Coming Soon: Three-D Zentangles!

WPU Art PIR Triada Samaras is in the midst of developing a new collaborative, student art work for the display boards of GOPA and SOIT entitled:  Three D Zentangle Collaborative Installation.  This intriguing new collaborative student art work will combine art and science using vocabulary words from each discipilne, art materials, and the elements of art and principles of design.  In the photographs left and below, Professor Samaras began recently to explain the project to the students using the art classroom Smartboard.  Students were thrilled to see their work on this Steam EmPOWERment Blog and to imagine a future, hallway art work in the glass enclosed display cases that exist in the schools.  

Pictured left and below:  WPU Art PIR Triada Samaras speaks to STEAM students.

 The project will develop in stages and will take several months.  Professor Samaras aims to involve the students in the creative process demonstrating to them the both the thrills and the setbacks of creative work.  The theme "invention" as been emphasized in all STEAM projects at GOPA and SOIT from the beginning, and students are excited to have a chance to demonstrate some of their creative ideas.

 

A Trip to Power Arts Building!

Art Professor in Residence (PIR) Triada Samaras, and Professor in Residence Dina Scacchetti, went on an interesting 'field trip' to the William Paterson University (WPU) Power Arts Building last Tuesday afternoon where they were met by Professor Michael Rees, a professor and sculptor specializing in three-D technologies.  Professors Samaras and Scacchetti were taken on a tour of the WPU sculpture and digital studios by Professor Rees who will be working with them to implement the Geraldine R. Dodge STEAM Grant.  

 












 













Pictured Above:  Art PIR Triada Samaras and PIR Dina Scacchetti with the 3-D printers.

After the tour, the three professors sat down in Professor Rees's office where they began brainstorming possible connections between the emerging high school STEAM program that is currently developing at SOIT and GOPA, and the WPU Arts Program.

Many possibilities for the future were discussed including professional development for the GOPA and SOIT teachers, as well as workshops for the SOIT and GOPA students to be held at the Powers Arts Building emphasizing 3-D sculpture creation using the latest technologies.

Above: WPU PIR Dina Scacchetti, Art PIR Triada Samaras and Art Professor Michael Rees

Last Year: School 2's Visit to the Newark Museum

One of School 2’s STEAM activities last year was a visit to the Newark Museum.   First and second grade students, accompanied by their teachers, Norma Menchon and Belinda Casais-McBride, by Art Teacher Beth Porto, and by WPU Professor-in-Residence Simone Sandler, participated in special programs that integrated science and art.  In one activity the students viewed works of art that depicted birds, while the museum docent provided information about the characteristics and habits of birds.  Pictured on the right is the docent from the museum speaking about different sizes of birds, while a student demonstrates how big an ostrich is.

The students then toured the museum.  In the picture below, Ms. Porto leads a discussion on the work of famous artist Joseph Stella, while Ms. Menchon looks on.  Joseph Stella often used the geometry of architecture in his work, which often depicted industrial America—hence the STEAM connection!

WPU Practicum Student creates a "SPACE" Lesson plan using STEAM

WPU K-12 Art Education Practicum Student: Marjiana Korunoska created and taught a SPACE inspired art lesson in Mrs. Simon's SOIT art class recently.

Ms. Korunoska will complete her practicum experience in December, and will return as a student teacher to SOIT next semester. 

 Using what she has learned about STEAM at SOIT this year, Ms. Korunoska asked students to learn facts about artist, Robert McCall, and about the solar system, including the planets and their orbits in the solar system, before embarking on creative art-making with the students.

The lesson had a clear objective keyed to the NJ Core Curriculum Standards in Art.  It also had a Demon-stration of Learning (DOL) that evaluated whether students had achieved that objective. 

The art lesson included the use of drawing and 

painting as well as science, and was multi-media.

More student art work on display

Art PIR Triada Samaras is in the midst of creating a second Georgia O'Keefe STEAM Project art display in the halls of GOPA.  These student art works, done in Mrs. Simon's art class, look stunning and are attracting many viewers in the hall.  This photo shows the art display in progress.

Last Year's STEAM Grant

This year’s STEAM program at GOPA and SOIT is made possible by William Paterson University’s grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.  The current work at the secondary level builds upon the success last year at the elementary and middle school levels. The Dodge Grant has funded the Art Professors in Residence, art supplies and field trips.

Last year at Paterson School 2, a grade K-8 school, first and second grade bilingual students, working with Art Teacher Beth Porto in the school art studio, created a five-foot by ten-foot mural that depicted the four seasons, and that integrated art, math and science. Begun in September, the mural was gradually added to throughout the year, and finally completed in June.  First Grade Teacher Norma Menchon, Second Grade Teacher Belinda Casais McBride, and Art Professor in Residence Simone Sandler co-taught math topics (counting, odd and even numbers, and addition and subtraction) and science topics (seasonal changes affecting animals and plants, the phases of the moon, and weather) keyed to the district curriculum. These lessons generated artwork that was incorporated into the mural.  The mural now hangs in the hallway of School 2, on permanent display.

At Paterson School 7, a grade 5 to 8 middle school, Art Professor in Residence Myra Winter worked with Art Teacher Vernon Nealy, Math Teachers Rosa Kopic and Melissa Bensh, and Science Teachers Marla Arrington and Mary Bertino.  Team teaching among these educators brought art into the other content areas.  For example, on a field trip to the American Museum of Natural History, students attended a special program, “Spiders Alive!”  Upon their return they created spider presentation boxes using chipboard, binding fabric, and decorative papers.  This required detailed measurement to achieve the correct angles and proportions.  They included all the scientific information they had learned about spiders, and used the boxes as 3D graphic organizers to write a research paper about spiders. 

Another lesson focused upon the concepts of volume and surface area.  Students made a variety of sizes of rectangular prisms using colored paper, and then built a 3D sculpture with those prisms.  They calculated the volume and surface area of their prisms, and calculated the relationships between them.  They then did the same with their final sculpture.

The culminating event of School 7’s STEAM program was a “Creativity Fair” held in May, in which parents and community members were invited to an evening program to view the student work.

                         

Evaluation by the WPU Geraldine R. Dodge Grant coordinator showed improved results on math assessments and improved attitudes toward math and science at both schools.  

Georgia O'Keefe Flowers and Bones Project Creates Remarkable Works of Student Art!

The collaborative Georgia O'Keefe Flowers and Bones project taking place in Mrs. Simon's SOIT art class has yielded an enormous number of excellent student artworks (See Lesson Plan below).  Some of these works are now on display at SOIT on the science/art bulletin boards and are serving as an inspiration to other students, teachers and visitors to SOIT who are clearly invigorated to encounter such creative and well-crafted works of art.  In addition, a factual bulletin board has been created near the art works display highlighting the artist, Georgia O'Keefe and her oeuvre. (See all photographs below.) 

Later this week, Art Professor in Residence, Triada Samaras, will join Mrs. Simon's class to introduce the Feldman Method of Art Criticism to the students who will use their art as points of departure for this critique.