Young Artists at SIS Embrace the Challenge

Originally, Giuliana DeMartino intended her clay creation to be a ramen bowl. She decided the shape wasn’t right — not so wide, definitely too tall — so it’s now a flower pot.

To fulfill the assignment, the fifth-grader has worked on creating coils to build and decorate the pot, twisting the clay into unique designs. She will soon add a finishing touch: dog ears or bunny ears.

“I thought it would be a cute touch,” DeMartino said. “It will probably be bunny ears, though. I have bunnies in my backyard at home.”

DeMartino is one student in a group of young artists at SIS who have embraced challenges and allowed themselves to run with their inspirations. The class, which consists of 14 fifth-graders, meets two mornings a week prior to school and tests the students with advanced work.

So far, the projects have included stuffed animal sketches, watercolor paintings of a sneaker and a sculpture built out of egg cartons.

“It’s fun because you get to do art and it’s a lot of very cool projects,” fifth-grade student Aden Silk said. “It’s a little more advanced than our regular art class.”

The students auditioned for the class in December. Their work was evaluated based on a scoring rubric, which considered their skill and willingness to push themselves.

“They are students who have a high level of interest in art and the skills to match it,” said Meghan Gioffe, the art teacher at SIS.

“It’s fantastic,” Gioffe said. “For instance, they are making beautiful coils out of clay already — even though they just learned how to make them.”

Students haven’t been shy about their desire to learn new techniques. Those challenges are exactly what they hoped to experience. Some of their work was also on display at district’s annual Festival of the Arts.

“I really enjoy it,” DeMartino said. “I don’t like doing projects that are too easy.”