Day 119 - March Madness Turns To Art Madness - Ms. Phillips - MSMS Art

This post first appeared on Ms. Phillips' Blog

The Madness of March is here! This year during March Madness students in art class selected their favorite Celtic player to paint. The large mural is made up of 5 canvases. Every day for the next 2 weeks students in all my classes will be selected to work on the mural. The goal is to complete the painting during the Month of March. Let’s hope the snow does not interfere with this goal! As you can see we are off to a great start!

Day 95 - Great Showing for MSMS students at 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards - MSMS BEAM Blog

This post first appeared on the MSMS BEAM Blog

The MSMS school community should be very proud of the accomplishments of eighteen of its students in this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing competition.  Our regional recognition includes 13 awards for photography and 12 awards for writing.  On average, the Regional and National Scholastic program judges nearly 320,000 original works from students all across America, representing 29 different categories of art and writing.  Gold and Silver Key recipients are invited to attend a regional awards celebration, which will be held on March 17, 2018 at the Cohen Auditorium at Aidekman Art Center on the Tufts University campus. 

Regional art and writing pieces will be exhibited from March 17-25th in Breed hall at Tufts University.  Gold Key winning pieces will now continue on electronically to New York to compete against all the other Gold Key winners from across the country.  At the national level, work can garner a Gold or Silver Medal, and will be announced in mid-March.

It is with extreme pride and pleasure that we showcase the following MSMS students (and a couple of former ones) and their recognized works: 

Zara Ahmed, gr. 8, Honorable Mention, “A Window to the Past”

Ashlyn Biundo, gr. 9, Silver Key, “Untitled”

Keira Coughlin, gr. 8, Honorable Mention, “Ginger Bread”

Navya Garg, gr. 8, Gold Key, “Thirsty”

Mike Woodilla, gr. 7, Honorable Mention, “Proud to be Me”

Paige Mercier, gr. 7, Silver Key, “Portrait of Rachel”

Anika Negi, gr. 8, Honorable Mention, “Raindrops”

Neil Pandit, gr. 11, Silver Key, “Backstage”

Alexis Rigolini, gr. 8, Silver Key, “Coffee Shop Talk”

Caroline Sciarratta, gr. 7, Honorable Mention, “Withered by Time”

Lee Singer, gr. 8, Gold Key, “Holiday Reflections”

Kylie Tortorici, gr. 8, Gold Key, “Thirsty”

Kylie Tortorici, gr. 8, Honorable Mention, “Clear View”

Grade 7 Awards (WRITING)

• Layla Ahmed, Short Story, Honorable Mention, Colorless http://bit.ly/2Es1jSo
• William Curtin, Poetry, Honorable Mention, Winter http://bit.ly/2DRn14Y
• Dina Paul, Flash Fiction, Silver Key, A Hug Goodbye http://bit.ly/2Gw2CQy

Grade 8 Awards (WRITING)

• Zara Ahmed, SciFi/Fantasy, Honorable Mention, Sleep Deprivation And Stranded Demons http://bit.ly/2DPI9Ve
• Akshay Aravind, SciFi/Fantasy, Gold Key, One Man’s Message http://bit.ly/2DRh587
• Sean Gallagher, Humor, Silver Key, A Day In The Life Of A Middle School Art Class http://bit.ly/2Gyir9z
• Elena Latsis, SciFi/Fantasy, Honorable Mention, Desperatis http://bit.ly/2DPx4Yb
• Kara Martin, SciFi/Fantasy, Honorable Mention, Untitled, Unbroken, Unimaginable http://bit.ly/2rVrJZR
• Kasper McIninch, Humor, Silver Key, Psychadelic http://bit.ly/2EsfYg7
• Annabel Willey, SciFi/Fantasy, Silver Key, The Fallen http://bit.ly/2DOMBng
• Sophie Zenkin, Pers. Essay/Memoir, Honorable Mention, How To Get Rich Quick http://bit.ly/2Gx6MId
• Dustin Zhang, SciFi/Fantasy, Silver Key, Chaos’s Plague http://bit.ly/2nokbKE

Day 84 - Old Sneakers Never Die - Ms. Phillips - MSMS Art

Why sneakers?

Diversity is what kept the Spirit of Chuck Taylor sneakers (converse) alive. There is no specific subculture, generation or individual that truly defines Converse All Stars. They do not belong to any particular group or style and that's what makes these sneakers so special and worth drawing. 

The Converse All Star was released in 1917 as a basketball shoe and is still sold today.

Students in 8th Grade worked on creating a composition with the sneakers to draw. They used photoshop to manipulate the colors they would use in their drawings. Drawings were finished using oil pastels. 

Day 78 - Winter Edition of The Marble Collection (HS Arts Magazine) Features MSMS Student Work - Ms. Phillips - MSMS Art

This post first appeared on Ms. Phillips Blog

Once again, Marshall Simonds Middle School students have had more pieces published (8) than any other school represented in the latest edition of The Marble Collection, an outstanding High School level arts magazine.  The mission of The Marble Collection (TMC) is to cultivate creativity and excellence in the arts by engaging teen artists and writers in a publication process that affirms their voices and deepens their learning. Student work is selected from roughly 600 works submitted annually through their website. Participating teens are represented by more than 200 public and private schools and community organizations across the state.

The Marble Collection Magazine is  a juried, professional-quality publication, and the only statewide print-and-online magazine of the arts featuring artwork, photography, poetry, creative writing and spoken-word poetry videos by Massachusetts students in grades 8 to 12.

Congratulations to the following MSMS students and to all students throughout the State who have work published in the Winter 2017 Edition:

• Layla Robinson – My Grandmother, photography
• Sarah Owens     – Lost in the Crowd, photography
• Olivia Perry       – Raindrops on Rose, photography
• Julia Papasodoro – Brad the Artist, photography
• Sydney Craig   – Rose Colors, photography
• Aaron Rippin-  Chalkboard, photography
• Hailey Woods –  From the Roots, photography
• Neil Pandit – 4th of July, photography

MY GRANDMOTHER  – LAYLA ROBINSON

BRAD THE ARTIST – JULIA PAPASODORO

LOST IN THE CROWD  – SARAH OWENS

Day 26 - It’s Been A Long Road! - Ms. Phillips - MSMS Art

This post originally appeared on Ms. Phillips' Blog

After five months, our paintings are finally complete!  Each canvas used 160 fluid ounces of acrylic paint by the hands of over sixty students spanning grades 6-8. In total over 200 hours were spent on student collaboration. Artists worked diligently to meet our initial deadline of June, as we had hoped to have Big Papi finished by the end of school last year. 

Unfortunately, we missed that deadline but finished just in time for playoff Baseball.

Let’s go Red Sox!

Students and teachers at MSMS may view these works as they’re exhibited in our Media Center.

We have  started a NEW painting with the excitement surrounding the return of a certain quarterback. 

Finished Results

                                                         New Painting underway!

Day 134 - Baseball Opening Day - Ms. Phillips - MSMS Art

This post first appeared on Ms. Phillips' Blog 

Can you believe today is Opening Day?  The weather is certainly no indicator this week. For the past thirteen years, students in my art classes have been drawing David Ortiz.  His baseball jersey is a frequent site in the hallways of MSMS from early Spring to late October until Tom Brady and Gronk take over.

This Spring  I have decided to have students collaborate on several large scale paintings celebrating David Ortiz.  In each class we select two students to work on the canvases.  All students in all three grades are helping out on this project.  Students in each grade have completed a painting assignment this year, and now the skills and knowledge acquired are being utilized on a collaborative project.

We are hoping to have paintings finished for Opening Day in Boston, which is April 11th.   Keep the homeruns coming, “Big Papi.”