Spring Spectacular Art Exhibition
Check out these beautiful works by our students during the Spring Spectacular Art Exhibition.
Tag: arts
Spring Spectacular year-end recital
What a sensational night! Our Spring Spectacular year-end recital was an absolute triumph, with a nearly sold-out show! Our incredibly talented high school and middle school students delivered outstanding performances that left the audience captivated and amazed. We couldn’t be more proud of their hard work and dedication. Congrats to our amazing students for an incredible performance! ??
The Spring Spectacular at Herbst Theater on June 2, 2023. (Qing Li/HSArts)
Taiwan Updates
Student Life News
March 24, 2023
Our students are enjoying the warmth and humidity of Taiwan. In other words, ‘warmth’ referring to our hospitable hosts but also it’s really hot, and ‘humidity’ referring to the weather, the sweat from the intense training, but also the many many cups of bubble tea already had. While they’re sure to bring back wonderful memories and stories of their Asian adventure, here are a few pictures they’ve shared so far:
Featured Arts News of the Week
Ms. Lucy Cui, Fine Arts Teacher
March 24, 2023
Recently we are working on a quick sketch study with pencil. This practice trains students to make art decisions in a short time and move on quickly.
We have long term art studies to prepare students for solid fundamentals, something like the grisaille painting we did last semester. After a while of long term training, students can make great art work, but at the same time, they become too cautious because they want every marker on paper to be correct. Here comes the quick study. Limited each sketch into less then 15 min, sometimes 5 mins or even 1min. For the fundamental skills they have are already good enough, they only need to get used to making decisions quicker and the result can be pretty good. Like the example photo there, the quick sketch practice page made by Coco (7th) and Niki (8th).
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Fans, More than Cool
March 17, 2023
Front Page News
Mr. Brian, Fan Connoisseur aka a big Fan of Fans, with photographical help from Mr. Mike
The ancients of ancient China once anciently said: “Fans are the essence of cooling, and cooling is the essence of life.” At least, that’s what they could’ve said. With fans almost as omnipresent as clothing and indispensable as food, ancient Chinese people depended on fans to survive. But how? Why? And, most importantly, really?
It is difficult to measure the fantastic and immeasurable impact of the fan through our current mindset. We must venture to the past and seek the peak of its multifaceted glory. We must journey to ancient China.
But before we hop in the DeLorean, let us first define what a “fan” is. The dictionary defines the fan as a cooling apparatus with rotating blades (not the one we’re talking about), or a device typically folding and semicircular, which creates a current of air for cooling. Sounds definitive enough. However, despite the vast majority of fans being used in said fashion today, the Chinese found many novel applications. So strap on those seat belts and fire up that flux capacitor, we’re heading back to the future! Errr I mean past! Great Scott!
Fans as Canvases
From water paintings of lotus blossoms to calligraphy, fans were the paper of the past. Back when the artistic fan was invented, around the 2nd century B.C., conventional painting canvases were yet to be discovered, and Chinese often used bamboo fans as objects of artistic expression. These nifty contraptions were totally trendy, portable, and doubly functional as regular fans.
Equally common was the poetic fan, which many poets, upon receiving sudden inspiration, would scribble their strokes of genius onto. These poets often carried many blank fans on their frequent imagination-probing journeys, seeking insights and revelations in foreign cities and distant mountains. When reciting a poem, a Chinese scholar could typically be seen swaying and waving his fan in admiration of lyrical pulchritude.
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Fans as Weapons
Much like the ideal ancient Chinese man, both learned and proficient in martial arts (文武雙全), there existed kung fu fans (kung fans for short). At a time when swords, spears, and tigers were readily available, these kung fans were surprisingly the weapons of choice for many warriors, including the famed imperial guards of the Qing Dynasty (and dance teachers). Typically made of sturdy steel, the kung fan was firm and durable when closed and lethally sharp and deadly when open.
While kung fans were mostly used in close range hand-to-hand combat, smaller fans could also be used as projectiles, causing splash damage when opening before impact. They also provided a much-needed breeze in the heat of battle.
The kung fan was equally befitting the stealthier mercenary, its commonplace usage a convenient disguise. Already a great weapon in its own right, small knives or poison darts could also be hidden within the fan’s individual blades, supplying the aspiring assassin an array of deadly options.
This is ironically symbolic. In ancient times, fans were customarily given as parting gifts between friends or lovers and, apparently, between enemies as well.
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Of course, fans had many other applications. They were used to indicate social status, swat insects, punish mischievous children, cut steak and meat, and as napping eye masks. But there’s one more significant use worth mentioning…
Fans as Props
The most glamorous of all fans are those that fulfill their function on stage: the prop fans. The fan is no stranger to show biz—many cultures have historically engaged in some form of fan-related performance. While other types of fans faded with the passage of time, prop fans have weathered super sedation to continue to enjoy their lavish thespian lives today.
In the world of theater, prop fans have maintained a steady level of usage, with our Chinese Dance programs being an avid client. Our prop fans come in many shapes, sizes, colors and designs. From the vibrant yellow pairs that unite to form flowers, to the practical fans of the dancing men to the flowing fans of the Calligraphers — our HSArts performances are the closest you’ll get to observing fans in their natural habitat. So if your DeLorean is out of gas, catch our year-end showcase at Herbst Theater on June 2 instead, and you just might find yourself a fan in no time.
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Featured Arts News of the Week
March 10, 2023
Ms. Millie Hankinson, Fine Arts Teacher
The high schoolers in the visual arts program continue to expand their visual vocabulary while developing their core technical skills. Right now, they are putting the finishing touches on their third cast study this year and have learned to more capably measure proportions, render form, and interpret and simplify shapes. After their current drawings are completed, they will progress to quick sketches from life — both in the classroom and outdoors — in preparation for a multi-session portrait from a live model later this semester.
Featured Arts News of the Week
March 3, 2023
Ms. Hannah Ogden, Musical Theatre Director and Acting Teacher
The school year is truly flying by! Quarter Three already?! It feels like just yesterday that our Musical Theatre program was starting its first quarter ever in the fall of 2021, and now here we are, preparing to present the Spring Music and Musical Theatre Showcase over a year and a half later! The musical theatre full-time and elective students have been working hard in the Acting classes to prepare a heartwarming production of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. This play is a compilation of short stories by Robert Fulgum, placed together to create a snapshot of the human experience. What happened to the confidence, creativity, and wonder of childhood? Why do we as humans sometimes lose our free-spirited nature as we age? This play seeks to explore what it means to be a person and asks the question “What is a legacy? What do I want my legacy to be when I leave this life?” Please join us on Wednesday, March 15th at 6 PM in Studio 2 for a night of vocal performances (featuring several solos and a group performance of Firework), musical selections from our instrumentalists, and a showing of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Tickets are free, though there will be a goodwill offering basket at the door for anyone who is interested in donating to the Musical Theatre program. All funds raised will go towards our final performance of the 2022-23 school year, which will be announced very soon 🙂 Please RSVP using this link so that we have an accurate estimate of our audience and can prepare accordingly. We hope to see you all on March 15th!
Young Artists News of the Week
February 24, 2023
Ms. Hanna Zhang, Young Artists Director and Teacher
Another successful competition weekend at Applause Talent Dance Competition! We took home five 1st Place Overall awards and the Highest Score of the Day studio award. Here are a few pictures from the competition. A full award breakdown can be found here!
Abigail Wong (10) from our Young Artists Program received 1st Place Overall and an Elite Platinum award in the First Call Junior division for her solo “Ode to Lotus” and was crowned the Junior Applause title winner!
Emilie Fu (14) from our Young Artists Program received 1st Place Overall and a Double Platinum award in the First Call Teen division for her solo “Dancing in the Rain,” as well as a Special Judges’ Award for her amazing lines.
Abbie Tanabe (13) and Kylie Tang (12) received 1st Place Overall and a Double Platinum award in the First Call Teen division for their duet “Together We Stand.”
Kylie Tang (12) from our Young Artists Program received 3rd Place Overall and Double Platinum in the First Call Junior division for her solo “Remembrance”!
Ms. Hanna received the Best Choreography Award for her masterpiece “Calligraphy” among 200+ entries from all studios!
HSArts received the Highest Score of the Day award as the dance institution that accumulated the greatest number of points in the First Call competition level!
Next stop on the list — we will be heading to @starboundcomp in March! Stay tuned!
Read moreFeatured Artist during Black History Month
February 24, 2023
Ms. Dana Crigler, Ballet Teacher
Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center (later Ailey School) as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance.
Born in Rogers, Texas, at the height of the Great Depression in the violently racist and segregated south, during his youth Ailey was barred from interacting with mainstream society. As an escape, Ailey found refuge in the church, sneaking out at night to watch adults dance, and in writing a journal, a practice that he maintained his entire life. Ailey studied a wide range of dance styles and techniques — from ballet to Native American inspired movement studies — at Horton’s school, which was one of the first racially integrated dance schools in the United States.[13][14] Though Horton became his mentor,[15] Ailey did not commit to dancing full-time; instead he pursued academic courses, studying romance languages and writing at UCLA.[16][17] He continued these studies at San Francisco State in 1951. Living in San Francisco, he met Maya Angelou, then known as Marguerite Johnson,[18] with whom he formed a nightclub act called “Al and Rita.”[19] Eventually, he returned to study dance with Horton in Los Angeles.[20]
In 1958 Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to present his vision of honoring Black culture through dance. The company had its debut at the 92nd Street Y. The performance included Ailey’s first masterpiece, Blues Suite, which followed men and women as they caroused and cavorted over the course of an evening while blues music played in the background until church bells began to ring, signalling a return to mundane life.
Though AAADT was formed to celebrate African American culture and to provide performances for black dancers, who were frequently denied opportunities due to racist mores of the time, Ailey proudly employed artists based solely on artistic talent and integrity, regardless of their background.[35] In addition to his work as artistic director and choreographer with AADT, Ailey also choreographed ballets for other companies including American Ballet Theatre,[36] Joffrey Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet,[37] and The Metropolitan Opera. For American Ballet Theater, he created The River (1970), one of several choreographies he set to the jazz music of Duke Ellington.[38]
Read moreFeatured Arts News of the Week
February 10, 2023
Ms. Lucy Cui, Fine Arts Teacher
This semester we are focusing on the quick study of oil painting with middle school students. Each painting class, I start with a demonstration and then give students a set time to finish the piece. We focus on different new tasks in each class and with time limits, students need to be highly concentrated to accomplish the task. We start with a single still life subject, then move on to multiple subjects, at the same time adding information of composition and color theory. The result seems nice. Within the past 4 weeks, students were able to finish one to two quick study paintings per week. Students are more focused during the limited time, and the artworks get better and better.
- Start with learning the value relationship by painting a pear (single still life subject) with white and burnt amber color
- Learn color relationship by painting of a pear with yellow and violet complementary color pair
- Painting of watermelon with green and red complementary color pair
- Landscape painting to incorporate more colors
- Learn multiple subject paintings by adding environment and fabric study to the painting
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