Berkeley Carroll’s Art Show, held on April 24th at Lincoln Place, was definitely something to be impressed by. Berkeley Carroll students of the Middle School and Upper School created very diverse and unique pieces of artwork that were portrayed all around the school. Many of Berkeley Carroll’s 8th grade students worked together to make a piece of artwork called “Pop Art Name Logos”, where the students have styled their names as popular brands, such as “Kit Kate”. The students were inspired to do this by Pop Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichten. Some of Berkeley Carroll’s Upper School students in Photo Portfolio took modern black and white pictures of people or things on the street. Many of these photos portrayed creativity, making a juxtaposition between the world that we live in today and an the old-fashion look created in black and white photos. The fact that we don’t see the world in black and white makes these images more interesting to look at. Sophomores in the Drawing and Painting class drew, in colored pencil, different objects such as vases and shoes. These life like drawings are very detailed; many of them have shadows that make it look like these pictures are literally right in front of you.
Something else that struck me was the work of students from the Brooklynite Spring Intensive class, taught by Joseph Poon and Elizabeth Epstein. Senior Emma Rosman created a stroller made from garbage that she found on the streets of Brooklyn titled “Child Safety”. This piece of artwork really stands out, as it really asks the question: “how much material that we throw away is actually junk?” Ninth grader, Alex Champagne created a collage of images of different photographs of Brooklyn, which put together, made a surreal picture of the Brooklyn Bridge, with the word Brooklyn on the top of the page. These two artworks really show how much great effort the students of the Brooklynite Spring Intensive put into their pieces.
The arts are a very important part of the Berkeley Carroll community. Joseph Poon says that, “Students are inspired to make art at this school because the Arts are important to them and they see the value of having Visual Arts in their education. While many students are engaged in writing papers or dealing in theory in their other academic classes, students in the arts classrooms have the opportunity to reflect upon very subjective matters, to apply practical skills to constructive hands on projects, and to look inward instead of outward on who they are as global, critical, and ethical thinkers. The art classroom is a space to synthesize what the brain sees, reads, and hears, and to materialize it into art objects that mean something to themselves.” A school could not be a school without the arts, and the arts are a very much valued in Berkeley Carroll.
The Berkeley Carroll Art Exhibit was a great success. A current Sophomore commented on the show, “I think I am speaking for every pupil in this school when I state that throughout the year, my creative mind and artistic skills have improved incredibly, especially when looking at the wonderful work that has been presented in the art show.” Many of these artworks are still on the walls at Lincoln Place, and I would recommend to any Berkeley Carroll student to stop by and check out students’ work.
