Abington Senior High School was founded in 1956 and today is a three year comprehensive high school located approximately five miles north of Philadelphia in a suburban residential area. The Senior High School has an enrollment of 1748 students who come from a variety of community settings and socioeconomic levels. Abington Senior High 2016-2017 enrollment was 1748. The total number of faculty assigned to the senior high school is 156.
The Art Department at Abington Senior High School has four full time faculty members who are committed to furthering the artistic and academic growth of the students. The ASHS curriculum is comprised of Art Major Courses, Advanced Placement Courses, Honors Courses, as well as a variety of semester Art electives such as Darkroom Photography, Ceramics, Painting, Digital Photography, Printmaking, Drawing, Painting, and Design. The Art Department focuses on teaching the basic fundamentals of drawing and design while providing students with projects that nurture their concepts and problem solving skills.
Portraits – Every year each class completes a portrait drawing. In the Drawing Course and the Art I Major course students learn the basic proportions of the face and complete a realistic portrait drawing. In the higher level courses students create portraits that experiment more with concept, technique, and media.
Still Lifes – Still Life drawing is the foundation for the drawing courses at Abington Senior High School. In the junior and senior art major classes, students create still life paintings as well as drawings, to gain an understanding of color, composition, and painting techniques. Drawing objects from life teaches students how to actively observe nuances as well as how to design a dynamic composition while working with simple objects.
Ceramics and Sculpture – With clay as the primary medium, students learn a wide range of techniques from hand-building with coil, pinch and slab to gaining proficiency on the potter’s wheel. Projects are paced and structured in a way that builds student skill and confidence while gaining a thorough understanding of the ceramic process. Student assignments range from functional objects to figurative sculptural and conceptual works.
Photography Projects – Students in the Digital Photography and Photography Program learn both technical and conceptual skills that are applied to each assignment. For example, in one assignment, students are challenged to create photographs using everyday scenes that tell a story about their lives and neighborhoods. Another project that focuses on lighting, students show how light can be used to reveal details that “tell a story.” The students learn about and gain inspiration from noted photographers such as Garry Winogrand, Dorothea Lange, Roy DeCarava and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Abington Senior High School
Grade: 12
Art Teacher: Richard Metz
Project: Charcoal Portraits, Chalk Pastel Portraits, Oil Painting Self Portraits, Still Life Oil Paintings, Watercolor Still Life Paintings, Big Head Tempera Paintings
Artists:
- Rachel Allen – Halloween Portraits – Graphite
- Amanda Anderson – Figure Portrait – Ink and Watercolor
- Alex Beil – Head – Chalk Pastel
- Alex Beil – Still Life – Watercolor
- Juan Castillo – Head – Chalk Pastel
- Juan Castillo – Still Life – Oil
- Zoe Ernst – Still Life – Oil
- Lora Etienne – Mythological Figure – Watercolor and Gouache
- Grace Fiorella – Still Life – Watercolor
- Abby Harper – Big Head – Tempera
- Samantha Krauss – Still Life – Watercolor
- Lauryn Levette – Mr. Turner – Chalk Pastel
- Hailey Marcotte – ‘Head’ – Charcoal
- Erin McDonald – Self Portrait – Oil
- Dylan McDonigal – Self Portrait Figure – Oil
- Cassidy Piekielek – Big Head – Tempera
- Zach Simon – Mr. P – Chalk Pastel
- Zach Simon – Self Portrait – Oil
- Max Smith – Still Life – Oil
- Heather Trinh – Self Portrait – Charcoal
Abington Senior High School
Grade: 10, 11, 12
Art Teacher: David Ferro
Project: Sculpture, Ceramics Work, and Portrait Drawings
10th Grade Artists:
- Jordan Champalou – 3 Wheel Thrown Vessels – Ceramic
- Molly Kumor – Self Portrait – Ink Stamp
- Calum Taft-Lockard – Mind = Blown – Ceramic and Mixed Media
11th Grade Artists:
- Gabriela Balmaceda – Golden Heart – Ceramic and Mixed Media Surface
- Samantha Cherry – A Woman is More than the Sum of Her Parts – She is in there
- Somewhere – Ceramics
- Elisabetta DiSalvo – Ying and Yang – Ceramic and Acrylic Paint
- Justin Gamble – Self Portrait – Mixed Media
- Joe Nixon – Shadow (Self-Portrait) – Mixed Media
- Maggie Purtell – Geode – Ceramic and Gold Leaf) and Watering Hole – Ceramic Vessel
12th Grade Artists:
- Richard Cardoso – Hermanos – Ceramic and Mixed Media
- Emmaline Good – Sgraffito Vessels (2) – Ceramic
- Ian Hogg – 3 Wheel Thrown Vessels – Ceramic
- Grace Kelly – Untitled – Ceramic and Mixed Media
- Stefanie Love – Love – Ceramic
- Anna McDonough – Heart of Gold – Ceramic and Gold Leaf
- Elizabeth Titano – Family Dog – Ceramic
Abington Senior High School
Grade: 10, 11, 12
Art Teacher: Stephen Lupo
Project: Photography
10th Grade Artists:
Jeffrey Hill – Untitled – Film Photography
Students viewed the work of noted street photographers such as Garry Winogrand and Dorothea Lange. They were challenged to photograph everyday scenes from their own neighborhoods and lives. Here the unusual composition places the viewer at the center of the action.
11th Grade Artists:
Kristopher Brown – Untitled – Film Photography
Students viewed the work of street photographers such as Roy DeCarava and Henri Cartier-Bresson. They were challenged to photograph everyday scenes from their own neighborhoods and lives. Inspired by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “Decisive Moment” the students attempted to maintain an “invisible presence” as much as possible while photographing their scenes. In this photograph the film was also “pushed” to achieve a “grainy” effect.
Olivia Cain – “Branching Out” – Film Photography
Reflections are a powerful element in photography. For this assignment students were asked to explore various ways in which reflections could be incorporated into a portrait photograph. In this photograph the “bottom to top” motion of the subject and the reflections initially challenge the viewer’s visual perceptions. The nearly symmetrical composition however works to stabilize our viewpoint.
Selena Leung – “A Part of Nature” – Film Photography
Inspired by the work of photographers like Jerry Uelsmann, students were asked to make a “double exposed” print. This photograph combined a previously photographed portrait with a landscape negative.
Hailey Plantarich – “Sam” – Film Photography
Students photographed a series of portraits using controlled (as opposed to available) lighting. The goal of this lighting exercise was to show how lighting can be used to reveal details that “tell a story.” In this photograph, the student attempts to use lighting to show the personal character and reveal the “human story” of the sitter.
12th Grade Artists:
Nick Cline – “Self Portrait” – Film Photography
Cubism was an early 20th-century art movement in which single point perspective was abandoned and use was made of simple geometric interlocking shapes and planes. For this assignment students viewed a series of Cubist inspired portraits and were asked to reinterpret Cubism in their own way. In this portrait there was an attempt made to keep each individual photograph interesting and distinct in its own right. In addition, a light source was maintained from right to left to maintain visual interest.
Maddie Hill – “Jeffrey” – Cyanotype
A cyanotype is a photographic process that produces a vivid cyan-blue print. Discovered in 1842, this process was used in the 19th and early 20th century to make copies of drawings. They were often referred to as blueprints. This portrait began with a print that was deliberately elongated in the darkroom and then combined with the Cyanotype process to give it a blue tonality and an Expressionist effect.
Megan McCarthy – “Austin” – Film Photography
Students were asked to apply Expressionist ideas to their photography. This triple portrait combines a time lapse technique using a slow shutter speed to create a sense of motion. The film was also “pushed” for higher contrast and the image was deliberately distorted during the printing process. These techniques gave the images a sense of time, motion, and distortion to heighten the emotional state of the subject.
Abington Senior High School
Grade: 10, 11, 12
Art Teacher: Nicole A. Caracciolo
Project: Portraits and Still Lifes
10th Grade Artists:
- Amber Gibson – Triptych – Colored Pencil
- Adam Gradess – Self Portrait – Chalk Pastel
- Erin Lees – La Niña – Oil Paint
- J M Peters – Self Portrait or Portrait – Mixed Media
- Olivia Schrecengost – Still Life Plants – Watercolor
11th Grade Artists:
- Zoe Brady – Beat – Chalk Pastel
- Allison Britt – Still Life – Acrylic Paint
- Rebecca Burke – Brain Stuff – Woodcut Print
- Maya Burman – Self Portrait – Reductive Monotype
- Mia Curtis – Self Portrait – Pencil
- Renee Decembrino – Portrait – Oil Pastel
- Sophie Dobson – Portrait of Andrew – Pencil
- Joanna Eyre – Self Portrait – Ink Drawing
- Abby Kim – Self Portrait – Pencil
- Kelsey Kushnir – Self Portrait – Colored Pencil
- Sophia Lucente – Portrait – Reductive Monotype
- Fiona Lynskey – Still Life – Acrylic Paint
- Bria Mack – Demise of the Universe – Acrylic Paint
- Aliany Mendez – Sun in my Eyes – Pencil
- Rebecca Morris – Portrait of Becca – Reductive Monotype
- Bridget O’Neill – Wrinkles in Time – Mixed Media
- Christopher Stein – Portrait of Bella – Reductive Monotype
- Maya Stevenson – Portrait of Hannah – Pencil
- Erin Touey – Girl, Interrupted – Mixed Media
- Tierra Veney – Self Portrait – Watercolor
12th Grade Artists:
- Rachel Allen – Untitled – Linoleum Print
- Emilie Geibel – Sloth – Watercolor
- Rachel Levin – Fred Beans – Silk Screen Print
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