SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT: PORTRAIT OF A PET PAT O’CONNOR, Upper School Art Teacher
Ms. O’Connor assigned an art project to the 6th-grade boys that combined the love of masterworks and the love of their pets.
I AM SO GRATEFUL TO THE MANY COMMUNITY MEMBERS who sent articles on online museum exhibits to visit virtually during shelter-in-place. This got me—thinking about master artworks that could be viewed from the couch. I believe, as most surely do, that it is important to continuously expose student artists to the broad arena of masterful artworks from the past and present. This exposure enables students to engage in critical analysis of how artists organize the elements and principles of art to express important messages visually. The theme of “pets” and the thread of “humor” running through this assignment certainly made the viewing of art relevant to our middle school-aged students, as these themes are truly close to their hearts. This sixth -grade assignment allowed the boys to exit their enclosed COVID-19 spaces into the world of the imagination, and to take their pets or stuffies along with them. By copying these artworks and having fun doing so, the students experienced, through their own hands, how artists organize space, line, color, texture, and shape to create visual messages. These days, the boys are asked to re-imagine much of their lives from school to sports to socialization. However, transfor- mation itself is not all bad. For instance, something culturally familiar, like Johannes Vermeer’s painting of “The Girl with the Pearl Earring,” can be lovingly re-imagined to “Pug with the Pearl Earring.” In this re-imagining, the original piece develops more meaning to the student artist and his transfor- mation—a new, more powerful meaning. My students have much to learn through the study of the masters, and this assignment offered a delightful venue for this type of exploration.
Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Velvet Beret by Matty Parkes '22
Back Cover: Room in San Francisco by Michael Tom ’22 Inspiration—Edward Hopper’s Room in Brooklyn
The Pug with the Pearl Earring by Michael Kelley ’22 Inspiration—Johannes Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring
4 | CATHEDRAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS
FALL 2020 • RED & GOLD | 5
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