Radial Symmetry and Origami Square Creations at SOIT

At the School of Information Technology, students in Mrs. Simon's art classes studied radial symmetry, color theory, and origami to create original art works from folded paper.

First students observed the use of radial symmetry and color in contemporary art, viewing works by Portia Munson who creates dazzling photographs of flowers using radial symmetry and a skillful use of composition and color theory.

Above:  Photographs by Contemporary Artist Portia Munson

Origami Lotus Flower LINK

Students learned about Origami (折り紙,) from ori meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper”: the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture.  They learned that in origami, the goal is to transform a flat square of paper into a finished sculpture through precisely planned and executed folding techniques. Next, Ms. Simon's students researched the differences between formal balance, symmetrical balance, informal balance, and radial symmetry. Finally, they were ready to begin their art creations.  They were challenged to work within certain parameters:  they had to use 3 inch by 3 inch squares, and they could only use white and three colors.

Students developed their own folding methods and their own compositions, as in the examples at the right and below.  As in Portia Munson's works, students used a completely black background to add dramatic contrast to the other colors.

 

The cumulative effect of the students' work was magnificent!

In the course of this lesson students acquired an extensive new vocabulary: origami, formal balance, symmetrical balance, informal balance, radial symmetry, bilateral symmetry, fulcrum, space, pattern, aesthetics, contemporary art.

Black and White 2D Radial Symmetry Art at GOPA

At the School of Government, Mr. Jones continues to develop and implement his STEAM inspired art curriculum.  In a series of carefully planned and sequential art lessons, students in his class have produced a large number of artworks based on the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design that integrated concepts from STEM disciplines.

In the photo at the left, an art student carefully uses a ruler to create her composition in Mr. Jones' class.

Students created Zentangles, or drawings using black sharpies on white paper to explore the mathematical properties of patterns and proportions inherent in this drawing technique.  As they advanced through the work, they steadily developed the necessary vocabulary to describe it.

In the photo at the right, students learn about radial symmetry by using a light box to expand their hand-drawn images from a single quadrant to a complete circle.


The stunning results are displayed in Mr. Jones' classroom (see below). 

 

Mr. Jones also conducts classroom critiques with his art students.  During this process students are required to use their vast number of new vocabulary words.

The next step in Mr. Jones' art curriculum is to add the art element of "color" to the students' projects.

Students are thrilled to experiment on their own with their new color knowledge. 



 Recently Mr. Jones, Ms. Scacchetti (Dodge Grant Coordinator,) and Ms. Samaras (Art PIR) discussed the concept of color temperature, which unites ideas of color theory from art with light theory from physics.

Mr. Jones and Ms. Scacchetti discuss color theory before art class begins.

Nature Inspires Projects at School 29

School 29 students in Ms. Elson’s grade 2 art classes engaged in a lesson that incorporated art with literacy and science using tree branches and leaves.  First, Ms. Elson read  "The Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert to her students. The students then created spiral shapes, and learned how to show the illusion of movement with the curved lines.  The effect was of leafy branches tossing in the wind.  

 

 

 

 

Using warm colors for the leaves, and cool colors for the background, the students employed a wide variety of media in their artworks, including water color, oil pastels, and collage.

 

Ms. Elson’s grade 3 art students explored perspective in a lesson entitled “Looking Up at Fall.”  Students were asked to imagine looking at a tree from the perspective of lying on the ground and gazing up at it.  This “ant's eye view” causes the tree limbs and branches to appear increasingly slender as they rise up into the sky. They created their images through drawing and painting techniques, using pencils, sharpies, crayons, and brown watercolor tones on watercolor paper.  

 

 

By using curved lines in an abstract way they made the bark carry the viewer's eyes to the top of the page from the base. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students in Ms. Elson’s grade 4 art classes learned about symmetry, a concept common to both math and art.  The students drew leafy branches in which one side of each leaf began as the mirror image of the other side.  (The mathematical term for this is reflection.)  

 

The students then used fall colors to enhance their artworks.

Pythagorean Theorem Inspires Paintings at CAHTS

School of Culinary Arts students in Ms. Reyes' STEAM class created acrylic paintings inspired by the  Pythagorean theorem. 

To begin students cut out squares of increasing size using the proportions in the Pythagorean theorem.  They used these squares to brainstorm a variety of compositions.  

 

Starting from one initial square, students made sure each additional square would make a right angle to the previous square.  Students added squares of differing sizes, experimenting with a variety of compositions, while still retaining the proportions of the Pythagorean theorem.  The strength of the right angle created a dynamic composition despite its inherent stability.  In other words students used the right angle to create the illusion of movement in their paintings.

From these squares interesting compositions were created.

Acrylic paint in red, blue, yellow and white was then applied to the compositions. Using the compositional tools of symmetry 
and pattern students used these colors to further emphasize visual dynamism.  The completed paintings were a testament to the usefulness of mathematics in art and design.
In addition, students in art class learned more about math!

STEAM Happenings at NRC

New STEAM projects are happening at the New Roberto Clemente School.

Ms. Diaz, eighth grade math teacher, and Mr. Mercedes, William Paterson University student teacher, have been working with students to create sculptures using pencils.

In the picture at the top left, Mr. Mercedes (left), Ms. Diaz (right) and NRC math students proudly hold their pencil sculptures, a variation of the sculpture created by George W. Hart a mathematical sculptor.  LINK

Above, NRC math teacher Ms. Diaz smiles broadly with an NRC math student.  Students worked with 148 pencils for each sculpture.  After these fascinating pencil sculptures were created students remarked, “It was the coolest project I ever worked on,” and, “It was so much fun!"  The pencil sculptures are being displayed on the classroom windowsill (see below).

Left:  The George Hart sculpture, "72 Pencils," that was the inspiration of the NRC project.   This version uses specially printed ISAMA pencils. (ISAMA is the International Society of the Arts, Math and Architecture.)  This view shows how it looks along a three-fold axis of symmetry.

In a separate STEAM project at NRC (see photos below) Ms. Munem, social studies and science teacher for NRC grades 6-8, used clay and other art materials to teach her students a lesson on the evolution of human beings from earlier species.  Students were first asked to research five salient facts about early humans from their textbooks.  An example of that learning might be,  "Australopithecus is an extinct genus of hominids.  From paleontological and archaeological evidence, the Australopithecus genus apparently evolved in eastern Africa around 4 million years ago before spreading throughout the continent and eventually becoming extinct somewhat after two million years ago." LINK

Next her students created fossils out of clay that they labeled to enhance their learning.  For some of the more recent species they also created early tools.  They placed their fossils onto a Styrofoam tray they hand-painted.  Students included their five research points. 



These works were then attached to an impressive STEAM bulletin board (see below).  

In a third STEAM project happening at NRC (see photos below), an all-school STEAM collaborative sculpture is being created. The inspiration for this project is a previous collaborative STEAM project done two years ago at Eastside High School as part of the Geraldine R. Dodge STEAM grant.  LINK  LINK  LINK

Above:  For HSPA prep, Eastside High School students had students write vocabulary words, concepts, formulas, etc. onto long strips of art paper.  This paper was later used in the art room to create a collaborative STEAM sculpture/installation using the science department display case.  
In a similar manner, participating NRC teachers are having their students create written strips using content area vocabulary, concepts, formulas, etc. from their various classrooms. Next these long strips of paper are being moved to the art room where they will provide "raw material" for the next large sculpture. Art teachers Ms. Senapole, Ms. Aramayo and Ms. Roche (below, left to right) have developed a methodology for a large-scale hanging sculpture using the written strips that their art students will create.

This collaborative STEAM sculpture will hang in a public space in the NRC building upon completion.  

Below, (see photos) Ms. Moose's math students at NRC learned to plot ordered pairs in all four quadrants using both graph paper and scratch art paper.  Ms. Moose firmly believes this combination of math and art, or STEAM practice, in her classroom helps her students to retain their knowledge. 

 

In Ms. Gonzalez's bilingual class at NRC (see photos below) students recently used scratch art paper to learn science as well as English.  Like Ms. Moose, Ms. Gonzalez feels certain her students retain more knowledge when they are learning classroom content through the arts,  In other words, she, too is a STEAM supporter!

Below:  NRC Teachers meet twice a month for a STEAM meeting. This meeting gives teachers a chance to share on-going STEAM projects in their classroom as well as to brainstorm new ones.  Also attendance at these meetings are: Geraldine R. Dodge STEAM grant co-ordinator Dina Scacchetti, WPU Art PIR Triada Samaras, PIR Betsy Golden, and members of the NRC administrative team.