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.