The 7th graders who are in Visual Art this trimester have been working on self-portraits. But instead of having them just draw their faces, art teacher Mrs. Anderson has given the assignment a bit of a twist. One half of the face is what you would expect - a representational self-portrait. The other half of the face, however, is symbolic. The symbolic half of the portrait reveals something about the artist's personality, dreams, or interests; it is a portrait of his or her alter ego. The finished products are fascinating! Check them out below!
Earlier this fall, the Lower School Chorus wrote a song titled, "I Love
Christmas" and recorded it to be entered into the B101.1 Christmas Choir
Competition. Please also tune into B101.1 and vote for our choir!!!
Information about this competition can be found HERE
"I Love
Christmas"
Visiting Artist works with 7th and 4th grades Read More
Marie Elcin was our Artist in Residence on October 25 and 27. She worked with the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th grades. Ms. Elcin is a fiber artist from Philadelphia who is currently pursuing a Masters of Art Education at Tyler School of Art. She demonstrated both modern and traditional embroidery techniques, and worked on a variety of projects with Upland Students. With the 3rd grade, she helped with the embroidered maps on the sails for their replica explorer ships. The 4th grade worked with her to make samplers similar to the ones early Quaker settlers in PA made. As an extension of their study of world geography, the 5th graders did some Indian mehndi-inspired embroidery. Finally, the 7th graders created modern versions of traditional mourning samplers. Click here to view pictures of the 4th and 7th graders working with Ms. Elcin:
The Arts at Upland are off to a great start. Click HERE to watch a video of the 2nd grade playing the song "Charlie Over the Ocean." The class first learned it as a song and then played the game. Next, they learned how to play the melody using the C Pentatonic Scale. Finally, an ostinato and finger cymbals were added to create texture.
On Saturday, May 21, the members of Upland's Upper School Chorus and the Vocal Ensemble traveled to New Jersey to participate in the "Music in the Parks" choral competition. After the competition in the morning, they enjoyed time at Six Flags Great Adventure; the awards ceremony was held later in the day. Upland brought home a first place trophy for our division! Click HERE for pictures.
The Chester County Arts Association is auctioning off nineteen rocking chairs decorated by student artists at the Rock the Arts fundraiser. All proceeds from the auction will be donated back into the CCAA's theater and art program for next year. One of the chairs (pictured below) was painted by 16 Upland students: 9th graders Ross, Kimi, Sacha, Tom, James, Marshall, Ian, Joe, Paul, and 6th graders Sam, Hannah, Meriwether, Lydia, Avery, Will, and Max. Click HERE to bid on the chair. Bidding opened on May 7th at 8:00am and will go until May 23rd at 4:00pm.
The 5th grade composed and sang this song for their classmate Hannah, who was in the hospital for a while. She is doing well and is back at school now. See the video below to view the students singing 'Hannah's Song', or click the audio player to just listen to it.
Kindergarten performs a 'sound story.' While Mrs. M reads, the students provide sound effects. Each sound is tied to a specific word in the story. For example, every time that Mrs. M reads the word, 'argument,' students beat the drums.
Student Work on display at Kennett Square Starbucks Read More
A selection of 8th grade grid portrait drawings and 4th grade relief prints is on display at the Kennett Square Starbuck for the month of February. Here are a few photos - but be sure to stop by, enjoy a cup of coffee, and check these out in person!
The 5th grade's presentation of Alice in Wonderland on January 20, 2011 was yet another wonderful drama production at Upland. In addition, however, this show provided evidence of the strength of Upland's entire Arts program; the visual arts program should be given credit for inspiring the Upper School students who collaborated to create the set. Eighth grader Lydia Fisher was one of the designers, and Emma Hutchison (in grade 9), Jane Yeatman, Ali Corkran, Meredith Mountain, Charlotte Fegely, and Asya Gerards of 8th grade, along with 7th graders Gianna Gonzalez, Katie Kozelka, and Chase Bailkin painted the backdrops and cubes used on stage. This was a volunteer effort on their part; the ten Upper School students gave up their tutorial time to work on the project. It was time well spent!
The set was made up of several "flats" and a number of wooden cubes, which functioned as seats, tables, and risers, depending on the scene. The overall look was psychedelic, matching the absurdity of Lewis Carrol's Wonderland, with the central panel, the tree, representing the garden both at Alice Liddell's home and in Wonderland.
The 2010 Unionville Community Fair was held October 1 - 3. Each year there are many exhibitor contests, with classes in everything from vegetables and flowers, to cooking, handcrafts, photography and art. The Upland art teachers selected some special pieces of work from the first month of school to send to the fair. Skylar McKenna entered a lovely watercolor landscape. Ashley Miller's self-portrait won first place in her class; Tucker Hunter placed second with his self-portrait. Laura Smith took a first place ribbon for her Van Gogh-inspired sunflowers, while Alix Gow earned an award of merit for hers. Ashley Friday garnered a second place award for her cave art-inspired drawing of a horse. And finally, Anna Hionis won first place in her class for her torn paper landscape, which the judges also named "BEST in SHOW." Congratulations to all the Upland artists who participated!
Self-portraits from the 2010 Unionville Community Fair
Visiting Artist Shares Art and Culture of China Read More
Upland was fortunate to once again welcome Hua Hua Zhang as our visiting artist. She worked with the 8th grade from Jan 25th -29th, making Chinese Palace Lanterns. The students had to construct the body of the lantern, decorate it, and learn about Chinese calligraphy in order to create the panels in the lanterns.
Robert Dionne, Visiting Artist, Nov. 2-6, 2009 Read More
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
One of the major collaborative Upper and Lower School projects this year
resulted in revisiting an old Upland tradition - Kite Day. The idea for
Kite Day came about when our current 2-D art teacher Kathryn Humphrey met
former art teacher Emmy Krick at the faculty Christmas luncheon. Kathryn
and 3-D art teacher Terry Anderson organized the activities and upper and
lower school classes came together, first to make the kites, then to fly
them. Students and teachers alike enjoyed the project and even though the
appointed day (April 8) was a little colder and more blustery than
originally envisioned, everyone had a wonderful time. Clearly Kite Day is
back to stay!
Hua Hua Zhang Captivates Lower Schoolers with her Puppet Magic Read More
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.
What's Happening in the Arts in October? Read More
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.
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. 
Hua Hua Zhang Captivates Lower Schoolers with
her 
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.
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.
First graders learned how medieval artisans created fancy, illuminated letters and in their study of line and shape, created their own illuminated letters.
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.
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.
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.
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. 
