hard.

After another 20 minutes of work it was about time to get everything put away. We all finished up what we were doing and assembled at the meeting area. Everybody discussed what they did today and Ms. K talked about what needed to be done for next class. Everybody helped clean up all of the materials and organize it neatly to be put away. There is still a lot of work to be done, but everybody is eager to see the finished product.

Getting close to the finish

Today was an extended lunch block period spent outside where a lot of productivity took place. One of the main goals to shape up the mound of dirt into a more spiraled shape. Classmates got together to first break up the dirt. After this the dirt was able to be carved into a spiral shape. This specific shape is used to show the movement of the art installation. The class was able to finish the spiral mound of dirt as it shows the unity of the four classes of Hopkinton High School.

Like many other of the previous classes, another focus was to gather and cut branches. Some of the class was cutting larger stubs from a tree while others were cutting smaller branches into littler pieces What makes the task of cutting the tree stubs difficult is the thickness of the tree. It takes a long time and a lot of energy to manually cut the thick tree. Both the stubs and the branches are going to be used in the installation to show the different classes of HHS.

The last part of the period was mainly used for digging on the side of the hill. Digging on the side of the hill would help elongate the installation and make the art more noticeable from the road. Students used rakes and shovels to try and pry the grass and dirt away from the hill. By the end of the period the class was able to get a pretty decent chunk out of the hill. The installation is getting awfully close to the finish and it is looking more like art after every class.

Change of Plans (Stephen G)

So today we arrived to class ready to go outside and continue working on the project. We have been making great progress and have been excited to see the changes we make each day. But today, instead of going directly out side, Mrs. K and Mrs. Williams had some interesting news. They said that we would not be able to dig any deeper at our site because of the wiring underground. This disappointed us all, but we saw it as a challenge. Right away we were able to brainstorm great new ideas and realized that with our new plan, we are actually ahead of schedule. The change was unpredictable, but definitely manageable. Before we went outside we determined that our goal was to clear out our site and remove all the grass. And we definitely accomplished that.

Our next plan of the day was to lay out our new plan and lay out the divide with the materials we have. We were also going to move the sticks and continue to shape the mound, which we did great with. Later, we would make cross-sections with the wood or lay it down like a current (another idea). We didn't reach all of those goals today but will in the forthcoming.

My group worked on sawing today, and as other people in the class have seen, it is not easy with a handsaw. So after wasted minutes fighting over a log to reach maximum efficiency, we finally obtained the log and Jake, Andrew, Cal and I made a type of assembly line and it worked extremely well.

The technique we used was each person in our group would saw as fast and as powerful as they could and then once they got tired we would hand it to the next person to do the same. We were able able to cut each log in 4 minutes. And compared to the usual time of 20 minutes, this technique worked well. We were able to accomplish 6 cuts in the remaining time we had of class when we obtained the log we needed.

Everybody in the class did a great job today, and we are clearly making great progress on this. Everyone is excited to see the final product.

I'm not lifting that bucket!

Today was our 4th class working outside on our Art Installation project. We continued our tasks of collecting large rocks, cutting discs of wood, digging, and breaking up the mound of dirt in what will be the center of the spiral formation.

The largest group today seemed to be the digging group, who are responsible for clearing the land in the widest part of the installation, in order to create the stairs that will travel down the hill. Some methods that students were using to do this were:

• breaking up mounds of dirt and grass with a shovel or rake.
• shoveling loose dirt into buckets that are deposited into the center of the spiral.
• edging the sides of the formation with a small spade.

Aquipped with 4 new shovels, we had a few more diggers than previous days and were able to clear a good portion of the land today. The only problem was that the buckets of dirt were filling up quickly and needed to be emptied often. And they were heavy! But we came up with a few SMArt solutions to transport the dirt more efficiently.

We decided to use several of the orange buckets at a time, as well as a large tarp. We also thought of using the wheelbarrow to empty large amounts of dirt at one time with little effort. Which do you think was the best method?