All students at Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School are encouraged to cultivate creative skills in fine and practical arts. Engaging artistically with complex issues strengthens thinking by deepening perspective. Throughout their time at Hawthorne Valley, students are guided to connect with sources of inspiration, explore creative expression in a variety of disciplines, and apply imagination to produce original ideas. Art classes vary based on grade level, evolving over the students’ journey through the grades to reflect new knowledge as well as expand personal understanding, and understanding of the world around them.
The seniors are in the early stages of developing their self-portraits. The first step is to practice drawing isolated facial features (lips, nose, eyes, etc.) while learning to see how the subtleties of one’s own mouth differ from another’s. Next the students do some sketches of each other followed by some self-portrait pencil drawings while looking at their reflections in a mirror. Students work with graphite on white paper, and Prismacolor pencils on colored paper, the latter of which aids learning how to identify and draw both highlights and shadows simultaneously. Here are some of the more recent senior’s practice self-portrait drawings.
A group of eight 11th and 12th graders have been studying figure drawing with an emphasis on clothing and textiles. They are exploring the question of how clothes inform us about the shapes, textures and lines that we see following along and around the human form. Students used pencil, India ink, bamboo pens, and Chinese brushes to explore the subject.
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Some of the 11th grade's abstract artwork.[/caption]
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Figure drawings by Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School 11th and 12th grade students.[/caption]
More information about the curriculum of each grade can be found here.
Grade 7 Student Art
Grade 7 has only had a few art classes since the start of the second term, but nonetheless have begun the process of taking a deeper dive into some more complicated still life dark and light drawings. Below is a close-up of a plant drawing by Chloë Luppi as well as the entire class's work, as featured in the School’s gallery area.
Grades 11 and 12 Student Art
Grade 11 has been working in the realm of abstract art since the start of their block back in December. Each student did a large watercolor painting that began by working with the element of darkness and the medium of India ink. They explored what it felt like to spread darkness across the page, sometimes leaving behind bits of light, sometimes covering almost the entire page. Next they worked to bring lightness back in with white acrylic medium, followed by more layers of ink and/or watercolor. Each painting took several weeks to complete. They are currently on display both in front of the main office and the upstairs hallway by the eurythmy rooms.The seniors are in the early stages of developing their self-portraits. The first step is to practice drawing isolated facial features (lips, nose, eyes, etc.) while learning to see how the subtleties of one’s own mouth differ from another’s. Next the students do some sketches of each other followed by some self-portrait pencil drawings while looking at their reflections in a mirror. Students work with graphite on white paper, and Prismacolor pencils on colored paper, the latter of which aids learning how to identify and draw both highlights and shadows simultaneously. Here are some of the more recent senior’s practice self-portrait drawings.
A group of eight 11th and 12th graders have been studying figure drawing with an emphasis on clothing and textiles. They are exploring the question of how clothes inform us about the shapes, textures and lines that we see following along and around the human form. Students used pencil, India ink, bamboo pens, and Chinese brushes to explore the subject.
[caption id="attachment_8051" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Some of the 11th grade's abstract artwork.[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_8052" align="aligncenter" width="819"] Figure drawings by Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School 11th and 12th grade students.[/caption]
More information about the curriculum of each grade can be found here.
