Fall 2018
Classroom Teacher: Marsha Rosenthal
Teaching-Artist: Joyce Millman
Northeast High School students explored abstraction in art through drawing, analog photography and Japanese paste-paper techniques. The residency began with students selecting natural objects such as shells, pinecones and leaves and making a drawing of their object. Students then made a second drawing, experimenting with balance, value and texture in order to create an abstract version of their initial drawing. During a class discussion, students reported that viewing the “transformation” drawings gave everyone a chance to see the creativity of each student. They then constructed small books that contained their abstract drawings. They used a Japanese paste-paper technique to create monoprints, which became their book covers. The class was introduced to Jasper Johns’ and Jackson Pollock’s layering and abstraction techniques, which they used as inspiration to create paintings. Different mark-making techniques resulted in a variety of textures in each painting. In the end, a collaborative group project resulted in all of the students’ paintings being mounted together to create one large, gridded composition.