Album Cover Art

by Mr. Kilpatrick, Art Room 100

 Project Objective: Students will be able to design  a 12" x 12" album cover for a musical artist or group of their choosing in order to apply past lessons of primary and secondary colors, complementary colors, and warm and cool colors.

In March, I brought my tabletop record player and several albums into Art Room 100 to show students the value of album cover art. Students agreed that packaging for LPs gives a musical artist a great opportunity to connect with a listener visually as well as auditorily.

First, we watched a "How Its Made" video about vinyl records.

The project took approximately 5 class periods. Every day, 5th and 6th grade students were allowed to pick different records to listen to - some old, some new. A lot of the music was weird and alien to these young scholars, but they kept an open mind. We discussed many different genres of music, touching on lessons they already covered in Ms. Gould's music class earlier in the year.  I was impressed by the vast amount of musical knowledge students had comprehended since last semester.

Guest DJs:

Ashlynn and Jordyn chose the Beatles.

Raymond chose Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.

Jade played the sounds of Philadelphia with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.

Janeliz was very curious and excited to hear the Flaming Lips & Fwends covering the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album. She especially liked the songs Miley Cyrus sang on.

Kyria chose Philly jazz queen of the organ Shirley Scott.

Tymire soothed the class with the fragile but beautiful voice of Billie Holiday.

Some days, we would even break into short, impromptu dance parties:

Stan Kenton's "Cuban Fire"!

Rawkin' out to Philly's own Man Man!

These guys really seemed to get into Johnny Cash.

While listening, students worked really hard on album covers of their own. Here are just a few:

Sonieris' Taylor Swift album cover design

Chrystal's Ariana Grande album cover design

Gianberto's Daddy Yankee album cover design

Kathie did an alternate take on Les Claypool's Duo De Twang album cover, using mostly cool colors instead of the warm in the original.

Najia's Beyonce album cover design

Shaniah's take on a Shakira album cover design

Paula's Tyga album cover design

Wildcat Mardi Gras 2015

Since there was a snow day on Fat Tuesday this year, Memphis Street Academy's 5th and 6th Grade Mardi Gras party was pushed to the following Thursday. In Art Room 100, after learning about New Orleans and the Carnival holiday, scholars partied down to some New Orleans Dixieland and Funk music. They also created Mardi Gras masquerade masks as they ate Jambalaya and homemade King Cake.

Students had a blast learning about the culture and holidays of another city. Some even asked why we can't have Mardi Gras every week.

Philly ARTrepreneurs wins SEED Grant

post by Art Teacher Jeff Kilpatrick

This week, I showed a presentation to the Philly CORE Leaders in City Hall's City Council Caucus room. I talked about my student artists at Memphis Street Academy Charter School and did a 3-minute pitch for a program called Philly ARTrepreneurs. 

Philly ARTrepreneurs was grown from an idea I've had for the kids when I first started teaching at Memphis Street (back when we started the school in 2012). The kids there have grown so much. The academic and behavioral progress they have made is mind-blowing. My students are my heroes. I say it all the time. 

When I show students my own work (my t-shirt designs, comics, anthologies, and art for shows), they always ask me how they can do it too. Now with this SEED grant, I will be able to show them. In the next few months, we will be outfitting my art room with professional equipment and programs so I can show students how to design their own shirts and create their own books and prints. I will also teach students about marketing and shipping their creations. 

The proceeds from the products sold will be split three ways - 1/3 will go to a charity of the student designer's choice. 1/3 will go to the student in some form of scholarship. 1/3 will fold back into the ARTrepreneurs program to keep it moving forward for other students.

I am blessed every day to have this job and work with these kids. I can't wait to walk them through this experience of getting their work out into the world to a wide audience. Please stay tuned for updates over the next few months.

Please CLICK HERE to read the Newsworks article regarding the SEED 4.0 event.

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

WHAT TIME IS IT?!?!?!?!?

IT'S ADVENTURE TIME!
- Post by Memphis Street Academy Art Teacher Mr. Kilpatrick

Last night, I was surprised by an awesome gift in the mail. Friend and fellow Philly cartoonist Chris McDonnell had Abrams Publishing send me an advanced copy of his gigantic new art book - "Adventure Time: The Art of Ooo"! The book is an amazing 352-page, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most strange and creative shows ever to hit the television. Kids at Memphis Street Academy have been growing up with Finn and Jake these past few years, so I brought the book into the classroom. I wanted to show them just how much art, hard work and thought goes into a show that seems so simple and silly. Students in Mrs. Miller's 5th grade class were excited to go through the book and see the evolution of their favorite characters. Advanced Art students were inspired by the show's concept art and storyboards. They loved combing over the show's collaborative creative process.

Memphis Street Academy's Art students thank Chris McDonnell and Abrams Publishing for this awesomely inspiring gift!

 

  

Advanced Art Students "Jam"

As Memphis Street scholars are wrapping up their school year, students in the Advanced Art program remain hard at work. They can be seen here working on a collaborative "Jam" drawing inspired by words from the school's pledge.

Two sets of our Advanced Artists brainstormed in their individual sketchbooks, then brought these drawings to the table to see how they would work together in the jam. Students mapped out small scale collaborative images, then projected and duplicated the images onto sheets of 4' x 3' paper. The finishing touches will be drawn into the jams over the coming week, so they can be displayed at the Memphis Street Academy Expressive Arts Fair on the evening of Wednesday, June 11.

It has been an honor to watch students combine their individual creative spirit to make such a meaningful, powerful, and cooperative piece of art.

Engagement Coach Appreciation Day

Today Memphis Street Academy Charter School celebrated "Engagement Coach Appreciation Day" at the school. Our Engagement Coaches are an asset to keeping our school days running smoothly. They not only help with the security of our students. MSAC Engagement Coaches are also counselors, talking students through their problems every day.

All of our Engagement Coaches are United States veterans and part of the "Troops to Teachers" program - a U.S. Department of Defense program that helps eligible military personnel with careers in schools where their skills, knowledge and experience are most needed.

Every day, our Engagement Coaches remain mobile, flexible, strong and sympathetic. They are a huge part of helping our school in its daily mission. We are so grateful for all that they do. One of our 8th Grade students, Carmel, worked on a poster to show the school's appreciation. The poster was then signed my dozens of students who wanted to personally thank our Engagement Coaches.

The poster can be seen here with some grateful students. It was then hung outside our Engagement Coaches' office. (photo by Mr. Marchetti)

Carmel is shown here with Coach Fred "Sojo" Soejanto.

Memphis Street Ballers

 

Over the past few weeks, students in Room 300 and Homeroom 8-10 took on a very interesting project. Both classes designed, constructed, and painted basketball nets made from upcycled materials. Students took old milk crates and plywood and created one-of-a kind, transportable basketball nets.

Students watched videos of Jackson Pollock at work to learn about abstract expressionist spatter painting. They also studied stencil painting and street art, then collaborated on designing and painting the backboards. Our scholars also learned about some fundamental carpentry and construction practices - bolting nets and hooks to the wood and sealing the painted boards with polyurethane.

 

Finally, after weeks of hard work, students were able to celebrate the fruits of their labor. On a sunny spring afternoon, our Memphis Street Ballers tested the nets out in the schoolyard. It was amazing to watch this project come together.  Students were proud that they were able to work so hard on a project that was expressive, fun, and functional.

Room 300 MSA Ballers (photo by Ms. Brittain)

Memphis Street Arts Holiday Cards 2013

This year, we kept up our holiday tradition with the Memphis Street Academy Arts program. Our students once again made a handmade holiday card for every student in the Therapeutic Nursery at the Children's Crisis Treatment Center (CcTC).

Our students viewed a public service announcement about CcTC, and discussed how they could use art to make someone's day brighter. Students played to their individual artistic strengths to make sure they made the best cards possible. Some students use reference from the internet. Others freehand sketched original ideas. Others used intricate cut paper designs for their cards.

Memphis Street Academy students were thrilled to take part in this this Caring School Community project. A few students have seen firsthand the amazing work CcTC does (either for themselves or family members), so they were particularly passionate about this project.

Students not only made enough cards for all the kids in the Therapeutic Nursery, but enough to give to CcTC staff as well. When the cards were dropped off to CcTC, Therapeutic Nursery Director Nicholas Bisaccia explained that the cards would be distributed to children when they receive gifts of books for the holiday.

CcTC Therapeutic Nursery Director Nicholas Bisaccia, welcoming the delivery of Memphis Street Academy Art students' 2013 holiday cards