Einstein Comes Alive at NRC!

Recently a fascinating STEAM project was created at NRC/New Roberto Clemente School by art teacher Monica Aramayo.

While some NRC students were busy taking an assortment of mandated tests, Ms. Aramayo, who was teaching from an "art cart" for the duration of testing, and her art students created a startling, large-scale, collaborative work of STEAM art. She documented this process for WPU STEAM Art Professor in Residence, Triada Samaras.  
This new STEAM project now hangs near Assistant Principal Maria Francisco's office. Students engaged in creative art-making, math calculations, and science/history research to complete this innovative art project. (See image below.)

Ms. Aramayo's success demonstrates the ability of the WPU Dodge-funded NRC STEAM program to co-exist within a testing milieu, and to provide students with an educational experience, a creative challenge, and an emotional release during the stress of test-taking.

To begin this project, Ms. Aramayo taught her students the "grid method", an art-making method that allows any artist to create a large-scale work of art based on a much smaller scale image using a simple transfer method that relies on math.  Students learned this grid method is used by the well-known, contemporary American artist, Chuck Close.

Ms. Aramayo and her students found and printed an image of Einstein from the internet. Later they created a mathematical grid on top of the image, creating an 11 by 11 grid. Then, this piece of paper was cut into 121 smaller pieces, all the same size, and given to the students to work from.

On another day, Ms Aramayo and her students calculated a grid on much larger scale but proportional to the original grid. They determined the size of the squares of construction paper needed to fit each blank space of this grid. 

Above:  Ms. Monica Aramayo stands in front of the larger grid.

Next they cut blank construction paper into this same size. (See grid image above.) 
Ms Aramayo instructed students to replicate the main lines and composition of the smaller square they were given onto their new, larger blank squares, but she gave them the freedom to use any colors and patterns that they wished to complete their artwork.  The result was a total of 121 completed student squares in a wide variety of colors, patterns and textures. 

In the final installation process, Ms. Aramayo brought her art students to the site where the final piece would hang.  She instructed them to find the correct place for their square and to install it there, using a numerical system.  Students made a short, stop animation video of this exciting process. (See video below.)

The final image of Einstein at NRC is extraordinary and is inspiring teachers throughout this STEAM school to consider working in a similar way using their own content areas.