Melrose kids’ art takes center stage



From seashells to the solar system, more than 1,000 pieces of artwork by elementary students will depict a diverse array of subjects using a diverse array of mediums.

Teacher Erica Connolly will unveil the exhibit, titled “Art in Motion,” at 6 p.m. tomorrow at Melrose School. Artwork by her students, which Connolly called “super important” to showcase, will be displayed throughout the building, from the hallways to the multipurpose room.

“It validates that they’re so creative and have so much to say,” she said. “We want to celebrate that creativity.”

The exhibit will showcase work students at Melrose, from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, have created throughout the academic year. Since September, these students have been busy in the school’s art studio completing four, five or six pieces for the show.

“It’s a culmination of our whole year of work,” Connolly said.

Connolly introduced the concept to her classes on the first day. Since then, each grade covered a different aspect of the overall motion theme in the projects they created. Students in prekindergarten focused on motion in the air and sky; kindergartners, motion on land; first-graders, motion underwater; second-graders, motion underground; third-graders, motion in space; and fourth-graders, motion along the coast and the open ocean.

“Every grade level had a different area of the environment,” Connolly said. “They looked at how movement works.”

This will be the first show for Connolly, who was hired after predecessor Janet Kraus retired following the 2018-19 school year, at Melrose. She previously served as the art teacher for Mary R. Fisher Elementary School in Thompson, Conn., where she hosted similar exhibits.

“I always had a big art show every year,” she said. “I was happy to bring it to Melrose.”

Connolly chose the theme based on the STEAM curriculum, which integrates science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Connolly said she has a fascination with incorporating these subjects into artwork.

“It was wonderful to see it come to fruition,” she said.

Wheels in motion

Through these themes of motion, the students worked in different mediums, including ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, watercolor painting, chalk pastel, kinetic art, papier-mâché, drawings and collages. Connolly did not alter the artistic process depending on grade levels.

“A younger artist can do as much as an older artist,” she said. “A lot of the work is process based, so they’re getting experience as they go.”

While kindergartners created watercolor paintings of hot-air balloons using contact paper, first-graders crafted ceramic seashells. Students in the fourth grade painted acrylic landscapes of the Conanicut coast. For that project, the students had carte blanche to choose their scenes, which resulted in depictions of Beavertail, Head’s Beach and Mackerel Cove.

For the second grade’s underground theme, students created collage paintings that conveyed movement. They were then challenged to hide a cardboard tube in the piece using camouflage.

“We put all these different colors together,” second-grader Mark Milligan said. “Then when we were done, we put some cardboard tubes on and rolled them around. It will be fun to find the tubes.”

The third-graders created two models for their space theme, including an extensive mobile depicting the planets in the solar system. They also crafted a scale model of the International Space Station that visitors will be able to enter.

During the process, classes were introduced to the work of two renowned sculptors: Alexander Calder, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient whose kinetic mobiles were powered by air currents and motors, and Dale Chihuly, a glass sculptor known for his sizeable abstract work. These history lessons influence some of the work. For example, the second-graders created clay bowls inspired by Chihuly’s color schemes. They also made suspended paper mobiles influenced by Calder’s designs.

Choosing your medium

Sculpting, Connolly said, allows for “a lot of innovation,” which made it a favored medium among her classes. The practice also allows students to utilize a wide range of materials, including hot glue, wire, tape and cardstock paper.

“Sculptures are always very popular,” she said.

Every student was required to complete a ceramic project, including the pre-kindergarten class that created ceramic wind chimes. In the fourth grade, students created ceramic boats that included a secret compartment for hidden treasure.

Apart from the themes, the students were encouraged by Connolly to create a piece of art independently conceived, using any medium they wanted.

“We’ll have a lot of open-studio work that they created on their own,” Connolly said. “When they’re doing open-studio works, they’re creating the idea for the project and they have to draw on their own interest. They’re finding out what kind of artist they want to be.”

That includes a teepee created by second-grader Todd McDonough.

“We’re taking sticks and we’re laying them up, then we’re putting a round piece of paper around it and we made a door with it,” he said. “It was really creative. We tried a whole bunch of different ways to do it.”

The students also were required to work in their personal sketchbooks, which ultimately included self-portraits, family depictions, still lifes and landscapes. They will continue sketching in these throughout their tenure at Melrose.

In collaboration with the “Art in Motion” exhibit, the parent-teacher organization will provide free ice cream sundaes to the audience.

“I’ve always had an ice cream social with my art shows,” Connolly said. “It makes it a very lovely family event. It’s a free event for everyone. It’s open to the community.”

Connolly said visitors will be able to feel the students’ enthusiasm by viewing their work.

“Our artists are super creative and positive,” she said. “They have a great energy and they’re very prolific artists. They’ve been so busy all year.”