Welcome to Ms. Johnson's Online Art Room at Lynnfield High School

Watch out award-winning video artist Hayley Morris draw an underwater world in her sketchbook. This is the latest sketchbook video made by New York artists Danny Gregory and Tommy Kane.

Anyone can particpate in the World Beach Project, an internationl participatory art project developed by U.K. artist Sue Lawty. Head to your local beach, make a design out of rocks there, document it with three digital photos, and upload the images to the Victoria and Albert Museum of Design’s website….an easy and fun thing to do this summer! More info is at www.vam.ac.uk/worldbeach

Students in Intensive Art classes are currently working on a linocut project. These videos offer a useful introduction to the art of sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett. Elizabeth said “Art is important only to the extent that it helps in the liberation of our people. It must answer a question, or wake somebody up, or give a shove in the right direction.” Catlett was fiercely committed to social justice through art during her long lifetime. As you brainstorm ideas for your project, consider what issues you feel passionate about and how your art could be used to wake up others in your community.

Ted.com says “Janet Echelman found her true voice as an artist when her paints went missing — which forced her to look to an unorthodox new art material. Now she makes billowing, flowing, building-sized sculpture with a surprisingly geeky edge. A transporting 10 minutes of pure creativity.

American artist Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental, fluidly moving sculpture that responds to environmental forces including wind, water, and sunlight.”

An inspiring nine year old with lots of imagination!

Students in Basic Drawing, D and E blocks- Bring in reference images for the Pointillism project tomorrow.

Check out this cool typography formed from the negative space between skyscrapers….an interesting idea by illustrator and photographer Lisa Rienermann. More info at GOOD Magazine

This must be a first! Famous artists and designers are using their art in a creative way to raise money for charity…through an egg hunt in central London! Each artist decorated an egg that is hidden somewhere in the city. Watch the video for details…

Fifty of our art students contributed to our collaborative art piece for the “Building Bridges” celebration this year. The theme was celebrating diversity and tolerance in our community and world. Thank you to all of the students who made thoughtful and creative contributions!

If you like cakes, cookies and candy, you will like the art of Wayne Thiebaud!

Students in the “intensive” art classes are currently working on the “Homage to A Famous Artist” Project. They will select an artist whose style or subject matter they like and then make their own piece in a similar style as a way of paying tribute to their inspirational artist.

Here’s a short video focused on photographer and artist Butch Belair. Watch his process of making a small watercolor painting of subway architecture in his sketchbook. This film was made by Danny Gregory, Tommy Kane and Jack Gregory. Enjoy.

To El and Back: a film about Butch Belair from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

Art Exploration students had a chance to do a free choice project after finishing the watercolor unit. They made a watercolor painting and then doodles all over it with black permanent markers. This is also a fun thing to work on if you have some free time in the art room! It’s easy to do.
Tape your watercolor paper down to a board or piece of cardboard using drafting tape (This will help to keep the paper flat and provides a nice white border at the end. you can also use masking tape…just be sure to stick it on your jeans first to make it less tacky, ensuring it will not rip your project when you remove the tape at the end). Paint with watercolors any way you like…some people prefer to do a quick free-form painting while others do intricate grids and shapes by masking off shapes and remasking new shapes. Keep in mind that the black sharpie shows up differently on light and dark areas. Wait for your painting to dry and then doodle away with your sharpie!

The first Kiva Club meeting will take place on January 25 at 7:30 am in the Art room. All are welcome to come and learn more about how we will be raising funds to lend to the working poor all over the world through the microfinancing website www.kiva.org


To join the LHS lending team, go to http://kiva.org/invitedto/lhs_kiva_club/by/laura4168

Japanese Artist Riusuke Fukahori paints three-dimensional looking goldfish by painting on multiple layers of flat resin creating an ultra realistic look.

An oldie but goodie–Shepard Fairey- The first museum survey of this RISD Alum’s work was at ICA Boston in 2009. Watch his process here!

Check out this video made by Zack. It shows the process of our art students painting a mural in the Unified Arts hallway of our school during the 2008/9 school year. Collaborative Art at its best! This winter, I am thrilled to let you know that LHS alumna and current MassArt student Arianna is returning to LHS to add to the mural. Her design consists of imagery related to fine art and the creative spirit…stay tuned for more updates and photos in the coming months…

Boyertown Art Advocacy from DomJoseph on Vimeo.

Bjarke Ingels was awarded Innovator of the Year in Architecture by The Wall Street Journal Magazine. Here’s a brief video about his “pragmatic utopian” architecture theory.

The article can be found at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204644504576653421385657578.html?mod=WSJ_ArtsEnt_LifestyleArtEnt_6

This creative “Electric Proms” video is a 30 second spot for BBC Radio 2, directed and designed by Brand New School.

BBC “Electric Proms” from Brand New School on Vimeo.

I just came across this video as we finish up the recycled art projects in Visual Design. Richard and Judith Lang have been collecting plastic debris from Kehoe Beach in California ever since their first date. They make interesting art from what they find and call attention to plastic pollution in oceans at the same time. You can find out more about their work at www.beachplastic.com.

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

This music video was PAINSTAKINGLY made with 2,000 individual watercolor paintings, frame by frame. Directed and illustrated by Irina Dakeva. AMAZING!

Breakbot – Baby I’m Yours (feat. Irfane) – HD from Ed Banger Records on Vimeo.

Hudson – Against The Grain from Dropbear on Vimeo.

keep drawing from studio shelter on Vimeo.

What is Creativity? What is the difference between divergent thinking and convergent thinking? How can we help the students of today become the creative problem solvers of tomorrow? All this and more right here!:

The Alphabet 2 from n9ve on Vimeo.

Video directed by Alessandro Novelli, cinematography by Giulia Arantxa Novelli, animated by Andrea Gendusa and Alessandro Novelli, and set design by Mario Arcadu.

“The Alphabet 2″…is a horn book video experiment—is a developmental spelling—video where each character visually represents the meaning of the word itself. Playing with different techniques and materials into little and big spaces, but always focusing on Helvetica font’s proportions. A collection of words in a delightful spelling-video. (Excerpt taken from Vimeo)

Here’s a gorgeously simple illustrated video from France to advertise Hutchinson’s “Serenity” 100% puncture proof bike tires….sometimes black and white is all you need…

Hutchinson Serenity from fortiche studio on Vimeo.

Local artist Nathalie Miebach explores the relationship between science, art and music in her sculptures. Hear her explain more about her ideas and how she makes sculptures based on weather data in this ted.com video.

Two class periods… Two sheets of 18″ x 24″ white paper, scissors and a glue stick…..what kind of interesting three-dimensional sculpture were our teams able to create? Here are the results from Visual Design class…Wow!

Thanks to C. Chang for the project idea.

Students in Visual Design completed Design Challenge #1 yesterday in class. The challenge:
Work in a group of 2-3 students….Use 20 index cards and a pair of scissors to create a freestanding, three-dimensional sculpture without using any adhesives.
The groups had about 45 minutes to complete the challenge. Check out their results!