F.A.M.E. for September
September’s Fine Arts Mini Experience (FAME) was taught during the week of September 23rd - 26th and featured the American artist William Harnett’s “My Gems” and the American composer Edward MacDowell’s music “To a Wild Rose”.
Students carefully studied the artwork of Harnett, and discussed the elements of art used to create his still life compositions. They were asked to consider what special “gems” they might include in such a still life. Also discussed was Harnett’s unbelievable ability to trick the eye, using trompe l’oeil in his paintings. We got to see some examples of local trompe l’oeil murals, as well.
Our composer, Edward MacDowell was the first internationally known American composer, and he wrote “To a Wild Rose” to celebrate his love of nature. He loved nature so much, in fact, that he and his wife created the Mac Dowell artist’s colony in the woods of New Hampshire over one hundred years ago, which is still in existence today.
While listening to MacDowell’s composition, students were asked to visualize how melody may form an interesting pattern in a song through repetition. We used colored blocks, and hummed along to determine when each melody changed and then repeated.