Create a colorful, site-specific outdoor installation with professional artists Anna Podris and Keith Norval. We will study amoebas, algae, plankton and bacteria. Students will explore drawing, painting, and sculpture as they create a large abstract amoeba with acrylic paint on wood. The whimsical amoebas will add color to your school grounds which will hang on strips in groupings or will be attached to rebar in columns. This project is relevant to all grades studying biology. We will examine the visual appearance and parts and structure of single celled organisms. These cells often have fun abstract shapes and unusual color patterns that lend themselves to an abstract painting/sculpture. Students will make the connection between science and creativity as they plan the shape, colors and composition of their cells. To enhance the student's exploration of abstract art we will study artists from the past who have used amoeba like shapes in their paintings such as Miro and Kandinsky.
Anna Podris and Keith Norval, both Savannah College of Art and Design graduates, are a husband and wife art team who are very active in both the local arts scene and in art education. They have taught summer art classes for many years at Artspace, where they have their studio. They also teach at Pullen and Cary art centers as well as the NCMA. Both are professional painters and have taught mural painting, sculpture, sewing, printmaking, bookmaking and various mixed media classes. They find that working with kids regularly helps keep them inspired in the studio. Their philosophy is to get kids excited by giving them tools to create and creative freedom to explore.