To the parents/ guardians of Linwood Holton Elementary art students,

Greetings!  Many of you may already know that I am heading out on maternity leave very soon to spend time with my baby boy once he arrives. I want you to know that the Holton art room and your children will be in good hands for the final nine weeks of the school year with the long term sub coming in, Mr. Eric Jones.  Please feel free to stop by to say hi and to make him feel welcome at Holton!  If you do need to contact me for any reason, I will still be checking my email (braniganart@gmail.com) and updating the summer camp registration information and I’ll be back next school year.

Eric Jones is a recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University where he received his BFA in Art Education from the School of the Arts.  Originally from Indiana, Eric developed citywide community art programs and events for the Indianapolis Art Center for over ten years.  Since moving to Richmond two years ago, he has taught diverse community programs and workshops. He currently teaches youth and adult classes at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond in programs that include Art After School, SOL-based Engage workshops, studio classes for seniors, and serves as Lead Visual Artist in a multi-discipline program designed for youth and young adults with disabilities.  

His approach to teaching acknowledges the importance of experimentation in art making, developing a vocabulary to discuss artwork while viewing and critiquing, and its impetus for multi-cultural awareness for students of all ages.  His curriculum often delves into the work of specific artists, cultural celebrations, and historical influences, to gain better understanding of our world and how it has changed or will continue to change.  These focus areas provide many relatable teachable moments that allow exploration via a variety of artistic processes while addressing multiple standards of learning in the classroom.

His goal is for students to redefine what art means to them through inquiry-based discussions about their own art work, thoughtful discussion of other’s successful artworks, and fostering the ability for student artists to make aesthetic decisions of their own, all in a space designed for building positive relationships with others.  Through this, he hopes that students will gain respect for personal opinions, awareness of cultural works of art throughout history, find empowerment through artistic risk taking to ultimately become emotionally engaged in the art making process.  If you would like to learn more about his teaching and art making, you can visit his website here: http://jonesej2.wordpress.com/

Thanks for your continued support of the art program at Holton!

Sincerely,
Sarah Branigan Fought, Art Teacher

Special Thanks to Rebecca Field and Rob McAdams, Holton parents and the Arts in Education Committee for organizing such a fun night at the VMFA! Also thanks to Twyla Kitts and the Education staff at the museum.

http://www.schoolartsroom.com/2011/02/picture-consequencesexquisite-corpse.html

Picture consequences is a circle game in which a group of people cooperatively draw a person or creature. Historically, it was played by European artists commonly called Surrealists, beginning in the early 1920s. Picture Consequences was also known as exquisite corpse, although that name also described a more widely known process of writing instead of drawing.

In this process, a figure is drawn in portions, with the paper folded after each portion and passed to the next artist so that they cannot see the earlier portions. At the end, the paper is unfolded and the completed figure is revealed.


Philip Campbell CurtisThis lesson was inspired by and focused on the Surrealist Philip Campbell Curtis. Born in Jackson, Michigan, Curtis (1907-2000) became a highly respected artist in his adopted state of Arizona. After earning a four-year certificate in art from Yale, Curtis moved to New York where he served as an assistant supervisor of mural paintings for the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Project.

The WPA transferred Curtis to Phoenix where he founded and later became the director of the Phoenix Art Center (now the Phoenix Art Museum). Following on the heels of his Arizona success, the WPA sent Curtis to Des Moines to start an art center there. It was during this time that Curtis entered the museum studies program at Harvard, but his studies were interrupted by World War II.

Curtis returned to Arizona after the war where he settled in Scottsdale in a converted stable now known as the Cattle Tracks Arts Compound. His studio windows provided a view of the desert landscape. This view strongly influenced Curtis' style and is often seen as a backdrop in his work. From the late 1940s until his death, Curtis continued to paint. His work has been celebrated through solo exhibitions, multiple awards, and a permanent exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum.

The student artwork you see here was completed by four different 5th grade students.

Objectives
Students will:
• recognize the work of Surrealist artists, especially Phillip C. Curtis.
• collaborate on detailed exquisite corpse drawings.

Warm Up
Discuss Surrealism. Demonstrate procedures for exquisite corpse drawing.

Materials
• 6" x 18" white drawing paper
• pencils
• fine point permanent black markers
• colored pencils
• teacher-made PowerPoint on Surrealism

Procedures
Have students each fold a 6" x 18" white paper into four equal parts, leaving the paper folded. Ask them to draw a head of a person or animal in the first section (so that the finished drawing will be vertically positioned), making the drawing fill that section as much as possible.

Students first draw in pencil and then outline the drawings with a permanent black marker. Color can be added with color pencil at this time or later when the figure is complete. Be sure to remind students to write their names in pencil on each section as they work.

Next, have students refold the drawing so that the head is not visible (bend it back) and pass it to the next person to their left (they will take one from the person on their right). In the second section, students draw a torso of a person or animal. Students continue in this method, drawing legs in the third section and feet in the last. When the final section is complete, students open the drawing to see the completed figure. Display the artworks alongside a written explanation of the process.

Nancy Walkup and Pam Stephens, SchoolArts, March 2011