Students bask in creating art

Ms. Fudge is a new teacher at Leadership, where she teaches art to grades 9-12.  New York State’s high school graduation requirements mandate a full year of Visual Arts, Dance or Theater.  Lead News interviewed Ms. Fudge and some of her students about the projects they’re working on this school year.

The first project Ms. Fudge’s students took part in was creating their own clay candle holders. For this project, students learned hand-building techniques to correctly shape the clay into a vessel that could hold the candles. The candle holders were later painted to the student’s desired design. According to the students, the biggest obstacle faced was getting the right amount of water on the clay so that it was not too runny or too hard.  In the end, students displayed their work before taking it home.

Ms. Fudge also tasked the students with recreating the “Northern Lights” painting by Bob Ross, the famous painter and television host. For this project, the teacher challenged students to replicate the painting (as seen in the video) as best they could. After further examination, 10 finalists were chosen and all the artwork was graded by fellow teachers. The winner of this fun art competition was (drum-roll please)… Alba Calderon, a junior from the Class of 2024.

Ms. Fudge then asked the students to create Notans, a Japanese design that refers to the harmony between light and dark. Students used “6×6” square paper for this final assignment and created designs that began at the paper’s edges. In order to establish visual balance, students cut out the forms, flipped the cutout to the outside of the square, and then glued the shapes in place. According to students, the most challenging part of this project was finding the right design.

Ms. Fudge keeps our school up to date with a monthly Arts Department newsletter.  In April classes practiced one-point and two-point perspectives.   Drawings and research are currently  displayed in the art floor.