World Renown Artist Visits Baumholder Art Class
BAUMHOLDER, Germany – The Fundamentals of Art class at Baumholder Middle High School had the wonderful opportunity to work with local portrait artist and military community member, Roxanne Rothenberger. Roxanne is a parent of two students at BMHS, former member of the army, and working artist. Her work focuses on portraiture using oil and acrylic paints. She spent time before the lesson meeting and planning with the teacher, Hillary Andrelchik. Roxanne paid close attention to the students, considering what they would be interested in creating.
The class spent about three and a half weeks painting their self-portraits in a fauvist style. We began learning a bit about the Fauvist art movement in order to understand the history related to our project. Next, we choose our favorite selfies and transferred them to our canvases.
Once the basics were taken care of, we then began painting our faces. Starting with the lightest areas (yellows) and increasing with darker and darker values as we went along, eventually moving into the blues and violets. We spent significant time exploring color theory learning how to mix lighter and darker values, as well as neutrals using contrasting colors.
Roxanne guided us through identifying different values, making different types of brush strokes, and the specifics of painting eyes and hair. She also brought some of her own artwork into the classroom for us to examine while we worked. Finally, each student designed a background that they felt complemented their personalities.
The images came out wonderfully and we all had a fantastic time. The best part was working with a member of the community! This lesson was an example of a successful school-community collaboration.
