Verda James sixth-grade artists

by Christi Marsico
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 2:03 PM MDT

For six sixth-graders at Verda James School, the challenge of understanding and incorporating elements of design in art was taken to a new level.

Mary Fair Whitlatch asked her art students in their latest project to balance portrait pictures while focusing on shapes, colors and line proportions while using "clean trash," referring to items such as wrappers or labels.

The students’ final pieces will be on display at the Natrona County Public Library Elementary Art Show until May 9.

"These students are old enough to have free rein and total choice of medium," Whitlatch said.

A variety of portraits, that display character and creativity, were chosen for the art show.

Christopher Hawley, 12, chose to draw a picture of his grandfather, Johnny Bond, who was a popular country music entertainer from the 1940s through the 1960s.

Bond is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He had many hit songs, including "Divorce me C.O.D.," "Ten Little Bottles" and "Hot Rod Lincoln."

Christopher’s grandfather died 20 some years ago.

"I always liked my grandpa and thought it would be cool to draw him," the boy said.

Balancing colors according to the original picture, Christopher implemented squares into his piece. The major principle he learned was that the "eyes are halfway down in the head."

Christopher’s biggest challenge was drawing the nose and mouth.

Titling his piece, "My Grandpa," the student described the project as "amazing."

Eleven-year-old Spenser Dexter chose to portray John F. Kennedy from a Time magazine photograph.

"He looked cool to draw," Spenser said.

Integrating circular Pepsi logos throughout his piece, Spenser knew that J.F.K. was the youngest president to be assassinated and that it happened in Dallas.

He also noted that the young president was hit in three places by one bullet.

According to Spenser, there was a lot to draw, especially when it came to the line proportions on the striped shirt the president was wearing in the picture.

The main art element Spenser learned from this project was "to make a good picture, you have to have balance."

While his biggest challenge was drawing the stripes, in one word he believed this project was "cool."

Amanda Hinchey decided to draw a portrait of her great-grandmother, who had gotten cancer and died in early February.

The picture she chose embodied many details. Amanda decided to give the background a festive Mardi Gras flair because her great-grandma had lived in New Orleans.

Amanda chose to infuse four pieces of Mardi Gras King Cake wrappers in her work, as well as trace the wrappers' shapes and drawing beads in the circles, which added a confetti celebration to the portrait.

Her largest test was drawing her great-grandmother's eyes and teeth.

"It was hard to get the eyes in perfect space," Amanda said.

The main art element she learned was using balance with three different colors and spacing.

Amanda would title the portrait, "Mardi Gras King Cake," and described this artistic experience as "unique."

Brooklyn Moore thought Disney actress AJ Michalka had a deserving portrait to draw, due to do the shading in her face and eyes.

To add to her work, Brooklyn embellished her portrait with three of her favorite kind of Vitamin Water labels.

"AJ probably drinks Vitamin Water too," the girl noted.

The artistic aspect this 11-year-old took away from this assignment was how to balance a picture and "not make things too crowded."

Despite the challenges that she faced while making the triangles balance from labels to shapes, she thought the project was cool.

She would title the piece "AJ Michalka" and described this assignment as "outstanding."

It was her 2-year-old cousin who caught the eye of Kelsey Plessman for the project.

Kelsey picked a picture of her cousin Saige because she thought it would be easier to draw a toddler than someone her own age.

She implemented scrap booking pieces of pink paper with footprints on them into her portrait and decided to balance out the portrait with oval shapes in the background.

Her biggest concern was drawing her cousin's head while the easiest task was to draw Saige's hair and bow.

The artistic lesson that Kelsey took away from this project was to balance the different pinks.

She would title the project "Saige Gracen" and described the assignment as "different."

Thirteen-year-old Austin Abrams had one person in mind for this project, professional motocross and super cross racer, Ricky Carmichael.

Having won three super champions, Carmichael holds the all-time record for wins and Motocross National championships in American Motorcyclist Association competitions.

"He's my hero. I want to be just like him," Austin said.

Gluing Starburst candy wrappers to match the colors in the pro dirt biker's shirt, Austin also had a black and white picture of Carmichael popping out of a Milk Duds box.

"He is sponsored by Milk Duds," the pre-teen explained.

While balancing out square shapes, Austin found drawing Carmichael's head to be the biggest challenge.

Attaching pieces may have been easy, but learning how to draw with the principles of design were the techniques that he took away from the project.

Austin would title the piece "Carmichael, Pro. Dirt Biker" and felt this particular assignment was "good."

Kids incorporating people who mean something to them whether they are family, former presidents or professional dirt bikers has made an impact on these budding artists.

Adding the unique art element of "clean trash" has taken this Kids’ Beat of inventive and sentimental art to a whole new wrap.

E-mail Christi Marsico at christi.marsico@casperjournal.com.

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