"Below the Surface - Above the Surface", Art Club InstallationOK - I know! If you check out my blog, you are probably wondering - wow!!! Why all the pictures? Simple - I am really proud of the thirty 9th & 10th grade students who are in our school's art classes and art club and worked their hearts out - mostly after school and on a couple of Saturdays, to complete this wonderful art installation that is currently on display at the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibit is part of the Young Artists Exhibition in conjunction with the museum's annual Ball, and we were lucky enough to be asked to participate in the project.
The theme this year is "Coastlines: Images of Land and Sea" which inspired a full fledge exhibit by the museum as well as the student artwork. Our students installation is entitled "Below the Surface - Above the Surface" and shows the dark and light sides of the sea. Davy Jones is rising out of his watery grave and is reaching to the light side where the mermaid rests on a floating chunk of a sunken vessel. An ominous sea monster is surfacing around the figures and the ship. The sky is transitioning from a storm to a breaking sunrise with the choppy waters becoming calm and serene. The sand castle features a lovely poem that tells the tale, nestled in the sand and shells of the beach.
The students really outdid themselves! From concept to completion, they used brains and brawn to create their art. They cast their own bodies in plaster strips (for the life sized versions of Davy Jones and the Mermaid) - I know because I had to cut them out of most of their casts! The canvas backdrops (each side 10' X 10') were stitched, primed and painted spinning off Thomas Cole's painting of the Ox Bow, but other storm and sea visual references were utilized for them to create this beautiful sea and sky (which is painted out of house paint).
The Connecticut River Near Northampton, Thomas Cole, 1846 Oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York, USAThey used paper mache to create the VERY realistic looking sea monster tentacles (complete with suckers!) and created a sand castle that never gets washed away by the ocean. The ship and raft were built out of cardboard. It was installed yesterday afternoon, and we take a DART train field trip to the reception tomorrow afternoon. 13 other schools have student artwork in the exhibition and I encourage the reader to visit the museum during the dates of the exhibition 4/15 - 4/25/2010. This Friday, 4/16, is the DMA Late Night - if you are attending the festivities, be sure to check out this fantastic display of student artwork from around the metroplex!
Davy Jones, Wrecked Ship, Sea Monster and the Mermaid
Davy Jones
Sea Monster Tentacles
The Sand Castle and it's Poetic Tale
1 comment:
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