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

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!

 

  

Garden Art Party

Today, on their last day of art class, Ms. Parkin's homeroom spent their time drawing in Memphis Street's garden. They drew flowers, plants, trees, cars, and any other objects they spied from their vantage points. Students practiced tonal smudging, line drawing, and colors, as they made art in the sunshine while listening to Motown songs.

"Observing flowers, and how the roots of plants grow was really interesting and inspiring," said Osilius, who created still life drawings of several plants and flowers.

Mr. Kilpatrick, one of Memphis Street's art teachers, stated, "This was a wonderful ending to the school year for me. These students are amazing, and have seen such great progress through the year."

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.

New STEAM Team Video!

Mrs. Christidhis, Mr. Marchetti, and the advanced STEAM Team students have been working hard all year on integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics. They have been learning and creating some amazing things inside and outside of the classroom.

Please CLICK HERE to view the recent STEAM Team Video!

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)