After studying the history of the pointillism medium and the famous artists who pioneered it, the students made their own landscape paintings in the technique. Unlike Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and Maximillien Luce, who used paint on canvas, the students in Mr. Biondolillo's class made their paintings digitally, on an iPad app called Paper by 53. Some students painted places that they knew, some painted landscapes from a movie, and others created a scene all their own, each one made by grouping hundreds of small, colorful dots..
Grid Portraits
What began with a lesson on caricatures folded into learning about some of the great portrait artists in history. The students surveyed the different techniques and styles of artists like Frida Khalo, Leonardo Da Vinci and Marc Chagall before making their own portrait drawings in a technique made famous by Chuck Close. The students divided up a sheet of paper into a grid, drew the same grid over a photograph and copied the contents of each box one at at time.
Pop Art Villain Paintings
Around Halloween, Mr. Biondolillo taught the class about pop art, and the artists that made it famous. After going over popular series like "Bunk!" and artists like Andy Warhol, Mr. Biondolillo challenged the students to choose their favorite fictional villain. They would then paint this villain on canvas in the style of Andy Warhol's prints. They had to paint the character traditionally, in grayscale, using complimentary colors to the original, and one free choice. These are acrylic on canvas panel.
Art Nouveau Tiles
This project is so popular that it is taught to all freshmen at St. Francis Prep. After learning the history of the art nouveau movement, the students are tasked with creating paintings on tiles the go with the themes and styles of that period. Some students chose to use all four tiles to create one image, some chose to spread two images over two tiles, and others chose to paint a different image on each one. Acrylic on ceramic tiles.
Venetian Masks
One of the most enjoyable times of the year can often be the most challenging - the Lenten season. In preparation for this time, Mr. Biondolillo taught his class about the traditions of Mardi Gras and the Carnival of Venice. The students were then tasked with designing and then making their own versions of traditional Carnivale masks out of plaster gauze, which they sculpted and then decorated as they wished.
Action Figures
Whether or not we outgrow them, we all start out our lives playing with toys. Among the most popular types of toys are action figures - posable figurines that have eclipsed the original concept of being made for play and become renowned as tiny figural sculptures. The students in Mr. Biondolillo's class learned to design their own action figures by sculpting model magic over the stationary parts of a wooden artist's manikin, and then decorating and painting them. The results, seen here, are full of excitement.