Happy Holidays 2014 from Memphis Street Academy Arts!

This holiday season, our young artists not only continued their tradition of sharing the gift art with cards for kids at the Children's Crisis Treatment Center. They also made handmade holiday cards for firefighters at local firehouses.

Students also did some cooperative learning, working together to research and create posters depicting what the holiday season looks like all around the world, from Israel to the Congo to Belgium and back home here in the United States...

 

The posters were hung in the hallway outside the first floor art room, so all staff, faculty, and students could get a multicultural and multinational view of the holiday season. Our scholars love giving the gift of art every year, and look forward to sharing more with you when we come back to class in 2015. Happy Holidays, everyone!

AMALGAMATION - An American Paradigm Art Show

On December 18, 2014, students from all American Paradigm Schools were able to attend a very special art show in the American Paradigm offices in Center City Philadelphia.

The title and theme of the show: "AMALGAMATION: the action, process, or result of uniting or combining"

This was the first of quarterly “APS Artist Showcase Series at the Bellevue”. The purpose of these shows is to celebrate American Paradigm's partnerships with local artists and to reflect the community's distinct individualities.

The show featured pieces from many students that supported the theme in many different ways. Some students achieved amalgamation by combining and mixing media. Some united in cooperative group projects.  Aside from student work, local artists Brian Alles, Shane Leddy, and Eric Remer also had work on display, making the show an amalgam of many different styles.

In the center of the exhibit, all attendees were invited to participate in a cooperative "Art Jam" using several different types of art supplies.

Jonathan, a 5th Grade Memphis Street Academy art student, was very excited about the Amalgamation art show. He proclaimed, "I've never been to anything like this before. I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't a dream!"

This was truly a magical experience for all students involved. Our students look forward to being involved in future shows, and thank everyone involved with making this opportunity possible.

The Art of Early Man - 6th Grade Hominid Posters

Cooperative, Cross-curricular Learning Through the Arts

The homeroom classes of 6-3 and 6-4 created posters of the first five hominid groups to help them better understand the quality of living for the earliest humans. The scholars worked in groups to draw and list the different characteristics of each hominid group. These characteristics consisted of tools, height, food,  time frame, nicknames, and homeland. Both classes worked very well together to gather information to display on the poster board. 

With the help of Mr. Kilpatrick, each scholar had the opportunity to sketch their hominid as an experienced artist and paleoanthropologist. The scholars absolutely loved the activity, and I look forward to doing this activity in future classes.

- Mr. McCarthy, 6th Grade Social Studies Teacher