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Meg Mandell's fourth grade art students at Sag Harbor Elementary school at work on their umbrella project for the Parrish Art Museum student exhibition. Photo by Laurie Barone-Schaefer.[/caption]
By Annette Hinkle
It’s probably fair to say that nearly every successful artist began life as a highly creative child. This weekend, the Parrish Art Museum opens its annual student exhibition to celebrate the creative kids in our midst and recognize the important role art — and art teachers — play in local classrooms.
“The teachers are, on every level, continually inventive,” says the museum’s education director Cara Conklin-Wingfield. “That’s the most impressive thing — whether it’s the kind of spontaneous and exuberant work the youngest children do, or the reflective work of high schoolers, the teachers are inventive and have a willingness to let students determine the direction.”
The student exhibition runs January 30 through February 28 and it highlights art by more than 1,000 elementary and high school students from Brookhaven to East Hampton. This year’s show also includes nature drawings by 300 East End students which were created during recent workshops with artist Alexis Rockman whose “East End Field Drawings” are on view now at the Parrish.
Connecting local students with the museum’s art and artists is a priority and Ms. Conklin-Wingfield encourages teachers, when possible, to bring their students to the Parrish in advance of the student exhibition. That’s what Sag Harbor Elementary School art teacher Kerriann Armusewicz did not long ago when she took her three fourth grade classes there on a field trip.
“The Parrish is great inspiration,” says Ms. Armusewicz. “Some kids had never been to the museum, while others go there frequently. So it was great for them to experience it as a class and go through with a docent instead of on their own.”
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A detail from the dog park created by Kerriann Armusewicz's fourth grades. Photo by Annette Hinkle.[/caption]
During their visit, Ms. Armusewicz asked her students to pay special attention to four specific works they saw. Back in the classroom, the classes voted on which of the pieces would serve as inspiration for the group’s collaborative work in the student art exhibit.
The winning artwork, Joe Fig’s “April and Eric: August 10, 2004,” is a three dimensional miniature of the North Haven studios of husband and wife artists April Gornik and Eric Fischl. The fourth graders decided to create a miniature structure of their own — specifically a multi-level sports complex. Built like a parking garage, the piece includes tiny figures engaged in soccer, hockey, swimming, baseball and other sports on a variety of levels. Behind the complex is a parking lot and dog park that, in a nod to one group of fourth graders who preferred a travel theme, is populated by cars, planes and clouds.
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A detail from the multi-level sports complex created by Kerriann Armusewicz's fourth grade art students at Sag Harbor Elementary school. Photo by Annette Hinkle.[/caption]
Compromise and negotiation is a big part of collaborative pieces and in order to complete this one efficiently, Ms. Armusewicz assigned different roles to her students — from concept designers and architects to painters and finishers.
And like any collaborative process, she admits there were disagreements.
“Working in a team is hard for some,” says Ms. Armusecwiz. “It’s problem solving and there are arguments — but they have to work past that and not have hurt feelings.”
Meanwhile fellow art teacher Meg Mandell spent much of last week working with her fourth graders as they used fabric markers and stencils to adorn white umbrellas with Southwestern motifs — mountains, coyotes and cacti. For their Parrish piece, the umbrellas will be placed in round containers wrapped by paper murals depicting each student in front of Sag Harbor icons.
“The murals include a photograph of each of their faces with a drawing of a t-shirt design that they created,” explains Ms. Mandell. “In the background there are Sag Harbor landmarks like the bridge, the windmill, Long Beach, Sagg Main, the movie theater, Mashashimuet Park and the Green Belt.”
While the desert theme may seem incongruous with all things Sag Harbor, Ms. Mandell explains this project is a melding of two inspirations — one that showcases the young artists and where they live, while the other highlights art for a good cause. In this case, umbrellaproject.org, a non-profit children’s art initiative which will sell the umbrellas to raise money for a community in need.
This is a project Sag Harbor students took part in last year, but because the umbrellas were shipped off before they could be displayed, Ms. Mandell felt that incorporating them into the Parrish exhibition this time around would highlight not only the work of her students, but the organization as well.
After the Parrish show, the umbrellas will go on view in Sedona, Arizona where they will be sold for $50 each in order to help the Havasupai Indian Reservation, an isolated community that lies at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
“Each umbrella is a little bit different,” explains Ms. Mandell. “Some groups wanted to do animals, some wanted to do symbols. In a group dynamic, sometimes it was hard to agree.”
“For the most part now, every single student is on task,” adds Ms. Mandell. “This is a nice collaboration with the museum and the kids.”
While for younger students, collaboration is the name of the game, at the high school level, the Parrish exhibition is all about highlighting individual work.
To that end, last week, Pierson High School art teachers Peter Solow, Joe Bartolotto and Elizabeth Marchisella were focused on helping the 15 students who will take part in the exhibit go through their portfolios to select the piece they will be showing.
Senior Max Micallef, a student in Mr. Solow’s advanced photography class, showed an image from a portrait series he created in which he uses a printed Indian scarf as a prop.
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Photograph by Max Micallef.[/caption]
“I wrap it around people’s heads so you have to identify them without seeing their face,” he explains. “I feel that a lot of photography that involves the human form is generic in a way and in the beginning, it was meant for decoration. But a lot of people think it references the burka, women and inferiority in the Middle East.”
“That wasn’t the intention,” he adds. “I like how there are so many interpretations of what the wrap represents. That’s what art should do.”
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Image by Danielle Schoenfeld.[/caption]
Providing students with authentic art experiences is a primary mission of Pierson’s art department. That includes not only making art, but also developing the skills necessary to make value judgments and interpret ones own work in context with the wider world.
“There’s so much good stuff we’re doing here,” says Mr. Solow. “It’s a model for what education should be — self reflection, being able to analyze work and not just answer other people’s questions but construct your own questions and find solution while actively organizing your understanding of things.”
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Abi Holder portrait.[/caption]
“I think we have a lot to be proud of,” adds Mr. Solow. “We are a team here, we try to work together and be as supportive as possible.”
Mr. Solow points out that also contributing to the authentic art experience are the many workshops which Pierson offers through the private Reutershan Trust. For example, last summer, thanks to the trust, students and teachers were able to work with professional artists and designers in a range of disciplines.
“When our students get to college they are applying what they’ve done and have a leg up,” explains Mr. Bartolotto. “The authentic experience means they’re getting hands on experience in fashion, design, printmaking and photography. They say, ‘So this is what it’s like to be an architect’”
“I think if more aspects of teaching were like that, it would be worthwhile,” he adds.
The Parrish Art Museum's Student Exhibition opens with the young artists reception this Saturday January 30, 2016 2 to 4 p.m. The high school artists reception is Saturday, February 6 from 3 to 5 p.m. and the work remains on view through February 28. The museum is located at 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill. For more information call (631) 283-2118 or visit parrishart.org.
The student art exhibition is part of February Family Month at the Parrish Art Museum. Among the other events will be Winter Vacation Art Workshops from February 15 to 19 and Four Fabulous Friday events (free with museum admission and children under 18).
February 5, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. — Stop Motion Animation workshop.
February 12, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. — Recreate the windmills of the East End with architect Stephen W. Schwartz of Building Blocks Workshops and 70,000 Legos.
February 19, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. — Screening of the “Song of the Sea” a hand-drawn film based on the Irish legend of the Selkies and the last seal-child who goes on an epic journey to save the world of magic.
February 26, 6 p.m. — Teen PechaKucha Night. Just like the one for adults, but with creative kids on the East End with a story to tell.
