Art project connects USC students
Jacob Calvin Meyer/The Almanac
Streams fourth-graders from Angela Stevenson’s art club and Upper St. Clair High School students from Ericka Valentine’s 3D printing class combined for an art collaboration project.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/The Almanac
Hanna Pribanic, a senior at Upper St. Clair, interacting with the fourth grade students.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/The Almanac
Streams fourth graders examine the monsters.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/The Almanac
One of the monsters the 3D printing students at Upper St. Clair High School made to bring to life the drawings of fourth-grade art club students at Streams Elementary School.
One of the monsters the 3D printing students at Upper St. Clair High School made to bring to life the drawings of fourth grade art club students at Streams Elementary School.
One of the monsters the 3D printing students at Upper St. Clair High School made to bring to life the drawings of fourth grade art club students at Streams Elementary School.
One of the monsters the 3D printing students at Upper St. Clair High School made to bring to life the drawings of fourth grade art club students at Streams Elementary School.
One of the monsters the 3D printing students at Upper St. Clair High School made to bring to life the drawings of fourth grade art club students at Streams Elementary School.
The students in Streams Elementary’s fourth-grade art club won’t need to check their closets for monsters anymore.
By partnering with 3-D Studio Art students at Upper St. Clair High School, the fourth-graders’ imaginary monsters were recently brought to life in a collaborative project.
The 50 art club students split up into groups of three or four students to draw a monster, including creative characteristics like a disco ball, pink fur and spikes.
Isabelle Donnelly, Eden Elkoni and MaryEllen Kobeski teamed up to draw a creative, multifaceted monster.
Photo courtesy of Tina Vojtko
One of the monsters the 3D printing students at Upper St. Clair High School made to bring to life the drawings of fourth grade art club students at Streams Elementary School. The drawing was done by Isabella Donnelly and MaryEllen Kobeski, fourth graders at Streams.
“Our monster was a troll-type monster, so we incorporated the fangs to make it scary but we also wanted it to be cute so we had the overalls too,” Donnelly said.
The designs were then given to Erika Valentine’s 3-D Studio Art class at Upper St. Clair to “bring to life” using clay and mixed media materials.
“It’s just interesting to see what the fourth graders come up with,” Valentine said. “That creativity that kind of gets lost as they get older, bringing some of that back to the high school kids to show them what their imagination used to be like.”
Valentine’s class then visited the art club on Jan. 26 to present the kids their monsters, which Kobeski said was her favorite part of the project.
“I loved how we got to design and see (the monster) in real life,” Kobeski said. “It was really nice to put something on a piece of paper and see it made to life.”
Angela Stevenson, an art teacher at Streams and the faculty leader of the art club, said partnering with the high school students is “powerful.”
“They can see their planning and collaboration and how the problem solving that takes place here then is created at the high school,” Stevenson said. “They were excited the (high school students) included all of the details and-features that were part of their creations, because that was important to them.”
Valentine enjoyed seeing her high school students in a different setting at Streams.
Jacob Calvin Meyer/The Almanac
Jacob Calvin Meyer/The Almanac
Streams fourth-graders examining the monsters.
“Seeing the way they interact is a completely different side of them that I ended up seeing today than when they’re with students their own age (was rewarding),” Valentine said.
Hanna Pribanic, a senior in Valentine’s class, said seeing the fourth-graders’ reactions was the best part of the project.
“I was kind of expecting more simple ideas. When I think of a monster, what I would draw, it would be much different than that,” Pribanic said. “All their little details were challenging at times to be able to put together, but it was really interesting and nice to make for them.”
Valentine said the project is good for both her students and the elementary school students, as it re-establishes the importance of creativity in all students.
“In elementary school, kids are very open no matter where they are or what others think of them,” Valentine said. “As kids move on to middle school, they care what their friends think and they don’t want to be judged. As they go on to high school, they’re even more guarded and are really worried what kids are thinking. Seeing what fourth-graders come up with makes (the high school students) a little more open to trying things they wouldn’t be open to trying otherwise.”
Stevenson said the art club is an opportunity to build the “self-esteem and imagination” of her students.
Some of the kids who maybe don’t feel as strong in other subjects, they get to shine here,” Stevenson said. “The sense of pride I saw on their faces when they got to see their monsters was amazing.”