Guest artist Alison Vernon, mother of Jayo '01, Deb '04 and Arly '04, works in a hurry, squirting paint out of tubes like ketchup on a burger. Pigments with names like ochre and sienna are mixed with a trowel as if they're about to set up like Sakrete. Suddenly, blended pastes are slobbered on canvas and smeared with bold, confident strokes. Glancing at a photo of trees silouetted by a local pond, she completes a clear rendering in twenty minutes, all the while talking aloud. Now it's our turn.
It's easy to see her children's athleticism in Alison's movement, as she darts from one student's easel to the next...virtually shouting encouragement and praise, as if one artist's accomplishments are victories for all. In fact, everyone is doing very well.
Many of these kids are veterans with oils and water colors, and there's a tendency to over-stroke with the palette knife. "STOP!!" she screams, arriving at several easels. "Perfect!"
Visual art, of course, is really a matter of seeing with perspicacity. Below, in Honors Biology, Jack (top) observes with wonderment as eric identifies paramecia and diatoms.
