Lower School Art Show, 2005
The annual Lower School Art Show, February 24th and 25th, was an opportunity for LREI students to share their art work with others. Everyone got a chance to see how children grow in their art from the Fours to the Fourth Grade.

The Fours showed textured collages. They arranged shapes to make designs, dinosaurs, and themselves. The EKs showed paintings, which included among others, a painting called "Batman and Diane Holding Hands." Luise and Julia's Ks contributed their painted and collaged mural "In the Snow." Brooke and Meibelle's Ks contributed patterned weavings. After speaking with Julie, the Lower School Spanish teacher, about the animals that the Heifer project sends to families, First Graders made almost life-size paper mache models of llamas, a sheep, a goat, a pig and lots of chickens. The Second Grade contributed paper mache sculptures of animals including, flamingos, a kangeroo mouse, dogs, cats, eagles, dinosaurs, horses and an ostrich. The Third Grade, in conjunction with their social studies unit of Native Americans, contributed two models of Native American villages long ago. The children answered the questions, “where do we live?”, “How do we get food?”, and “What are our jobs in the tribe?” by including longhouses, wigwams, hunting and fishing scenes and growing spaces in their models. The Third Grade made ceramic black and white glazed plates and bowls inspired by the Pueblos of the southwest. Some Third Graders also contributed stuffed paper models of Indian people from the Shoshoni, Comanche and Hopi nations and tribes. Fourth Graders displayed observation drawings of themselves and of teachers and administrators in LREI. In conjunction with their study of Immigration, they exhibited their paper mache models of family members who had moved from one country to another.

Children visited the Art Show in class groups and sometimes with their buddies. Some classes had time to reflect together on what they especially liked about some of the art works. Some of the First Graders and Third Graders acted as museum guides. They answered questions about how they worked together and about how their art work was made.

Many levels of learning occurred between these older and younger students who
take such evident pride in their efforts and the resulting work!

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High School Arts Festival
By High School News correspondent Janet Atkinson

Click here for a slide show of the day's events

For many years, the High School has set aside one day to be totally devoted to the arts in order to recognize the important place of the arts in the school curriculum. On this day, we invite members of the LREI community - friends, parents, and alumni, many of whom are prominent in their fields - to come to give three-hour morning workshops. Thus, teachers become students, partaking of the myriad choices available to them. They work alongside their students but in a different way, as learners.

This year, the students had a spectacular range of offerings available to them. The 8th grade joined the High School for the day, and all workshops had students from most if not all grades. The workshops covered all areas of creativity: music, photography, book illustration, painting, video, light sculpture, architecture, drama, frame making, theater, and on and on. A complete list of workshop titles is given below. After lunch the students were treated to a performance by the High School Jazz Band and several workshop leaders who gave us an inspirational show of their talent. Tap dancing, Hip Hop Dancing and lots of music ended the day. Meanwhile, the output of many of the visual arts workshops was on display in the Charlton Street lobby.

This day of workshops not only enhances the work that the arts department does but adds to it by introducing our students to new areas that can only be taught by experts in the field. These talented and generous individuals bring in special equipment along with their particular talents in order to inspire our students. We are grateful for their participation and inspired by their creativity.

The Arts Festival is always a memorable day and frequently recalled as "the best day of the year." Let it remain so!

Workshop titles:
Jersey City Museum/Silkscreening
Experimenting with the Arts of Watercolors
Mona Lisa Comic Book Art
Picture Framing
Solarization
Portrait/Self Portrait Photography
VJ (Vee-Jay) Workshop: Real-time Video
Architectural Visualization, Memorization and Reinterpretation
Light-wire Sculpture
Using Collage to Illustrate Children’s Books
Basic Playwriting
Creative Writing
Physical Comedy and Clowning
Improv Comedy
Intro to Playback and Hip Hop Theater
Music Production Workshop
Instrumental Music Improvisation Workshop
Hip-Hop Dance
Tap Dancing (Tap Dancing)

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