Studio Arts at FHS
Emily Riedman
Culminating events provide you with an opportunity to look back and realize how much we have done.
I had the opportunity to present all of the work done by FHS students in my Visual Arts studio E & F blocks and from the integrated arts curriculums done in Emily Haines’s and Ed Sugden’s Humanities classes on the 10th of February at the Center for Tolerance Education as part of Working Playground’s Winter Arts Festival. There has been so much work produced that the task of creating a presentation to tie it all together seemed daunting. I came out with 100 slides of incredible work that I compiled into a chronological presentation displayed digitally on my laptop (including these).
Throughout the semester, we have been working on the theme of identity, a hard subject for ninth graders—and admittedly for adults, too. Artists have been struggling with representing this very theme for generations. The studio class began with the study of symbols and representation. We looked at how specific font types are used to convey meaning, we looked at logos from different types of organizations, and we discussed how color and shape evoke certain feelings or emotions. We also talked about messages within the community. Looking at graffiti and public art, students designed stylized words representing the type of community they hope to create within the Facing History School. Some photos of this work can be seen here.
Other works included collage representing cultural or historical influences on our identity, student’s current physical appearances and future goals or values. We used the structure of a tree, allowing for an organic connection to be made between the different aspects. In another piece, students created personal superhero harems, which included layers of actual photographs of the students, a logo symbolizing who they are or who they can be and a super-imposed illustration of their desired self as a fantastical character. Students then took these characters and created a linear narrative, placing themselves into a story to explain why and when they might need to take on this fantastical identity.
For the Working Playground presentation, Ebony M., James F. and Stephanie H., along with music teacher Harold Akyeampong and I traveled to D.U.M.B.O in Brooklyn (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), leaving Facing History at 4:30 and arriving at 5:30. The students got to experience rush-hour traffic on the West Side highway, passing the Intrepid, helicopters, the Statue of Liberty, gridlock at the Holland Tunnel and the bustle of Chinatown as we made our way across to the Brooklyn Bridge! We finally made it, on time of course, and the night was only beginning.
There was a full agenda of politically charged performances, risqué spoken word, voyeuristic as well as bilingual video projects, eccentric African Dance, claymation animations and photojournalism at its best. Ebony, James and Stephanie were in for a long night, and though I was recovering from the simple task of getting them to the event safely and promptly, it was on to new obsessions—I was concerned with them falling asleep or growing ravished and uneasy…
My worries did not even faze the three of them. They jumped right on the drums as soon as we got inside, which lead to the immediate formation of a fan club. All eyes were on them, their energy, enthusiasm and perseverance was infectious. Stephanie and I were the first to go, representing the visual arts component of their work. I babbled on about what was supposed to happen during each project and what the results were, what mediums and processes we used, etc. I had encouraged Stephanie to jump in whenever she saw her work. Well, without any hesitation, as if we rehearsed a million times, she spoke in a concise and professional manner.
Stephanie spoke about feeling confident after creating the tree collage. She associated “art” with drawing and imagined being crippled by only knowing how to draw stick figures. She hadn’t ever worked with collage before and created a beautiful, painterly and dynamic piece. At the event, she spoke about adding a black hole around an image of herself representing the fog that she often feels trapped in. Stephanie also talked about her superhero identity and accompanying narrative and described how she imagined becoming a princess by touching a thorn bush and having the chance to act as an enchantress spreading happiness and beauty by signing lullabies. Stephanie was also glad to get a chance to add writing to her work, which she feels is a more natural form of expression for her. The audience sat in awe and we felt it—finally—that sense of accomplishment. We were able to see serious and thoughtful statements being made throughout all of the work, skills progressing, and challenges being met.
During a questions and answer session, Ebony, Stephanie and James were asked how it felt to be up there performing. Then it turned out that everyone wanted drum lessons! Ebony, Stephanie and James also applauded and asked invigorating questions to the other student performers and gave great, uplifting feedback. Finally dinner was served, and after that I couldn’t get them to leave.
Although there were only a few students present, I felt that all of FHS was being represented. We were all inspired and motivated to go back to school and work even harder because there is a dialogue happening out there, and unless we express ourselves and make these connections, no one will be able to hear what we have to say.