A few "sneaky peeks" for the craft sale...

Shibori binding... and the craft sale is a'comin'...

We learned some shibori techniques for our craft sale napkins. The bound fabric in the top picture aligns with the pattern it made in the bottom picture.

Upper school technical drawing lessons...

We're doing some value studies and blind contour continuous line drawings of our hands.

Kindergarten Ecoprints!

Well, we played around a little... different plants, arranged on the pre-treated paper.  With a little rusty vinegar spray and a little heat, these gorgeous prints emerged!  No two are alike.  Students will be bringing these home next week. 

Welcome Back!

It is another wonderful year at C. W. Henry School!  This year we also welcome Luke Desmone to the art classroom as our Artist Year fellow.  He brings a world of fine art expertise, and will be leading wheel throwing instruction as well as assisting with art lessons throughout the year.  We also are adding an auction event for collaborative artwork made in grades k-5, details to come.

Note: All upper school students will need a sketchbook this year, sizes 8x10 - 9x12.  Spiral bound preferred.

As always - thank you families and community for all you do to support our arts program!  Stay tuned for pictures of our great work!

Sincerely,
Amanda Johnson Caucci
marajohnson@philasd.org
National Board Certified Art Teacher
Charles W. Henry School

Some ceramic necklaces...

Some pinch pot painting...

We started with planning a design: there should be a bit of personal narrative in the piece, but a little symbolism to hide it...and then students created a pendant from that idea.  What was ultimately graded for this project was not the work itself but the accompanying reflection sheet.

2019 annual art show

Once again, I was so thrilled to see all of our recent artworks hung as a collective whole.   It's so inspiring to see the students' hard work from another school year pay off.  Parents were so excited to see what their kiddos have been up to!  We had food, music, and a lot of beautiful artwork.

8th grade masks

Dye na flow silk

4th grade ceramic cupcakes

Students made a pinch pot bottom and pressed into a mold, then created a coil pot top for the frosting. It was a wonderful lesson and now students have a functional vessel as well! LOTS of youngsters snuck up to see if they were "real"...they looked delicious!

Shibori cotton scarves

Incredible!  We are gearing up for a fashion unit next year!  Students did an amazing job with these, and Henry school would love to expand on this to dyeable clothing.

Silk shibori

Oh my goodness the fun we had making these!!! 

 Students were each given a piece of raw silk and then allowed to shibori that silk using a variety of items to create areas of resist - rubber bands, stones, paper clips, hair pins, clothes pins, etc. Then students put their silk in the kool aid dye bath. After about 10 mins, silks were rinsed and students removed their items and saw their gorgeous pieces. Amazing! Some classes dyed twice for a layered color effect, and we will definitely be doing more of that next year. 

 Thank you PTA for the grant to support this lesson!!!

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