Kathleen Mark ‘21
The COVID-19 situation has been challenging for all departments regarding how to make the transition from real class to virtual class; this has been especially difficult for visual arts classes like my own. The art classes at Episcopal are studio-based, and a lot of us benefit from teacher critiques and collaboration in person. My class in particular had been planning out a large project for the rest of the year; we had been building many of our ideas around the annual ArtsFest. But, with school closed for the rest of the year, all that has drastically changed.
The COVID-19 situation has been challenging for all departments regarding how to make the transition from real class to virtual class; this has been especially difficult for visual arts classes like my own. The art classes at Episcopal are studio-based, and a lot of us benefit from teacher critiques and collaboration in person. My class in particular had been planning out a large project for the rest of the year; we had been building many of our ideas around the annual ArtsFest. But, with school closed for the rest of the year, all that has drastically changed.
As many of the classes were in the middle of many projects, students were forced to take their work home. For my class, Honors 2D IV, we had been working on our “series of three”. These could be done with any medium on the three canvases we were given, but the three pieces must be related: for instance, I am doing three oil paintings of oysters. On the last day at campus, my classmates and I packed up our oils in the boxes and took our pieces home. We also took home some cardboard that Mr. Sigel had pre-cut to make mini portfolios for our next few remote learning assignments. Finally, we needed rice paper to cover the box or portfolio. The 3D classes are in a similar situation, as one of the classes was in the middle of their head sculptures when virtual learning began. Those students took their work home and continued to work and check in during class time. Mrs. Hutchinson’s class is making books out of similar materials as my class’s boxes. On the EA Studio Arts Instagram, Mrs. Hutchison gave a demo on how to make them for her classes. She has also been doing online critiques of her class’s sculptures.
The portfolio, along with sketches inspired by American painter Elsworth Kelly, are our next assignment. First, we must create the portfolio out of cardboard and rice paper. The rice paper can be used to decorate and put your own style into it. Next, we each have to research the style of the artist and use inspiration from our experiences in quarantine to draw something.
During the scheduled class periods thus far we have been using Google Meet. We check in on each other’s work and ask Mr. Sigel for advice concerning craftsmanship and other creative aspects. In our last meeting, some of us had started on our new mini portfolio and showed the class our boxes. We also asked how we could improve the structure and stabilization of the box. We have also used this time to study artists and types of art with presentations put together by Mr. Sigel, and attended virtual museum tours. Through all this, we have studied a lot of art history, and how artists survived in times of war or national emergency. We have not only used PowerPoint, but we have also done some virtual museums.