Student work from my classes 2008-09 school year Also contains some of my own work at the end of the presentation

1. The following slides are from the Art classes at St. Thomas More
School in Oakdale Ct. The students at STM are all required to
participate in an Art class. During the school year of
2008/2009 the classes offered are Studio Art (drawing),
Printmaking, Sculpture, and Art Appreciation.
The students in any given class range from ninth grade to post
graduates. They come from all over the world. The domestic
students come from New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey,
Ohio, Texas, Arizona and California to name a few, and the
internationals students come from exotic places such as
China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Canada and Africa.
I hope you enjoy the following slides, the students worked very
hard and I am very proud of each and every one of them.

2. The Thinker 1902 by Auguste
Rodin
The students were given a history
lesson on The Thinker and
several other Rodin pieces of
work. Once they were able to
talk freely about the sculpture
they were asked to make their
own version of the Thinker.
They created an armature
from wire and newspaper,
they then used paper Mache’
to cover the base and their
thinker. Once the building was
complete they painted the
work to represent metal.

6. The students were given the
assignment of creating a
Noh mask based on a real
wood carved Noh Theater
mask. The student were
shown the traditional use of
the mask. They also
watched sections of a Noh
play and listened to the
music. The students were
then directed to use paper
Mache’ and a balloon to
form the basic shape and
work with more
applications of paper to
create facial features.

11. The sculpture students created several
different projects over the
semester. They were given a
material and then asked to go
look at different artist that worked
in that same material. Once the
students had some ideas they
were required to make several
drawing about the piece they
thought they were going to make.
Some students were able to stay
with their original ideas, other
found that they were unable to
achieve their original goal and
had to make adjustments.
The students worked in wire, foam
core board, and paper Mache’.

16. The students were all very excited
about the world of politics during
the first semester. To harness that
excitement they were given a
political assignment for their final.
Each student was asked to choice a
political topic that was important
to them. The ideas ranged from
the economy to the dividing line
in Korea. Each student had to
research their topic and bring in
several forms of information. They
then had to create several
drawing about the work they
wanted to produce. They then
created their work out of paper
Mache’
During the final exam each student
was required to give a five minute
speech on their work and to
answer questions on their topic.

25. The first semester drawing class
focused of drawing the still life.
The students work daily on
learning to draw what they
saw. The students were given
direction on how to draw and
were given examples of what
they were asked to do.
The students were also asked to
learn the language of
drawing.

33. Printmaking was a class were the
students were asked to learn a lot
about color and basic drawing.
The students learned about the
color wheel, how to mix colors on
their own and how to apply color
to different surfaces.
For the final project the students were
given a blank carving surface. The
students were then shown how to
carve the surface in the reverse.
Once the carving was complete
they were shown how to use a
traditional method of inking.
Their final grade was to produce a
stamped image in three different
ink colors, paying special
attention to the details and
producing a professional looking
print.

37. The second semester at STM
requires all art students to
change. The second semester
holds the same classes just
new material for the students
to learn.
I have tried very hard to not
repeat any project. I am
hoping that the new students
will convirce with the first
semester students to produce
new and exciting work.

38. Vincent’s Chair 1889
The art of Vincent Van Gogh is known world
wide. The students have seen it in one form or
another, so what a better way to start of the
new semester. The students have seen
several power point presentations and will be
seeing the movie Vincent. They have talked
about his work and his life in class and have
written a small summary of what they think of
his work. To further they enjoyment of the
great painter they are creating a paper
painting of they own based on his work. The
students were to find a painting that they
enjoyed and sketch it onto a large piece of
paper. They have now started to rip small
pieces of construction paper and apply it to
the large piece of paper in a painterly
fashion.

44. The current printmaking students are
working on making their very own
comic strip. Each students has
created a main character and his
supporting cast. They will be
required to produce a final strip
with five panels inked and
colored.
They will continue the semester by
looking into the art of political
comic strips and their impact on
the American newspaper.
Their final project will be to turn either
their comic strip character or one
of their political works into a
carved stamp. They will then be
required to take the stamp and
make a professional print.

48. The sculpture students have just
finished their first piece. They were
required to make a three
dimensional rendering of their own
head in wire.
I gave them several images to look at
as well as names of artist that
worked in wire.
The only requirement they had to
meet was to produce a wire in the
profile and one in the opposite
direction.

50. The drawing students this semester are
learning in the method of Betty
Edward. Her method has the most
return with the least amount of
effort.
The students are just finishing the pre
drawing section and are staring
the exercises showing them the
left to right brain shift.

53. The following images are from an
exersice where the students were
asked to draw Pablo Picasso’s
portrait of Igor Stravinsky upside
down.
The purpose of the exercise was to
help the students make the brain
shift from left brain to right brain.
The students were given a full hour to
work on the drawing. They were
asked to be very quiet and to not
turn the drawing right side up.
Most students needed the whole
hour and several did not finish.
Most said they felt confused at the
beginning but as they drawing
went on they found that they
were able to work will little
acknowledgement of their
surroundings.

56. The following images are my own
work. I have a real affinity for
political art. I hope that my work
provokes the viewer to ask “why”.
I work in many different mediums. I
currently am working with paper
mache. I also continue to draw
and do some illustrations.
I like for my students to see me
working. I feel that if I am going to
ask my students to do something I
should be able to do it with them.
I enjoy being behind my camera as
you will see. I currently am only
able to work with digital.