EXPRESSIVE DRAWING

I have recently renovated part of my home to create a teaching studio.  It's a wonderful space, nicely organized with 6 large panels on the walls to give artists the possibility of  freeing themselves with space to work and explore.

In this new space, I have offered adult classes, Painting and Expressive Drawing.  In the drawing class, we began with "automatic drawing."  We worked in dark paint,  making marks on the paper, stopping, taking a walk back to get perspective (especially important when you are working large) and responding to our feelings.  A totally freeing process, with amazing results.

Art on Show

Working with third, fourth and fifth graders is a pleasure.  They are so capable, so inventive and so confident it makes art classes with them move quickly as they master new skills and invent new creations.  At the end of residencies, I always have a culminating event.  At the end of this after school program in Boro Park, Brooklyn, we had an art show in the classroom.  Here is our display.

Each of the students talked about what work impressed them the most and why.  This was not
a popularity contest but rather a way for students to analyze their own work and that of their classmates.  Discussing the artistic features of the work was what was important.

EXPLORING ART at MS 223

Art club students, Kristine and Byron, won awards for their continuity and creativity in Art Club.





Throughout Spring semester, various students at MS 223 (BX), attended Exploring Art, the art club after school. We were a small enough group each time that the club had an informality that couldn’t be had during the school day.

While a number of students came to club during its course, there were a some students who attended most day and became a core group that propelled the group each time. Kristine, Yamiles, Byron & Joe got to know where everything was kept and helped with the set up. Everyone helped with clean up.

We made all sorts of things. We started with imaginary trees—can you imagine the wildest, most out of this world tree ever?!? Painted in oil pastel and watercolor, the vibrancy of the colors was juicy. We painted in watercolor and tempera, made critter bowls and other sculpture from clay, drew with charcoal, made our own scratchboards, learned how to make pop ups and designed pop up heart cards for Mother’s Day.

The end of after school came too soon; we had so much more to learn and make. We also needed an opportunity to show our work, as the emerging artists we are and to celebrate all that was accomplished. So we had an Art Show, inviting fellow students, teachers, staff and family. Our exhibit looked fantastic! We had a ball!

Afterschool in Boerum Hill

Working with the Brooklyn Arts Council, I taught a program called Museum In A School. My students at PS 261 were 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. We had the cooperation of Haya Koprak, school art teacher, who generously let us use her space.

In order to give them a rich art experience, I introduced them to materials they might not have used before. They worked with resists and painted on silk. They ccreated "critter bowls" and favorite foods from air dry clay and painted them with acrylics. They made monotype prints. No art class would be complete without drawing and painting.

NEW BLOG ADVENTURE

Here I am, starting a new blog to reach out to those of you who want to see all that is happening with my teaching and my students. I have decided to start anew with this blog because there was so much material, so much wonderful student artwork to share. It was really an inadequate platform in my ArtistKaren Blog.

First off, I'd like you to see the creative work that my students at MS 223 in the South Bronx completed in the second session of the year. I had students in classes: 801, 806, 704, 706, 603 and 604.

Sixth graders made large Greek vases, amphora, on which the depicted olympic &/or sports pictures to tell a story. they had several classes in drawing the figure. In gesture drawing, you try to capture the essence of the figure in motion. Students posed for one another and learned that a minute can be a long time.












Seventh graders were inspired by African and masks used in other cultures. They created three dimensional elements on their masks using cardboard and celluclay and added color with paint and details with oil pastels.





The eighth graders worked on large collages inspired by the skyscrapers of New York and the shops and buildings of their own neighborhood. They also learned about Romare Beardon and his collages. Theirs were constructed with corrogated "bordette", cardboard and watercolor paint.