From Nov. 2-6, Mr. Dionne came to Upland and worked with the 7th grade creating a mural which is currently on display in the barn. The mural is a depiction of Upland's campus as it may have been in the 1800's, when it was a working farm.
Robert Dionne lives in West Chester Pennsylvania with his wife and two children. He studied at the Art Institute of Boston. Then he freelanced as a commercial illustrator for various advertising agencies. After working as the head muralist and trompe l'oeil artist for a decorative painting company for 5 years, he started his own decorative painting company, Decorative Art Services, Inc., in 1998. www.decorativeartservices.com
Hua Hua Zhang Captivates Lower Schoolers with
her
Puppet Magic
Chinese puppet artist and performer Hua-Hua Zhang will be the Artist in Residence at Upland from February 23rd through 27th. She will be working with all of the Lower School students, with a focus on the first grade. The students will be learning about Chinese culture, myths and art, while making shadow puppets, dragons and paper cuttings. Zhang's residency will culminate on February 27th with a shadow puppet performance by the 1st grade, and dragon dance by the 2nd and 3rd Grades at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm.
Hua-Hua Zhang graduated from the Beijing Performing Arts Academy where she was trained as a performer in the ancient art of Chinese puppetry. She has toured nationally and internationally with the China Puppet Arts Troupe of Beijing and on her own. She has worked in television and theater, making puppets and performing all over the world.
In 2000 she formed her own nonprofit company, Hua-Hua's Visual Expressions, to continue to develop her vision of the performing arts and to create an art education program to share Chinese culture and puppet art with American audiences and students.
Hua-Hua's Visual Expressions received a Jim Henson Foundation award for creating puppet theater in 2002 and a Fellowship Grant from Pennsylvania Council of the Arts in 2003. For more information, please visit www.visualexpressions.org
We are very excited to welcome Hua-Hua Zhang to Upland, and anticipate a marvelous performance! Please join us on February 27th!
Click here to see a photo gallery of the magical interaction between Hua Hua and her Lower School puppeteers.
2-D Art teacher Kathryn Humphrey will be featuring an "Artist of the Week" and presenting that student with a certificate of recognition at Assembly. The "Artist of the Week's work will be on display in Mrs. Biondi's office. Congratulations to Lydia, our first "Artist of the Week" for her colorful Guatamalan animal.
Currently on display in the Barn Gallery are the following projects: Kindergarten created fall trees as an introduction to printmaking and warm colors.
First graders learned how medieval artisans created fancy, illuminated letters and in their study of line and shape, created their own illuminated letters.
As part of the fall study of Native Americans, second graders learned about the Otomi Indians of San Pueblo and how they used the bark of Amate trees to make paper and create Amate prints, symmetrical designs which were a combination of animal, spiritual and human forms. The Otomi Indians believed that Amate prints brought good health and warded off evil spirits.
Fourth grade learned about the very colorful and decorative wildcats created by Guatemalan artists. Students applied their knowledge of design and color theory while creating their own Guatemalan "wild animals."
As you know many fanciful "beasts" and other amazing pieces are created in Terry Anderson's 3-D Art classes. Mrs. Anderson will be recognizing student creativity in assembly as well, presenting the first "Beast of the Week" award to Ayden for his colorful, fanciful, friendly dragon, which is now on display in the Library.
In addition to the "Beast of the Week," charming pinch pots made by members of the second grade are also on display in the library at this time.
Eighth and ninth grade drama classes are hard at work on their production of Cinderella, which will be presented on November 13 and 14. Students are not only acting, singing and dancing in the Roger's and Hammerstein musical, but also creating the sets and props and learning the technical aspects of production, like the sound and lighting systems.
Sixth and seventh grade drama classes, meanwhile, are engaged in a theater workshop experience, designed to work on vocal quality and projection, movement and character development. This focus in a workshop setting will allow students to become more confident on the stage and in public speaking situations. The sixth and seventh grade workshops will be showcased twice during the school year. The first showcase will be on October 20 at 2:00 pm. Parents and friends are welcome.
Music teacher Guen Finley recently announced the officers for the Upland Chorus: Bryson Deane, President; Eli duPont, Vice President; Lucy Yeatman, Secretary; Katie Hanford, Librarian and Kristen Lindsay and Jane Yeatman, Historians.
Officers for the Upland Vocal Ensemble are Ronja Ojala, President; Lauren Reilly, Vice President; Rachel Wells, Secretary; Greta Dzedzy, Historian and Logan Elvin, Library Assistant
Other exciting news from the music department is that the Upland Chorus and Vocal Ensemble will participate in its first adjudicated choral festival, Music in the Parks, at Hershey Park next May 16.
Visiting Artist Shares Art and Culture of China
