NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The walls of the bridge to House IV in New Rochelle High School are covered with the works of the PAVE art students’ first marking period projects.
Drawing inspiration from masters – blown glass artist Dale Chihuly and author Annie Dillard – the student artists created drawings, painted paper, sculpture and digitally enhanced photographs. Students from the three PAVE levels collaborated on the exhibition and held the official opening Thursday evening.
Early in the period, students interviewed each other and created portrait drawings in ebony pencil. They then read Dillard’s classic 1982 essay “Total Eclipse” and created colored pencil drawings.
In late September, many of the artists visited the exhibition of Chihuly’s spectacular glass sculptures at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. They created two colored marker drawings on site at the NYBG. Back at school, employing Chihuly’s free-form style, they painted on paper outside for two days. They then cut, folded and formed the painted paper into their own sculptures inspired by the glass master’s forms.
Taking the project further still, the students photographed their sculptures and, using Photoshop, placed them “on site” somewhere on the NRHS grounds. They imagined what their works would look like in an eclipse and changed the photos accordingly.
Finally, the group created a newsletter documenting the event.
The exhibition will be on display in the hallway, near the Museum of Arts & Culture in the school, through December.