I am fortunate to head a group of teachers who accomplish a great deal every school year. Here's some of what we've done in recent years:
ANNUAL REPORTS, NEWSLETTERS, and YEARS IN REVIEW
Burlington Art & Design Program Report to the Town 2021
ON THE WEB
http://bpsk12art.weebly.com/ (a resource for district art teachers, and the site for our online art exhibition)
www.burlingtonhighschoolart.org (for students, parents, and the community)
www.facebook.com/burlingtonhighschoolart
PURPOSE
The Art & Design program helps students develop their visual literacy (an understanding and appreciation of guiding concepts such as the elements and principles of design), creative problem solving, design thinking (a focus on steps in the process of making), and technical skills (craftsmanship). Students develop their Studio Habits of Mind (which comes out of the framework of Studio Thinking designed by practitioners at Project Zero at Harvard’s School of Education.). They develop their craft, becoming more technically skillful in using a wide range of tools, materials, and artistic processes, and they learn to take care of those tools and their studio workspaces. They begin to see and embrace problems as opportunities, develop focus, and they learn to persist and persevere at tasks. Art students learn to envision and imagine, thinking creatively, developing their ability to come up with new and better ideas. They learn to plan well and work through the many, sometimes messy, stages of the creative process. They express themselves, making art that conveys ideas, feelings, or personal meanings. They observe, looking closely and carefully at things, attending to nuance, noticing the small things that the casual observer won’t. They become more and more sensitive to the natural environment as they work from observation, memory, and imagination. They reflect on what they and their fellow artists have done, learning how to look at and talk about art, to defend their work, to take in and process constructive criticism from their peers. They stretch and explore, reaching beyond what they thought they could do. They learn to embrace opportunities, discover through play, and learn from their mistakes. They work and interact with one another in the community that is the art class, and they share their work with their school, family, and community. They make connections, learning about culture and history, current practices and innovation, and interacting with others through their study of art and art-making. We believe that students’ art classes help balance their academic classes, and that art-making is an essential, enriching experience that helps to more fully develop a well-rounded person.
HIGHLIGHTS
Hybrid learning continued into Spring 2021. With the change to remote and hybrid learning, the Art & Design teachers took to heart the guidelines and recommendations of the Massachusetts Art Education Association in planning and revising curriculum for the 20-21 school year, to do fewer things and do them well. To eliminate the need to share tools and materials during the pandemic, in 2020-21 art teachers assembled individual art kits for every student, providing supplies to be used in either the classroom or at home. Elementary and middle school teachers traveled from classroom to classroom to teach lessons. Students and teachers returned to the art rooms in all schools for the 2021-22 school year.
The program again budgeted for Adobe Creative Cloud Access to be made available to every art student in BHS as needed. Students were able to get one-year named-user licenses to the Creative Cloud to be installed on one computer in the school and another at home, allowing courses such as Computer Graphics and Photography to be taught more smoothly during hybrid learning.
Student work was published or displayed in Collab, the high school’s literary magazine, the BHS yearbook, the Regional High School Art Exhibition hosted by the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society (LexArt), and in the high school’s Cambridge Street Gallery, which continues to provide exhibition space to BHS alumni artists, community members, students, and faculty.
A drawing by Jack Giles (BHS Class of 2021) and a photograph by Paul Fauller (Class of 2022) were selected for inclusion in the 2021 Emerging Young Artists Juried Exhibition, a highly competitive New England juried exhibition hosted by UMass Dartmouth's College of Visual and Performing Arts. The exhibition was online this year, featured on the UMass Dartmouth CVPA website from January 22 through February 6, 2021. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts invited students, family, relatives, and guests to attend the reception to celebrate these talented students and their accomplishments.
Burlington students earned recognition in this year's annual regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards received a total of 8,609 total submissions between the art and writing categories: 5,877 total art submissions and 2,732 total writing submissions.
Whereas in previous years the Gold and Silver Key award-winning work was exhibited in a large exhibition hall, in 2021 the Massachusetts Scholastic Art and Writing Awards regional exhibition was posted online.:
Regional Gold Key Art: http://omeka.library.tufts.edu/exhibits/show/2021scholasticgoldkeyart
Regional Gold Key Writing: http://omeka.library.tufts.edu/exhibits/show/2021scholasticgoldkeywriting
Regional Silver Key Art: http://omeka.library.tufts.edu/exhibits/show/2021scholasticsilverkeyart
Regional Silver Key Writing: http://omeka.library.tufts.edu/exhibits/show/2021scholasticsilverkeywriting
After being reviewed at the national level by panels of creative professionals, Anna Perl (BHS Class of 2022) earned a Gold Medal at the national level for her painting "Decapitation.”
The artistic talents of BHS student artists were also on display at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society (LexArt) for the 25th Annual Regional High School Art Majors Show. The work of students from Bedford, Burlington, Winchester, Waltham, and Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical high schools was also on view.
At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, the AP Studio Art students held an online exhibition reception of their portfolios, to which parents and teachers were invited and at which each student discussed their oeuvre.
Artist Cyrus Aghakhani spoke via videoconference to BHS art classes from his home in Iran. In this virtual workshop, Mr. Aghakhani shared his artististic work with students and demonstrated his methods, including the technique of sgraffito, scratching a surface to create a variety of tonal values. Cyrus Aghakhani is a professional graphic designer, painter, and art professor based in Iran. He has illustrated many books and has held many solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Cyrus is on the faculty at the University of Semnan and is married to another successful artist. One of the artist’s original artworks was purchased and loaned to BHS.
Some of the art teachers and their classes continue to be involved in the Burlington Sculpture Park (burlingtonsculpturepark.org). The park is located to the left of Grandview Farm and Marion Tavern, across from the corner of the town common. The selection of the sculptures was greatly informed by student participation two years ago. Students in many of Burlington's art classes from grades 1-12 voted on over 40 works submitted to The BSP Committee through the New England Sculptors Association.
CHANGES
To address remote learning needs at the elementary level during the pandemic, two BHS art teacher worked in the Remote Academy for the 20-21 school year, teaching fully remote elementary grade students. Art instruction was added to Kindergarten starting in the 2021-22 school year.
Burlington Art & Design Program Report to the Town 2020
On the Web:
http://bpsk12art.weebly.com/ (a resource for district art teachers, and the site for our online art exhibition)
www.burlingtonhighschoolart.org (for students, parents, and the community)
www.facebook.com/burlingtonhighschoolart
The Art & Design program helps students develop their visual literacy (an understanding and appreciation of guiding concepts such as the elements and principles of design), creative problem solving, design thinking (a focus on steps in the process of making), and technical skills (craftsmanship). Students develop their Studio Habits of Mind (which comes out of the framework of Studio Thinking designed by practitioners at Project Zero at Harvard’s School of Education.). They develop their craft, becoming more technically skillful in using a wide range of tools, materials, and artistic processes, and they learn to take care of those tools and their studio workspaces. They begin to see and embrace problems as opportunities, develop focus, and they learn to persist and persevere at tasks. Art students learn to envision and imagine, thinking creatively, developing their ability to come up with new and better ideas. They learn to plan well and work through the many, sometimes messy, stages of the creative process. They express themselves, making art that conveys ideas, feelings, or personal meanings. They observe, looking closely and carefully at things, attending to nuance, noticing the small things that the casual observer won’t. They become more and more sensitive to the natural environment as they work from observation, memory, and imagination. They reflect on what they and their fellow artists have done, learning how to look at and talk about art, to defend their work, to take in and process constructive criticism from their peers. They stretch and explore, reaching beyond what they thought they could do. They learn to embrace opportunities, discover through play, and learn from their mistakes. They work and interact with one another in the community that is the art class, and they share their work with their school, family, and community. They make connections, learning about culture and history, current practices and innovation, and interacting with others through their study of art and art-making. We believe that students’ art classes help balance their academic classes, and that art-making is an essential, enriching experience that helps to more fully develop a well-rounded person.
In January, the Burlington High School Art & Design Department hosted its semi-annual Alumni Artist Day. For many years we have welcomed back former students to discuss their careers as artists. Alumni in college talk about their experiences at art school and share their portfolios, senior college students talk about how they are preparing to enter the workforce, and alumni who are working as designers, artists, and architects share their experiences and day-to-day activities at their jobs. Current art students have a chance to see the professional work and ask questions of alumni. They're able to learn about art careers directly from the artists who are members of their extended school community. A few art colleges had representatives present at tables in the main lobby as a "mini" college fair.
The year 2020 brought with it the Burlington Sculpture Park (burlingtonsculpturepark.org). The new park is located to the left of Grandview Farm and Marion Tavern, across from the corner of the town common. There are now six sculptures in all for this first phase of the Sculpture Park. The selection of the works was greatly informed by student participation. Students in many of Burlington's art classes from grades 1-12 voted on over 40 works submitted to The BSP Committee through the New England Sculptors Association. Several students also helped present the proposal to the town's Board of Selectmen.
The park's official logo was a collaboration/combination of graphic work by Burlington High School students Serena Hawkins and Hunter Robson, both Class of 2022. Burlington Cable Access Television (BCAT) shared a video story about the logo design for the Burlington Sculpture Park.
Student work was published or displayed in the high school’s literary magazine, the BHS yearbook, the Regional High School Art Exhibition hosted by the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society (LexArt), in other competitions and exhibitions such as Emerging Young Artists and the Scholastic Art Awards at the high school level and The Future of Work at the middle school level, and in the high school’s Cambridge Street Gallery, which continues to provide exhibition space to BHS alumni artists, community members, students, and faculty.
The Art & Design program posted Burlington Public School's first district-wide art show online. The Burlington Art & Design program had intended to hold its first district-wide art show in the real three-dimensional world at the town library in June. The school-based shows typically run at different times throughout the year: the annual Art Exhibition and Fashion Show at the high school happens in March, and it was up and ready to go but was cancelled just prior to the full school closing; the middle school art shows are art-room displays during the school's Open House; the elementary schools each have theirs in the Spring; the high school Portfolio show in the Spring features the works of our advanced students. At the beginning of last school year, the district's art teachers committed to investigating the possibilities and formats for a district-wide art show to share their students' work with the greater Burlington community. In early March the art program coordinator met with town library director Michael Wick about a district-wide show using the library as a venue and all the art teachers were on board for arranging a small selection of work to represent each school. With the changes in circumstances, in lieu of an actual in-person exhibition the art teachers gathered what images they could to put together this selection of student work from the 19-20 school year.
At the end of the 2019-2020 school year, the AP Studio Art students held an online exhibition reception of their portfolios, to which parents and teachers were invited and at which each student discussed their oeuvre.
Advanced photography students once again collaborated with students in the Winchester High School photo program in an exhibition entitled “Photosynthesis” at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester. In February, photographer Bill Franson presented to the Burlington High School and Winchester High School honors photography students. This was part of Photosynthesis—a collaboration between the Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester HS, and Burlington HS. This was the fourth year that Burlington has had the opportunity to be part of this amazing collaborative program that included artist talks to help inform and inspire the students' personal portfolios of photographs. Student photos were curated and presented at the Griffin Museum of Photography in June.
The Area Solutions team of PNC Bank worked with the high school program to select six large art pieces for permanent display in their new Burlington branch. Several BHS photography students had their work blown up on canvas, and are now on display at PNC bank to give some local flavor from the town. The PNC Solutions Center team created promotional materials to highlight the work of the students.
MSMS 7th grade art students completed a project in collaboration with an art contest hosted by Swissnex Boston, a part of the local Swiss embassy in Cambridge. Five students were chosen to have their work displayed on Swissnex's website under the "Boston" section.
The program began developing lessons and gathering resources around anti-racism and equity. At the high school level, the curriculum map format was redesigned to include cultural diversity connections.
The Art Department is committed to elevating and highlighting the work and voices of Black, African American, and African Artists. As a starting point we are highlighting artists. The first artist that was featured was alumna Gam Dhliwayo (BHS Class of 2013) (website - Gam.design; instagram page @africangraphicdesigner). After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a degree in Graphic Design, Gam moved to New York City to work for Isaiah King Design, Sundial Brand, Blink, and now Group Nine media. She has worked on international and nationwide client work designing corporate identities, animations, product designs, marketing campaigns, and advertisements.
Just prior to the Thanksgiving break, Tarish Pipkins a.k.a. Jeghetto, a painter, poet, street performer, puppet-maker, and puppeteer, conducted at BHS a virtual puppet-making workshop and a talk about his experiences as a black artist. He demonstrated how an unconventional material (Tarish makes his ghostly, large-scale puppets out of cardboard.), in the hands of an enthusiastic artist, can give life to a story which addresses controversial issues and can create a space where contemporary audiences can reflect, bear witness, and engage in radical honesty.
With the change to remote and hybrid learning, the Art & Design teachers took to heart the guidelines and recommendations of the Massachusetts Art Education Association in planning and revising curriculum for the 20-21 school year, to do fewer things and do them well:
- Make strategic reductions across the curriculum
- Focus on fewer standards more deeply
- Create a smaller number of well-crafted lessons and experiences that nurture relationships, support youth resilience, and build knowledge and skills.
- Blend synchronous and asynchronous learning
- Provide access to ALL learners
- Temporarily shift focus from the Creating standards of the MA Visual Arts Frameworks to the other three standards: Presenting, Connecting, and Responding.
The department compiled an interactive list of Art & Design Online Resources for Enrichment and Independent Learning and developed more robust program websites for the district and high school programs to share these resources and other information with students and families.
To eliminate the need to share tools and materials during the pandemic, art teachers assembled individual art kits for every student, providing supplies to be used in either the classroom or at home. Elementary and middle school teachers travelled from classroom to classroom to teach lessons.
The program also budgeted for Adobe Creative Cloud Access to be made available to every art student in BHS and MSMS as needed. Students were able to get one-year named-user licenses to the Creative Cloud to be installed on one computer in the school and another at home, allowing courses such as Computer Graphics and Photography to be taught more smoothly during hybrid learning.
To address remote learning needs at the elementary level during the pandemic, BHS art teacher Joanne Vigneau and MSMS art teacher Keith March Mistler are working in the Remote Academy for the 20-21 school year, teaching fully remote elementary grade students. Mojdeh Kazem and Lindsay Shepard joined the BHS and MSMS faculties, respectively, to fill the temporarily vacated positions.
In the fall, Laura Godinho served as a student teacher from Salem State College with George Ratkevich and Lexi Djordjevic. Laura is an alumnus of the Burlington Public Schools and the art program, a current Burlington resident, and the mother of a current BHS student. Kristen Barrett (School of the Museum of Fine Arts) student taught with Sarah Baldwin at Marshall Simonds Middle School. Nathaly Davis (The Massachusetts College of Art & Design) student taught with Courtney Fallon at Pine Glen Elementary School.
In memory of a recent graduate of the high school and a mainstay in the art program who passed last year, an art scholarship was created due to the efforts of her friends and family. The scholarship, which will be first awarded at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, will be awarded to a “BHS student who shows a passion for fashion or art as Cynara did, and would like to further their education at a college/university focused on art.”
For the 2020-21 school year, the high school changed its course offerings for incoming freshmen to include Studio Art, Studio Art Honors, Photography I, Computer Graphics I, and Web Design.
Burlington Sculpture Park 2020
The summer of 2020 brought with it the Burlington Sculpture Park. The new park is located to the left of Grandview Farm and Marion Tavern, across from the corner of the town common. Peter Dellert’s Truth #1 was the first to be installed, followed by Mark Wholey’s Follow Your Heart and Philip Marshall’s Next Stop Shibuya. There will be six sculptures in all for this first phase of the Sculpture Park.
Visit the website for the Sculpture Park at burlingtonsculpturepark.org
Burlington Sculpture Park Committee chair Jon Sachs created this video about the park.
The selection of the works was greatly informed by student participation. Students in many of Burlington's art classes from grades 1-12 voted on over 40 works submitted to The BSP Committee through the New England Sculptors Association. Several students also helped present the proposal to the town's Board of Selectmen (The proposal starts around 15:30 in this YouTube video. Students start at 31:14.).
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/Burlington-Sculpture-Park-112169947249852
Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/burlingtonsculpturepark/
BSP Logo
The park's official logo was a collaboration/combination of graphic work by Burlington High School rising juniors Serena Hawkins and Hunter Robson, both Class of 2022. Burlington Cable Access Television (BCAT) shares this video story about the logo design for the Burlington Sculpture Park by students.
Visit the website for the Sculpture Park at burlingtonsculpturepark.org
Burlington Sculpture Park Committee chair Jon Sachs created this video about the park.
The selection of the works was greatly informed by student participation. Students in many of Burlington's art classes from grades 1-12 voted on over 40 works submitted to The BSP Committee through the New England Sculptors Association. Several students also helped present the proposal to the town's Board of Selectmen (The proposal starts around 15:30 in this YouTube video. Students start at 31:14.).
Our Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/Burlington-Sculpture-Park-112169947249852
Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/burlingtonsculpturepark/
BSP Logo
The park's official logo was a collaboration/combination of graphic work by Burlington High School rising juniors Serena Hawkins and Hunter Robson, both Class of 2022. Burlington Cable Access Television (BCAT) shares this video story about the logo design for the Burlington Sculpture Park by students.
Online District Art Show 2020
I am happy to share Burlington's first district-wide art show. The Burlington Art & Design program had intended to hold our first district-wide art show in the real three-dimensional world at the town library in June. Our school-based shows typically run at different times throughout the year. The annual Art Exhibition and Fashion Show at the high school happens in March, and it was up and ready to go but was cancelled just prior to the full school closing. The middle school art shows are art-room displays during the school's Open House. The elementary schools each have theirs in the Spring. We also have a high school Portfolio show in the Spring featuring the works of our advanced students. At the beginning of last school year, the district's art teachers committed to investigating the possibilities and formats for a district-wide art show to share their students' work with the greater Burlington community.
In early March we met with town library director Michael Wick about a district-wide show using the library as a venue and all the art teachers were on board for arranging a small selection of work to represent each school.
The art teachers gathered what images they could (after the pandemic hit and schools closed) to put together this selection of student work from the past year. It's an incomplete work; we unfortunately weren't able to include every one of our students and many works are missing student names. Much thanks to the art teachers for finding the time to work on this during their last few very busy weeks.
In early March we met with town library director Michael Wick about a district-wide show using the library as a venue and all the art teachers were on board for arranging a small selection of work to represent each school.
The art teachers gathered what images they could (after the pandemic hit and schools closed) to put together this selection of student work from the past year. It's an incomplete work; we unfortunately weren't able to include every one of our students and many works are missing student names. Much thanks to the art teachers for finding the time to work on this during their last few very busy weeks.
Burlington Public Schools Art Program - Year in Review 2017-2018
HIGH SCHOOL
Overview The studio art program of Burlington High School emphasizes visual literacy, aesthetics, technical skills, creative problem-solving and critical thinking. We maintain an online presence to inform students, parents, teachers and the community through our program website at www.burlingtonhighschoolart.org, on our facebook page and on our website for teachers: bpsk12art.weebly.com . The Burlington Art & Design program encouraged students to think critically and creatively and to generate and develop new ideas. Students explored different methods of problem-solving, and they were guided to understand that there could be more than one solution to a problem. Students across grade levels explored a variety of materials and processes and learned a wide range of skills in perceiving and creating. They developed a sense of community through collaborative projects, group critiques, informal discussions, and participation in exhibitions. They were encouraged to look closely and carefully at things, to discuss their observations, and to critique their own work and that of their peers. We hope that students benefited from and became more well-rounded through the enriching experience of art-making. Students had their work published in the Marble Collection, Massachusetts’ High School Magazine for the Arts, and in Collab, the high school’s literary magazine. Student work was on display in the Scholastic Art Awards, the high school’s 45th annual Art Exhibition, sixth annual Fashion Show, the Regional High School Art Exhibition hosted by the Lexington Arts & Crafts Society, and on display in the high school’s Cambridge Street Gallery, which continues to provide exhibition space to BHS alumni artists, community members, students, and faculty. Advanced photography students collaborated for a second time with students in the Winchester High School photo program in what will eventually become an exhibition entitled “Photosynthesis” at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester. Some of the larger collaborative efforts of the art program include the following: Art students in several Burlington schools were involved in developing designs for a display of community-oriented banners during the winter season on the town common. Teachers developed a number of lessons around The Power of One, the individual’s ability to effect change in the community/society, which related to the high school’s essential questions for the 2017-2018 school year. Winter Banners for the Town Common
Several art classes in the Burlington schools, including Design, Graphic Design, and Digital Publishing at the high school, created artwork celebrating peace and community, to potentially be published as banners and displayed on the Town Common during the winter months. The plan was that twelve student designs would be selected to foster local pride, enrich the town common, and provide a focal point of unity and joy in the winter season. The chosen designs would be printed as vinyl mesh banners to hang from the light poles on the edge of the Burlington Town Common and in front of the municipal buildings surrounding the Common. The BPS Winter Art Contest would will offer a valuable opportunity for students of all ages to see their work publicly displayed. Thanks to everyone who submitted student work for the winter display project on the town common to promote more inclusivity and understanding for others, and put forward a positive message of peace, love, and community. Although the banners won't be installed this year, we've already put them to good use. The Graphic Design students posted them in the high school's main hallway and cafeteria lobby, and we've gotten a great deal of positive feedback. Teachers mentioned that their students had discussed how much positivity the designs and quotes have brought to their environment. Unfortunately in regards to our larger goal, the manager of buildings and grounds for the town common recently informed us that the project for the town common could not proceed as planned due to an oversight on the town's part concerning ground clearance. We’ll think on this for a while and consider options. We’ll eventually print the selected artwork as banners, but it will need to be reformatted for a different venue. Scholastic Art & Writing Awards 2018 - Burlington Winners
The following Burlington students received individual Gold Keys, Silver Keys and Honorable Mentions at the annual Boston Globe Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have existed since 1923 and the contest affords students across the country the opportunity to be recognized for their talents. Notable winners of these prestigious awards include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, and Robert Redford. Judges look for originality, technical skill, and development of a personal voice and/or vision. At the regional level, students are selected to receive the Gold Key, the Silver Key, or Honorable Mention. High School Art Awards: Alpha Bathol, Gold Key, Photography, Friendship Wilfredo Escobar, Honorable Mention, Photography, Double Exposure Julia Feist, Honorable Mention, Photography, Empty Tank Madison Green, Honorable Mention, Painting, Portrait of a Grumpy Lady Jessica James, Gold Key, Photography, Deep Dreaming Jessica James, Honorable Mention, Photography, Beating Jessica James, Honorable Mention, Photography, Cutting Jessica James, Honorable Mention, Photography, Thrown to the Bottom Jessica James, Silver Key, Photography, Comforting Serina Khalifa, Gold Key, Photography, Boxes Serina Khalifa, Gold Key, Photography, Self Portrait Serina Khalifa, Silver Key, Photography, Bed Amanda McCombs, Honorable Mention, Photography, Iron Some of the award-winning art pieces by Burlington students (high school and middle school) can be found here. High School Writing Awards: Laura Harder, Honorable Mention, Humor, Coffee Shop Niti Seereeram, Gold Key, Poetry, Taste You Can't Trust Niti Seereeram, Silver Key, Personal Essay/Memoir, Honey Beige The 2018 Massachusetts Scholastic Art and Writing Awards regional awards celebration for Gold and Silver Key winners was held in March at the Cohen Auditorium at Aidekman Art Center, Tufts University. The exhibition was held at Tufts University. The Gold Key winning pieces continued to New York to compete against all the other Gold Key Winners from the other regions of the country, and one of Serina Khalifa’s photographs earned a Silver Medal Art All State
In February, Erin Kerr and Martello Cesar interviewed for and were accepted into the Art All State weekend, which will be held at UMass Dartmouth from June 8 - 9. Art All-State Massachusetts is an intense two-day program that brings together 145 high school juniors of exceptional artistic potential and commitment to work with practicing artists to create collaborative installations. Art All-State is designed by prominent art teachers to provide students with an understanding of art-related careers and direct knowledge of contemporary art forms. During the program, students will work in groups to explore contemporary art and use their newfound knowledge to inspire their collaborative work. Students will be exposed to many possible art careers as the sixteen artist mentors discuss their work and share experiences providing a valuable resource for young artists. The event will culminate with a public viewing and reception of the work created in the two-day program. Art All-State also includes a program for parents to take place just before the public viewing. This program aims to answer questions that parents may have about careers in the arts and how the program may assist in providing resources to aid in the decision- making process. Graphic Work for Community (Digital Publishing)
Keith Mistler’s Digital Publishing students continue to design graphic work for the school, the town, and non-profits in the community. Chris Campbell, Chairman of the Burlington Democratic Town Committee, expressed his appreciation of the logos that Keith's Digital Publishing students created for their organization. Here’s one of the press clippings: https://patch.com/massachusetts/burlington/burlington-dtcrecognizes-two-high-school-students Collaboration
The Art and English departments took advantage of some of the many great possibilities for collaboration to build community while also progressing some of the high school's initiatives.
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Art Program Improvement Plan We completed the three-year plan for the art program using the Planning for Success model. It provides us with a means of clearly communicating our mission with the community and outside parties. Here's the plan. The art teachers will be reviewing and updating this once a year. BPS Student Work in the State House
Four pieces of student art from BHS and MSMS are now hanging in State Representative Ken Gordon's office in the State House in Boston. These students are: Zubair Mian, Jessica James, Akhila John, and Sarah Pottle. Representative Gordon has been good about valuing and honoring the work of our students in public and more private ways. BHS Alumnus Chris Coe on Exhibit in Cambridge Street Gallery
Some fantastic photographs were on display in the high school's Cambridge Street Gallery. Chris Coe (BHS Class of 2013) graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology last year and is now working as a freelance photographer. He presented to Lexi's Creative Photo and Advanced Photography classes, who were clearly inspired by him. The work shown in the gallery was a collection of portraits of friends, colleagues, and other “characters.” Photos and videos of Chris' talk can be found in this folder. Greeting Card Designs for Floating Hospital
Partially in response to the request sent out to district staff by Marianne Frazier, George Ratkevich enrolled his Design, Graphic Design, and Portfolio students in devoting a few days to a greeting card design project in December. George brought the work to Floating Hospital the week before winter vacation. These handmade cards were delivered to the bone marrow transplant ward of Floating Hospital for Children in Boston. Half were made specifically for Ruby Mae Millea, and the other half were inspirational messages for other children spending the holiday season in the hospital. In presenting the activity to students, we tried to be sensitive to the differences in your students' beliefs and cultures in framing the conversation (The cards didn’t have to be related to a holiday, but can be general: "You are Awesome!"). Students were told that if making cards specifically for Ruby, they needed to be mindful that stage 4 neuroblastoma has a 40-50% survival rate. The lesson (with some professional examples) is posted at: https://bhsdesign.weebly.com/current-assignments/classworkhomework-greeting-card-design-with-a-purpose Be The Change Poster Competition
Several of our classes encouraged students to submit work to this year’s Annual Public Service Announcement and Poster Project hosted by Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. All middle and high school students of member districts and organizations of MPY were invited to submit original work to the competition. This year's theme was Be the Change. Individually, and collectively, we have tremendous power to create positive change in our lives and the lives of others. This theme was about challenging students to step out of their comfort zone to make their schools and communities better places to live and learn. LACS 22nd Annual Regional High School Artists Show The artistic talents of our area youth were on display at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, for the 22nd Annual Regional High School Art Majors Show. The work of students from Arlington, Bedford, Burlington, Lexington, Winchester, Waltham, Lexington Christian Academy, Concord-Carlisle and Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical high schools was on view during the month of January. The “High School Artists, A Celebration” reception was held on Sunday, January 28th in the Parson Gallery of the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society. The Regional High School Art Show was a hit; well attended. We had the honor of having visits from BHS guidance counselors, English teachers, and several of our students. Photos of the event, near closing time - examples of student work from other towns Photographer’s Forum Annual High School and College Photo Competition
The photographs of Jessie James and Michelle Johnson will be printed in the book for the Photographer’s Forum Annual High School and College Photo Competition The Marble Collection Michelle Johnson’s photography and Joicee Gordillo’s graphic design entitled “Books are Power” were selected for publication in The Massachusetts High School Magazine of the Arts and nominated for exhibition at The Marble Collection’s fifth annual magazine release gala in May, Spring into Art, at UMass Boston’s Harbor Gallery. The gala is a celebration of Massachusetts’ teens, whose writing, poetry, artwork, and photography are published in The Massachusetts High School Magazine of the Arts. It features an exhibition and sale of teen artwork and a program of teens reading their original creative writing. All published teens participate in The Marble Collection’s free Mentoring for Publication Workshop, wherein they are paired one-to-one with a college student mentor who will provide them with editorial feedback and help refine their work before publication. The workshop is a series of 6 informal conversations that take place in-person at The Marble Collection’s office at UMass Boston or online using Google Hangouts, which offers video chat and instant messaging. BHS 45th Annual Art Exhibition,
and 6th Annual Fashion Show The reception for Burlington High School's 45th Annual Art Exhibition took place on March 15, the night of the high school's Open House. Hundreds of pieces of work from all art classes were on display in the high school library and main lobby. Also that night, the Fashion Design class hosted its sixth annual Fashion Show in the lower library. Keith Mistler's Fashion Design students had a great runway show during the evening reception. A big thank you to all of the high school art teachers for overcoming the four missed days to pull the show together in about two days' time. I'm sure that's the first time we've ever done that. Also open that night was the high schools’ Cambridge Street Gallery, featuring work by staff members of the Burlington school district. Tenacity Challenge
For the fourth year, BHS participated in the Tenacity Challenge, an annual academic scholarship competition for teams of Latino and African-American students from urban and suburban high schools across Massachusetts. The BHS teams are co-advised by Judy Crossman and Christina Chang. George Ratkevich served as a judge for the mural competition. Christina's blog post about a previous Tenacity Challenge is available here. The Tenacity Challenge competition consists of four events, one of which is a Tenacity Mural Challenge, where the members of each team collaborate on a mural in response to the theme. The theme this year was Hate Speech vs Free Speech. This year's competition was held on Saturday, March 24 at Bedford High School. Burlington High School had several teams participating, and we’d like to see even more participation. Please encourage students to join next year's Tenacity Challenge. More information at www.tenacitychallenge.com . BHS / Griffin Museum / Winchester High School Photography Collaboration
For a second year, Lexi Djordjevic’s advanced photography students have been collaborating with the Griffin Museum, with professional artists, and with the photo students at Winchester High. Winchester’s photography students visited Burlington to view a slide presentation by a working photographer on exhibit in the Griffin Museum, and the groups will be developing their own work inspired by that artist to create an event showcasing the young artists’ personal voices. Student work will be on display at the museum’s Photosynthesis Exhibit in June. In the Works:
Art Contest - The Power of One We still plan to host a competition and gallery exhibition related to the schoolwide theme of The Power of One. The competition may take place over the summer, with selected pieces displayed in a show in our gallery at the beginning of the school year. The plan is to invite other school districts to participate in creating visual art to address a problem/theme/challenge based on one or more of the BHS Essential Questions, particularly one that asks "What is the power of one?" We would host an exhibition of the work from all districts in the high school's Cambridge Street Gallery. Mural on “The Rocks” The art teachers have been discussing the potential for a mural to be painted on the rocks along the edge of the faculty parking lot. The idea is to replace the graffiti with a collaborative work designed and painted by students in multiple art classes, probably in the Spring of next year, when we have a greater number of Portfolio and advanced art students. This is a project that can involve other (non-art) classes/students as well. Prior to beginning the work, the rocks will need to be pressure washed to remove the layers of peeling paint, and rising seniors (next year) will need to get the message well in advance that the tradition of graffiti will need to end. We expect there will be some pushback about “tradition”, but some of the writing is inappropriate and students have been painting on the asphalt as well. |
Burlington Public Schools Art Program - Year in Review 2014-2015
This year as always, our students across grade levels explored a variety of materials and processes and learned a wide range of skills. Our art teachers promoted creative thinking and the generation and development of new ideas. We facilitated different methods of problem-solving, and we promoted the idea that there may be more than one solution to a problem. We promoted a sense of community through collaborative projects, group critiques, and regular informal discussions. Burlington students were encouraged to look closely and carefully at things. Our art program helped to answer a young person’s need for greater independence, giving students the opportunity, when appropriate, to generate or modify goals, and to develop their own variations on some projects. Art classes served as a balance to academic classes. Our students continued to love the enriching experience of art, and they continued to be more well-rounded for it.
In August, the work of Benedict Grubner, who had previously won a National Gold Medal in last year’s Scholastic Art Awards competition, was selected for the Art.Write.Now.Tour 2014-2015, a traveling exhibition of art and writing from National Medalists of the 2014 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Now in its fifth year, the Art.Write.Now.Tour gives audiences across the nation the opportunity to view the most stunning and original work from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. These visionary, emerging artists, writers, and filmmakers are selected as the “best in the country” by top professionals in the visual and literary arts. It was curated by notable artist Kay WalkingStick, an alumna of the 1948 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The traveling exhibition began its journey in September at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and culminated in an exhibition at the Catskills Art Society in Livingston Manor, New York in February, 2015. |
Art School RepresentativesEvery fall, the high school art department hosts representatives from post-secondary art programs in the New England region. The representatives presented their programs to juniors and seniors in our advanced classes. Several of our students attended the BSA Architecture/Design College Fair in October and National Portfolio Day in November. Representatives from art programs from throughout the country were on hand to review portfolios, giving honest, direct criticism of our students’ work before they would refine it for their actual college applications.
Regional High School
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Alumni Artist Day
Thanks go out to all the alumni who showed up for our seventh annual Alumni Artist Day. On Friday, January 9, 2015, the Burlington High School Art Department hosted the event from 7:30 am until 2 pm. For the past seven years, the Burlington High School Art Department has welcomed back former students to discuss their careers as artists. Alumni in college talked about their experiences at art school and shared their portfolios, senior college students talked about how they were preparing to enter the workforce, and alumni who are working as designers, artists, and architects shared their experiences and day-to-day activities at their jobs.
All the high school’s art students attended the event during their art periods. They learned about careers in the arts and had a chance to ask questions of the alumni. As often happens at the event, in addition to connecting alumni with current students, this year’s Alumni Artist Day brought opportunities for alumni to network. Cristoforo Magliozzi (BHS Class of 2007), Principal Researcher and Project Coordinator at the metaLAB at Harvard University, is also a director, cinematographer, and editor. Cris showed his documentary film, Cold Storage. Cold Storage premiered locally alongside ( “in dialogue with”) French director Alan Resnais’ 1956 documentary, All the World’s Memory, which served as an inspiration and from which much of the narration in Chris’ film is derived. The film premiered on February 2 in Piper Auditorium at Harvard University, but our students were treated to a first glimpse. The premiere at Harvard also debut its accompanying interactive web-based media archive. The premiere was held in conjunction with an exhibition called Icons of Knowledge at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, which looks at the history of national library buildings through models, murals, and drawings. Students asked about Chris’ previous experience at the White House, where he served on a film crew. Chris’ work can be viewed at cristoforomagliozzi.com and at metalab.harvard.edu. Chris Coe (BHS Class of 2013) spoke to Burlington students several times throughout the day, sharing his experiences as a freelance photographer and as a sophomore at Rochester Institute of Technology, where his focus is advertising photography. His portfolio can be viewed at chriscoephoto.com. Chris assured us that he would be attending every Alumni Artist Day for the next thirty years. Rachel Faller (BHS Class of 2004) used video conferencing through Google Hangout to speak to our classes. She spoke to us from her home in San Francisco, where she recently moved to further develop her international business. Rachel is the owner and founder of Tonle Zero Waste Fashion (www.tonledesign.com), and she shared her experiences as a creative and an entrepreneur. Press on Tonle can be found at The Chic Ecologist (http://www.thechicecologist.com/2014/10/tonle-fashion/) and Ecouterre (http://www.ecouterre.com/cambodias-largest-ethical-apparel-brand-employs-zero-waste-principles/), among other sites. Rachel is a graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art who had focused on textiles. Other presenters at the event included: Dan Barrera (BHS Class of 2013), a sophomore at Becker College focusing on Interactive Media and Game Design; Elizabeth Johnson, a senior at Framingham State studying Fashion Merchandising; Daniel Fitzpatrick (BHS Class of 2003), a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design working as the User Experience Developer at Smashify Technologies; Gamuchirai Dhliwayo (BHS Class of 2013), in her sophomore year at Massachusetts College of Art and Design majoring in Graphic Design; Anesu Dhliwayo, a graduate of the Boston Architectural College. She is a designer at LAB (labarchitecturegroup.com) who is working toward becoming a registered architect; Jen Vachon, a graduate of Syracuse University working in architectural design at Isgenuity, Michael Guleserian, a freshman at Lasell College majoring in graphic design and working as a freelance graphic designer of logos; and Marissa Cote (BHS Class of 2013), who shared the experiences of her sophomore year at School of the Art Institute of Technology (SAIC). Exemplifying the connections that are made during the event, later in the year alumnus filmmaker Cris Magliozzi contacted the department about the need for an intern at his organization, Harvard’s metaLAB. A very interested recent alumnus and a current student were both put in touch with Cris about the internship. Ms. Christina Chang, Burlington High School art teacher, organized the event. Project Linus
Burlington High School Art Club students created nine blankets that were donated to Project Linus, an organization that delivers new handmade blankets to any child who may be in need of some extra comforting that only a beloved "blankie" can provide. We offer a worthwhile service opportunity for the benefit of children.
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We love bragging about our former students. It is a delight and pleasure to see and learn from them after they graduate and move on to exciting careers. Dan Ricardelli is a designer at the architecture firm Bergmeyer and Associates. Dan is busy completing his required hours as a designer and taking his exams and will become a registered architect in the near future. Bergmeyer graciously hosted a 20+ architecture and design students to visit his firm and learn about his career as an architect.
Dan gave a tour to the students of the resource library at Bergmeyer. He gave a wonderful presentation explaining his path from Burlington High School to Northeastern University and then to his current job, and answered students’ questions about the field of architecture. Collab
The work of several of our students was published in Collab, the high school’s magazine of writing and art, and in The Marble Collection, Massachusetts High School Magazine of the Arts.
The high school’s English department congratulated two students for their victories in Collab’s two sub-contests. For the past three years, the top entry from a member of the junior class has become the artwork that the English Department features on its custom-printed British Literature textbook, which gets distributed to over 250 students. Similarly, the top entry from a sophomore has become the cover image for the next American Literature textbook. This year, the top entry from a junior was a photograph by Stephanie O’Neill. The top entry from a sophomore was a photograph by Jordan Dalla Santa. Also, having put its website through its annual renovation, Collab’s web header featured some of the other artwork that was also selected for publication in its 2015 edition. The Marble Collection - Winter Edition
Nineteen of the fifty-nine pieces in the winter edition of the Marble Collection were by current Burlington students. Burlington students who had either writing or artwork published in the issue included:
The four images from Julia Feist were taken in the Marshall Simonds Middle School Photo Club and the photography summer program run by Laura Phillips and Sue Rogers. In addition, two photographs in the book were taken by former Burlington students from Marshall Simonds MIddle School: A Day on the Train, by Jordan Casaubon was taken in the summer photography program of Marshall Simonds Middle School. Jordan is now a ninth grade student at Shawsheen Technical High School. Caneman, by Emily Marquis, was taken in Boston on a field trip during the middle school’s Photo Club. Emily is now a student at Concord Academy. The Marble Collection (TMC), Massachusetts High School Magazine of the Arts is the only statewide print and online magazine of the arts, featuring jury-selected artwork, photography, spoken word, poetry, and writing by students in grades 8 to 12. TMC also offers innovative e-Mentoring workshops that partner teen writers and artists with college-level mentors who help them refine their voices and guide their work to publication. The Marble Collection’s mission is to cultivate creativity and excellence in the arts by engaging teen artists and writers in a publication process that affirms their voices and deepens learning. TMC is primarily a non-profit publication featuring high school level work, so once again, it is amazing that MSMS has been well-represented with published work. Older issues of the magazine, which also include the work of Burlington students, are available for free online viewing at http://themarblecollection.org . |
Sixth Congressional District Art Competition
The work of the following Burlington High School art students was on display in the 2015 Massachusetts Sixth Congressional District Art Competition: Kevin Cardoso, Rachel Carlino, Briana LoRusso, Julia Roussell, Lily Zenkin, and Anne Zhang.
A digital art piece by Kevin Cardoso, Grade 12, entitled “Broken Reality”, was selected as Best of School for Burlington High School. Rachel Carlino, Grade 10, earned an Honorable Mention for her work, “Pink”. The exhibit included 120 pieces from 26 different high schools and one home-schooled submission. The exhibition was on display from Wednesday, March 4 to Friday, March 6 from 3-7pm. The awards were presented Saturday, March 7 by U.S. Representative Seth Moulton at Montserrat College of Art’s 301 Gallery, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly. The exhibit was on display Wednesday, March 4 - Saturday, March 7 at the 301 Gallery, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly. The exhibition was juried by Artist Judy Schmid and Artist Lee Essex Doyle. It was open to high school students from public and private schools within the 6th District of Massachusetts, as well as high school students home-schooled within the district. Each winner was presented with a citation from Congressman Moulton and varying levels of scholarships to Montserrat’s Summer Pre-College Program. The work by the five BHS students will now be on display at Burlington High School’s 42nd annual art exhibition on March 19. Youth Art Month Exhibition
In March and April, the work of the following students was on display at the Massachusetts Art Education Association’s Youth Art Month Exhibition, which honors young artists from grades K through 12 from across Massachusetts. The multi- media exhibit was sponsored by the Massachusetts Art Education Association (MAEA) in conjunction with Youth Art Month, a national celebration that emphasizes the value of art education for all children and encourages support for the quality art programs in our schools.
From Burlington High School: Abbey Hogan, Teneisha Mytil, Samantha Sheppard, James Cirrone, and Stephanie O’Neill. , The YAM show honors young artists from grades K through 12 from across Massachusetts From Marshall Simonds Middle School: (8th Grade) Sarah Owens, Gati Aher, Neil Pandit, Erin Kerr, and Alison Martin; (7th Grade) Nicole Keddy, Abby Fernell, Madison Green, and Analicia Padilla; (6th Grade) Angela Minichiello There were over 600 works of art on display grades K-12 submitted by 135 art teachers, representing close to 60 cities and towns from across Massachusetts. Class field trips to the show could be arranged by contacting Tim O'connor and John Michael Gray at [email protected] . The exhibition was open to the public from March 9 until April 24. A family reception was held on Sunday, March 22. Sargent Art Outstanding Achievement Award
The 2015 Youth Art Month family celebration, sponsored by the Mass. Art Educators Association, was held on Sunday, March 22nd at the State Transportation Building in Boston. Students from 63 school districts throughout Massachusetts in Grades K-8 were selected by their art teachers to exhibit work (each educator was limited to just 5 pieces of artwork, including Ms. Phillips’ art classes and Ms. Rogers’ Photo Clubbers ). Congratulations to all students whose work was selected for the exhibit. Special recognition goes to Marshall Simonds 8th grader, Gati Aher, who was selected for the Sargent Art Oustanding Achievement Award for her cultural self-portrait. Gati’s prize package includes an all-expense paid trip for her and a parent (AND her art teacher) to NYC, including airfare, hotel, transportation, and museum visits.
The other nine MSMS student artists included Alison Martin, Erin Kerr, Angela Minichiello, Nicole Keddy, Analicia Padilla, Neil Pandit, Sarah Owens, Abby Fennell and Madison Green. Ms. Laura Phillips, Ms. Susan Russo Rogers, the young artists and their parents attended the family celebration to support the children and the visual arts. BHS 42nd Annual Art Exhibition, 3rd Annual Fashion Show and 2nd Annual Raffle for the Arts
The opening reception for Burlington High School's 42nd Annual Art Exhibition was held on Thursday, March 19, from 6:30 until 8:30 pm, which was also the night of the high school's Open House. Hundreds of pieces of work from all art classes were on display in the high school library and main lobby. The show was up until the second week of April, but this was the only night that the exhibition was open to the general public.
Also that night, the Fashion Design class hosted its third annual Fashion Show in the lower library. Cambridge Street Gallery, across from the school's cafeteria, was open that night. On display was an art installation by students in Ms. Christina Chang's Drawing and Painting class. Representative Kenneth Gordon, State Representative Twenty-First Middlesex District, attended the event and presented a Citation of Excellence for the Massachusetts House of Representatives to the Burlington High School Art Department in recognition of its exemplary faculty and gifted students in achieving excellence in art. Posters for the event were created by students in Mr. Keith March-Mistler's Digital Publishing class. The second annual Raffle of the Arts, a fundraiser for the Burlington High School Art Department Scholarship Fund, was a huge success. Prizes were generously donated by Salem Five Bank, and include a Nikon D3100 dSLR camera, a 3D Doodler 3D Printing Pen, and a Kindle Fire HD. The raffle was a fundraiser for the department’s scholarship fund, which provides awards for graduating seniors enrolling in art, design, photography and architecture programs in college. The drawing was held at the high school’s 42nd annual art exhibition (and 3rd annual fashion show) on March 19 at 8 pm. In addition to the corporate sponsorship of Salem Five Bank, the department also received donations from b.Good and Tuscan Kitchen restaurants for the scholarship fund. Field Trip to The Museum of Modern Art, New York City
This year Ms. Djordjevic and Mr. Mistler escorted forty-nine fantastic high school art students on a trip to MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art) and the galleries in Soho, NYC. It was one very long day of travel starting at 6:30am and ending at nearly 11pm, but every year it’s worth it to watch our students see art that they’ve studied in class and looked at on computer screens and actually have a chance to experience the works live and in-person. New York is host to some of the most incredible art museums in the world and that’s what prompted the BHS art department to start this annual field trip nearly a decade ago. The exhibits at MoMA are always impressive and this year we were able to see a lot of pop art (Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg), abstract expressionists including Pollock and Kandinsky, works by Van Gogh and Picasso, and many other amazing artists.
Photography students also went on their annual field trip to Boston in this Spring, from which they produce many great photos during the fourth term. Artist Residency: Arnie Casavant
Thanks to a generous grant from the Burlington Education Foundation, guest artist Arnie Casavant began an eight-week, eight-session residency with Ms. Chang’s Drawing and Painting students on Wednesday, April 15. Arnie Casavant is a landscape painter who worked with the students from April- June to create a series of landscapes. Students were treated to great demonstrations and lectures by Mr. Casavant. Mr. Casavant’s paintings were on exhibit in the high school’s Cambridge Street Gallery in April and May.
Here are the links to Ms. Chang's blog posts about Mr. Casavant’s residency:
At the end of his residency, students had this to say about the experience:
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Scholastic Art Awards Exhibition
From March 7 until March 15, BHS senior Anne Zhang’s drawings and the photographs of Marshall Simonds Middle School students Jordan Casaubon and Olivia Virgin were in an exhibition of this year’s Scholastic Art Awards Gold Key-winning work at 808 Gallery at Boston University (808 Commonwealth Avenue). The regional awards ceremony for Gold and Silver Key winners was held at the Regis Auditorium of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston on Saturday, March 7.
In addition to the Gold Key winning work listed above, Silver Keys and Honorable Mentions had been awarded to the following Marshall Simonds Middle School students at the annual Boston Globe Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition. At the high school level, Honorable Mentions were earned by:
Silver Keys were earned by:
Two Gold Keys went to Anne Zhang, for two pieces in the Drawing and Illustration category. At the middle school level, Honorable Mentions were earned by:
Silver Keys were earned by:
Gold Keys went to:
In addition, Jordan Casaubon was selected as a nominee for the American Visions & Voices Award for a photograph entitled Train Ride. This nomination is exceedingly rare, as only five pieces of artwork and five pieces of written work are nominated every year, and Scholastic receives over 15,000 submissions per year in Massachusetts. Jordan and the other four nominees will have their work forwarded on to the national American Visions & Voices competition to determine the very best in art submissions this year, and the national winners will be announced in mid-March. Burlington’s award winners were selected from more 16,000 pieces of art and writing submitted to the Massachusetts Regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! At the national level, regional Gold Key works were advanced to be judged for gold or silver medals. Last year, Marshall Simonds Middle School was honored to have Benny Grubner’s work receive a National Gold Medal and his work was also selected to travel throughout the country in the national exhibit, Art Now. About the Competition The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have existed since 1923 and the contest affords students across the country the opportunity to be recognized for their talents. Notable winners of these prestigious awards include Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, and Robert Redford. Judges look for originality, technical skill, and development of a personal voice and/or vision. At the regional level, students are selected to receive the Gold Key, the Silver Key, or Honorable Mention. Additionally, each state nominates five selected Gold Key level awards as American Visions & Voices Nominees to be further judged with the hope of achieving the distinction of “Best of Show”. From the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards website: (www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/artwriting.htm) The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards began as a small writing contest with a $5 prize and six winning applicants in 1923. Today, more than 90,000 teens in grades 7 through 12 from around the nation annually submit more than 185,000 works of art and writing in 28 categories. Winning students earn opportunities for recognition, exhibition, publication and scholarships. The Awards, now presented by the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, not only celebrate the rich future of artistic America, but also document its past. The program has been credited with identifying early talent in generations of America’s cultural icons, including Truman Capote (1932), Richard Avedon (1941), Andy Warhol (ca. 1945), Sylvia Plath (1947), Robert Redford (1954) and Zac Posen (1998), each of whom won the award when they were in high school...Richard Avedon called winning his Scholastic Award, "the defining moment of my life." Selected images of award-winning work from Burlington High School can be found at this link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9vYVHeQSo2HfmdvMVVkWlA1MXRBb3FOZkZkTUcwLWxJcFM1cFpYN2hOOUJ1cmMzWWd0VEE&usp=sharing Former BEAMer (now 9th grader at BHS), Olivia Virgin, received a National Silver Medal award in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards of 2015. Olivia’s photograph, entitled “Uncle Henry” was taken while she was an 8th grade BEAM student and member of the MSMS Photo Club. Winning a Gold Key at the State level, “Uncle Henry” was sent onward to NYC, where “he” received a Silver Medal! Congratulations to Olivia, her family, and of course, Uncle Henry!
The Marble Collection - Spring Edition
Several Burlington students were selected for publication in the Spring edition of The Marble Collection: Massachusetts High School Magazine of the Arts Spring 2015 (http://themarblecollection.org), the only statewide print and online magazine of the arts featuring jury-selected artwork, writing, and spoken word poetry & storytelling video by students in grades 8 to 12.
Of the sixty students whose work was published in the magazine, twelve were from the Burlington school district.
Published works were selected from teen submissions from 200 schools and community organizations across Massachusetts. All published works are juror-selected to ensure artistic excellence. Through this selective process, The Marble Collection strives to publish the most diverse and acclaimed collection of work. All published teen artists and writers had the opportunity to participate with TMC’s free Student Mentoring Workshop, in which they are partnered with college student mentors who help them refine their voices and guide their work to publication. The Marble Collection: Massachusetts High School Magazine of the Arts was released in May 2015. Spring Exhibitions
All the elementary art teachers held their annual school art exhibitions in May, sharing the wonderful work of all their young artists with their wider school communities. To deepen communication with parents, Ms. Courtney Fallon integrated QR codes into her Arts Night show so that viewers of each work ccould see video explanations of the projects on display. Ms. Fallon has been using QR codes for certain activities and events over the past two years. Ms. Donna York organized the Memorial School art show around the theme of “America the Beautiful.” Mr. Stephen Scarpulla, Ms. Fallon, Mrs. Carol Finkle, and Ms. Betty Kerr collaborated with their colleagues in music during these Fine Arts Nights.
At the middle school, Ms. Dearden, Ms. Phillips, and Ms. Baldwin used their school’s Open House as an opportunity to share the work of their students in mini-exhibitions in their classrooms. |
Landscape Painting Exhibition at Mercedes-Benz
In June, the community room of Burlington’s new Mercedes-Benz dealership was the location of a Burlington High School exhibition. The Drawing and Painting students exhibited their landscape paintings and guest artist Arnie Casavant also exhibited a painting. The reception was held on the evening of Monday, June 15 in the the community space of the dealership. Wegman’s donated food for the event.
Much thanks to Lauren Vigneau for designing the poster for the exhibition. Alumnus Lauren Vigneau Shares Her Talents
Gifts come to the BHS Art Department in many ways. This year it came to us as a simple job filled by permanent substitute teacher Lauren Vigneau. We were fortunate this year to have our very our former student return as a substitute teacher. Lauren's daily tasks varied as she subbed for different teachers throughout the building on a daily basis.
This was the perfect fit for Lauren who is earning her Master’s Degree in Art Education. Of course the art teachers all love it when Lauren is our sub because she engages all of our students in wonderful ways. Colleague Keith Mistler said: "Lauren has been such a wonderful addition to the art department at BHS. She loves subbing for my classes and my students like to ask for her artistic opinion. I know she will be an amazing art teacher with much to offer!" Lauren studied at The New England Institute of Art, where she earned her Bachelor in Graphic Design. Her website Birchnine shows her extensive design work and talents. Since Lauren is a designer, Ms. Chang asked her if she would share her talents and create the postcard for the student art exhibition being held at the new Mercedes Benz dealership. Lauren gleefully volunteered her time and created this great poster and postcard. Lauren also jumped on board when she was asked to help out with a logo and signage for the new Maker Studio that Ms. Chang’s architecture students were creating for the their client teacher and technology specialist Jenn Scheffer. The Maker Studio is a new space in the high school library where students can go to create and experiment. The new space needed an identity and definitive logo. Lauren created the logos and designs for the space. She then create a wonderful lesson for the architecture students. They critiqued the work with her and she explained the design process, print process and presented the ideas. The students gave feedback and worked with the client to create the final design. The Marble Collections Top 10 Submissions
Congratulations to Tatiana Hawkins for her recent photo “Can you see me?” which was selected to be featured in this June’s “Top 10 Submissions” on The Marble Collection’s website! Each month, The Marble Collection chooses 10 submissions to be featured on their magazine’s homepage. Tatiana’s work was selected from teen submissions from over 200 schools and community groups across the state.
The Marble Collection’s website can be found at: http://themarblecollection.org/magazine/top-10/art/can-you-see-me/ |
Portfolio Exhibition
Also that month, our AP Studio Art and Portfolio classes held the reception for the 9th Annual Portfolio Exhibition on Wednesday, May 6, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. The Exhibition coincided with the Music Department's annual Spring Concert, which began at 7:30 in the school’s auditorium.
The Portfolio Exhibition differed from Burlington High’s other Annual Art Exhibition (which occurred in March) in that it was predominantly student-organized. Juniors and seniors in the advanced art classes self-selected the work to be displayed, they organized their own personal exhibit spaces, and they were all on hand to discuss the bodies of work they had developed over the past year or more. One long-term effort from each student was on display: Each artist had been working on a Concentration, a series of artworks focused on a particular theme or method, with learning objectives developed by the student. Visitors were able to speak to the artists about their goals and their processes. Lord & Taylor's Charity Day
The BHS Fashion class sold tickets to Lord & Taylor's first annual Charity Day on Saturday, May 2, where they showcased their fashions. Each student in the Fashion Design class exhibited her best design. Charity Day is run by Lord & Taylor and is set up to benefit women's health organizations. Thank you to Rose Meade and Donna Gibson from Lord & Taylor (and Ms. Deacon from BHS) for helping to make this happen.
Middlesex County Arson Watch Poster Contest Winner Gati Aher
Congratulations to Marshall Simonds Middle School 8th grade art student Gati Aher who received second place in this years State 2015 Arson Watch poster contest. Gati took first place in the Middlesex County competition, winning $200 and a plaque. Her second place in the State competition earned her an additional $500 and a trophy. Gati’s artwork will be featured in the 2016 Arson Watch calendar.
Middle School Art and Photography Field Trip
Marshall Simonds Middle School 7th and 8th grade students from Photo Club, Activity Block and art class embarked on a walking scavenger hunt throughout Boston yesterday. The trip began in Chinatown where students walked through the streets toward Beacon Hill, the Common, up past TD Garden, down Prince Street and onto Hanover Street in the North End. The trip ended with lunch at Quincy Market. Below are a few of the great images students were able to capture. To view more images visit: https://msmsbeam.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/msms-photography-trip-a-huge-success/
Scholastic Art Awards National Ceremony
The 2015 National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards winners, accompanied by their families and teachers, were honored at Carnegie Hall on Thursday, June 11, 2015 for their artistic achievements by Whoopi Goldberg, Matthew Morrison, Jennifer McAllister (jennxpenn), Michelle Tan, Donald Lipski, and Chelsea Clinton. Marshall Simonds Middle School was represented by Olivia Virgin, who received a Silver Key for her photograph entitled “Uncle Henry”. Olivia’s was one of only sixteen photographs selected from Massachusetts.
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Projects for the School and Community
As part of the final project for Introduction to Architecture, students were challenged with redesigning a space in the school. This year the class was assigned the Art Department office, which now includes a teacher’s lounge area/conference space. Introduction to Architecture students also worked on the Maker Space in the high school’s library, collaborating with technology specialist Jenn Scheffer.
Mr. Keith March-Mistler’s Digital Publishing students designed the yearbook cover, the covers for the high school’s program of studies and the athletic booster club program, the BHS senior class logo, the playbill and poster design for the school musical, a brochure for the Burlington Disability Access Commission, the logo for Francis Wyman Elementary School, graphics for the annual BEF road race, posters for the high school’s art exhibition, graphic designs for the floor of the high school’s gym, and fliers for the town’s annual Independence Day parade. The juniors in the Portfolio class painted a mural to be installed in the Burlington Early Childhood Center (preschool) foyer. Snapchat Geofilter for Burlington by Web Design Students
Snapchat recently unveiled a new feature -- create your own geofilter! On the suggestion of sophomore Riley Gilberg, Mr. Keith Mistler gave the assignment to his web design classes. Snapchat has strict guidelines to follow, but students did a great job with their designs. We brainstormed what made Burlington a good town to live in, and also looked at Burlington imagery.
What is a Snapchat geofilter? Snapchat allows its users to take and send photographs to friends that will be viewed for up to 10 seconds. Snapchat allows you to use location-based filters. For example, you will see a different geofilter if you are in Billerica than the design in Burlington. The denial emails from snapchat were a bit harsh but eye-opening for students. But in the end, sophomore Ed Stanton's design was a winner! His design is modern, hip, and relevant. So if you are ever in Burlington, Massachusetts, take a snapchat and slide on over to Ed's geofilter. College Art Majors
Brenna Tedesco will be majoring in Illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Samantha Sheppard plans on majoring in graphic design or creative advertising at Savannah College of Art and Design. Abigail Hogan will be majoring in Fashion Design and Production next year. She most likely will be attending Lasell College, but another option for her is Framingham State. Kailee Abeshaus will be attending Cornell University and majoring in Fiber Science & Apparel Design. Tristan Squeri will be majoring in Graphic Design at Mt. Ida College, with a possible minor in Game Design and Animation. Trevor Arsenault will be majoring in Graphic Design at UMass Lowell. Daniel Connolly will be majoring in Graphic Design at Endicott. Allison Oliver will be majoring in Marketing and minoring in Graphic Design at Endicott. Matthew Chan is going to UMASS Lowell, currently as Undeclared Liberal Arts, but he states there's a high chance he’ll be going into art, possibly graphic design. Daniel Blouin is majoring in graphic design at Middlesex Community College. Keri Cucinotta is minoring in photography at University of New Hampshire (and maybe majoring in Art Therapy). Kelliann Keaney plans on majoring in Teaching and minoring in Photography or Graphic Design at Assumption College. Teachers
This year Sarah Baldwin joined our ranks. Ms. Baldwin had this to say about her background and teaching goals for Marshall Simonds Middle School this year:
“I am excited to be teaching art here at Marshall Simonds! This will be my first year in Burlington but my tenth year teaching; I recently moved back to Massachusetts from Maryland, where I taught grades 7-12 art at the Jemicy School, a small school for students with dyslexia outside of Baltimore. Previously, I also taught Art and English at the Chapel Hill Chauncy Hall School in Waltham, MA. My teaching career has also included coaching a variety of sports including rock climbing, field hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse. “This year, my art students will be expanding and fine-tuning their skills with a variety of materials in the art room. One of my main goals is to get students to realize that making successful art is about practicing a set of learnable skills, and that anyone can be an artist. Art is not something that just a select few are capable of; time and practice will allow any individual to make effective art. Currently, my students in all grades are broadening their repertoire of drawing skills–the 6th graders are learning about shading and drawing from observation, the 7th graders are gaining the skills needed to make portraits, and the 8th graders are learning about linear perspective while making drawings of interior spaces. As the year progresses, they will continue to develop skills with paint, clay, and other materials while also exploring techniques for conveying ideas in the art they make. I’m looking forward to getting to know students, teachers, and families in the Burlington community throughout the year!” Ms. Christina Chang participated as a judge in the selection of a poster design for this year’s poster contest co-sponsored by Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. and Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. Students living or attending school in Middlesex County were invited to submit poster designs on the topic “I’m Worth More” which includes being in a healthy relationship, standing up to peer pressure, celebrating differences, and demonstrating self-respect and respect for others. The judging took place in January in the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office in Woburn. In March and April, Mr. Ratkevich worked with other art and music directors from throughout Massachusetts on creating “crosswalks” to align the new National Core Arts Standards (NCAS) with content from the 19999 Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Frameworks (MACF). On Saturday, March 28, Ms. Christina Chang and English teacher Ms. Judy Crossman brought our “Creative Minds of Burlington” to the fourth annual Tenacity Team Challenge at Bedford High School. The Tenacity Team Challenge is an academic team scholarship competition for Latino and African American students, and it is sponsored by the Greater Boston Students of Color Achievement, METCO, Inc., METCO Directors Association, and Bedford High School. It is an inter-district competition involving high schools from the Greater Boston area. Teams prepared collaboratively to compete in four events: Science/Math Knowledge Quiz Bowl; Literature and Film Analysis; Social Studies Argument; and Artistic Tenacity Banner. More information can be found at: www.tenacitychallenge2015.com . The students on the Burlington High School team were Souleiman Benhida, John Francis Hornicek, Julian Lechner, Jovan Sematimba, Eric Kaweesa , and Gianni Newman. Ms. Chang was awarded a Ruth Halvorsen Professional Development Grant from the Board of Trustees of the National Art Education Foundation to attend the Art New England Summer Workshop through Massachusetts College of Art. At the high school, Ms. Lexi Djordjevic serves as the advisor of the Photography Club. Mr. Keith March Mistler serves as co-advisor for the school’s yearbook. Mrs. Joanne Vigneau continues to serve as an assistant softball coach. Ms. Christina Chang continues to serve as the advisor for Students for Asian Cultural Awareness and advises the Art Club. Ms. Laura Phillips, with Marshall Simonds Middle School teacher Susan Russo-Rogers, co-advised the Photography Club at Marshall Simonds, and also ran a Photography camp at the middle school this summer, which they are running again this summer. Ms. Phillip’s and Ms. Russo-Rogers’ popular camp has filled up for this summer. At Francis Wyman, Ms. Betty Kerr has greatly appreciated the help of Shabari Khaire, a former art teacher from Mumbai, India, who is volunteering with Grade 3, 4, and 5. Philosophy
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Weaving Workshop by Alumnus Marissa Cote
The fashion class was visited by artist Marissa Cote (Class of 2013). Mr. Mistler was thrilled to have our former student back at BHS, switching her role from student to teacher. Marissa taught the fashion design students how to weave on homemade looms. She brought in a variety of materials to weave with (leather, felt, fabric, ribbon, and yarn, to name a few). The workshop was a complete success; Marissa was a natural teacher.
Marissa graduated from BHS in 2013. The Burlington community may remember Marissa as the star of the BHS musical production "Hairspray." During her time here at BHS, Marissa took many art courses and designed the 2013 yearbook cover. She went on to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for almost two years. There, Marissa expanded her creativity and conceptual designs. Today, Marissa has decided to transfer to another school and focus on fiber or textile design. BHS Art in the News: How Do You Feel About Standardized Testing?
Drawing and Painting students in grades 10-12 were asked to create art describing how they FEEL about standardized tests. Ms. Christina Chang gave the students some old scantron sheets and offered drawing and painting materials. Ms. Chang’s blog post on the project was picked up by the Huffington Post and the Washington Post.
Cambridge Street Gallery
The year saw a few exhibitions in the high school’s art gallery. Cambridge Street Gallery is committed to providing exhibition space to BHS alumni artists, community members, students, and faculty. Exhibits included the drawings and paintings of Anne Zhang, Class of 2015, an installation by students in the Drawing & Painting class, a student printmaking exhibition, the paintings of guest artist Arnie Casavant, and dresses by the Fashion Design class. The gallery is contained in Burlington High School and is located across from the cafeteria.
BHS Art Department Scholarships
Brenna Tedesco was selected by the BHS art faculty to receive this year’s Vickie Graham award. Brenna will be majoring in Illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. The Vickie Graham award is a scholarship generously funded by the family of former BHS art student Vickie Graham. Brenna also was selected to receive the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Book Award at the high school’s annual junior book award ceremony.
There were three BHS Art Department Scholarships given this year. The $400 awards were given to these students, who plan on pursuing degrees in one of the visual arts: Samantha Sheppard will be majoring in graphic design or creative advertising at Savannah College of Art and Design. Abigail Hogan will be majoring in Fashion Design and Production next year. She most likely will be attending Lasell College, but another option for her is Framingham State. Kailee Abeshaus will be attending Cornell University and majoring in Fiber Science & Apparel Design. The BHS Artistic Development Award, a $400 award to a student who has distinguished himself or herself with continuous and consistent artistic growth and development, was given to Daniel Connolly. Dan is planning on majoring in Graphic Design at Endicott. Facilities
The high school’s new darkroom, built last year, and the new studio for the fashion design class are proving to be great additions to the high school art program. Two Macintosh labs at the high school continue to provide students with exciting possibilities in the computer graphics field. The Digital Arts, Graphic Design, Digital Publishing and Web Design courses continue to utilize the equipment and graphics programs, and a good percentage of the photography curriculum gets taught in the labs. Many of the works created in the labs go on to publication as posters, banners, and program covers for the graduation ceremony, the school musical, and the high school’s Program of Studies. Several of the artworks that earned recognition in the Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards were created in this lab. Classes continue to use the Makerbot 3D printer that was funded last year through a grant from the Burlington Education Foundation.
Family Show: Retired BHS Art Teachers
In May, retired Burlington High School art teachers Lorraine Sullivan and Philip Young, along with their daughter Jessie Young (an art teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin), had a family art exhibition at the Atrium Gallery of the State Transportation Building in Boston.
Professional Development
Art teachers dedicated many hours of professional development to the development and trial implementation of District-Determined Measures, as well as to learning new techniques in printmaking. Ms. Christina Chang took a class in AP Portfolio Course Development at School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Other art teachers, including Ms. Betty Kerr, Mrs. Joanne Vigneau, Mr. Keith Mistler, Ms. Chang, and Ms. Lexi Djordjevic, enrolled in professional development opportunities from Teachers as Scholars, Primary Source, which promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world, the Art of Ed (online), and Initiatives for Developing Equity and Achievement for Students (IDEAS), a merger of two past EDCO programs – Empowering Multicultural Initiatives (EMI) and Greater Boston Students of Color Achievement Network (GBSOCAN). This year, Burlington is offering EMI/ IDEAS district- training for faculty and classes.
Summer Art Studio for Educators
Ms. Christina Chang will be running our first summer art studio for educators this July. It is free for all public school teachers. In the four-day studio workshop, participants will find their inner artists and develop a variety of skills. Activities and projects will change from day to day, and they will include drawing, painting, printmaking, and the use of different media. This workshop is appropriate for all levels, from those who have little or no experience to veteran artists and art educators, who can use the time for their own personalized artistic development using the classroom's equipment. As time allows, educators can discuss how to apply art skills and content to standards-based learning on other topics in the regular classroom setting.
Friends of the Burlington High School Art Department
The Friends of the Burlington High School Art Department, a booster club headed by parent volunteer Rosalyn Minassian, organized a number of activities and events throughout the school year, which included a few fall fundraisers and a raffle to raise funds for the department’s scholarship fund for graduating seniors enrolling in art, design, photography and architecture programs in college. The drawing was held at the high school’s 42nd annual art exhibition (and 3rd annual fashion show) in March. Mrs. Minassian enrolled several corporate sponsors in our efforts, including Salem Five Bank, Panera, b.good, Orange Leaf, and Macy’s. The money raised went to fund four $400 scholarships for graduating seniors this year.
On the Web
The department’s web presence has become stronger than ever. All high school teachers and many of the elementary and middle school teachers have their own blogs and websites that they use to teach students and to share student work and art-related events. The high school also has its own website, www.burlingtonhighschoolart.org, and a facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/burlingtonhighschoolart . The district art department has a website to be used as a resource for teachers in lesson planning, curriculum development, and evaluation: http://bpsk12art.weebly.com . More details on the activities and events noted in this report may be found on one of these sites, or on individual teachers’ blogs:
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Art is universal and diverse. It's present in the design of a chair, on a movie screen, in town squares and in city museums. It can be functional, spiritual, beautiful, and expressive at the same time. Visual imagery is one of the most basic forms of communication, a universal language that can be understood across cultures and generations. Long before the written word, there was the drawn, painted, or sculpted image. Art is a record of our culture, and a bridge between the past and present. It gives us a handle on who we are right now, and on what we might become. It helps us to recognize and appreciate the content and beauty of the world around us, and, in so doing, art strengthens the bond between the self and the world.
Art-making addresses the need to create which is part of the human experience. It engages higher levels of learning through promotion of decision-making, aesthetic and emotional response, and through investigation, interpretation, imagination and problem-solving. Art is a means of self-expression, and one which the individual may find more accessible and friendlier than other avenues. It may be used in combination with these other avenues to clarify, elaborate on, and strengthen the communication of a position or feeling.
The school art room is a forum for testing new ideas, and an environment in which the student has much control over his/her learning experience. Art gives the student limitless opportunities to challenge oneself, and encourages constant self-evaluation. This kind of learning is integral to true self-awareness, to understanding ourselves and to discovering our potential.
With this philosophy in mind, it is our aim to foster the intellectual, emotional, and social growth of our students through continuous, structured, and sequential learning in the visual arts. At the high school level, we connect a study of art history with studio work to enhance the understanding of both. Our teaching methods involve presentation and discussion on relevant artists, art periods and styles. After tackling similar problems in their own class work, students participate in a class evaluation of student work, reinforcing the connection between aesthetics, art criticism, art history, and the students' own art production.
Art-making addresses the need to create which is part of the human experience. It engages higher levels of learning through promotion of decision-making, aesthetic and emotional response, and through investigation, interpretation, imagination and problem-solving. Art is a means of self-expression, and one which the individual may find more accessible and friendlier than other avenues. It may be used in combination with these other avenues to clarify, elaborate on, and strengthen the communication of a position or feeling.
The school art room is a forum for testing new ideas, and an environment in which the student has much control over his/her learning experience. Art gives the student limitless opportunities to challenge oneself, and encourages constant self-evaluation. This kind of learning is integral to true self-awareness, to understanding ourselves and to discovering our potential.
With this philosophy in mind, it is our aim to foster the intellectual, emotional, and social growth of our students through continuous, structured, and sequential learning in the visual arts. At the high school level, we connect a study of art history with studio work to enhance the understanding of both. Our teaching methods involve presentation and discussion on relevant artists, art periods and styles. After tackling similar problems in their own class work, students participate in a class evaluation of student work, reinforcing the connection between aesthetics, art criticism, art history, and the students' own art production.