SWEET!
That’s an apt way to describe the Sixth Grade Advance Art students’ project on display in the Newark Middle School library.
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They’re colorful, larger-than-life popular candy sculptures on display above some shelves.
Middle School art teacher Liz Miller is so proud of her students who made the realistic pieces of art using only cardboard, paper, paint and pieces of tape.
“I’ve had a lot of great comments,’’ she said recently. “This group of students is particularly capable. This project turned out really well. It exceeded my expectations.”
“The word Pop doesn’t refer to soda or pop music but is short for ‘popular,’ “ she explained. “The world was moving into our current culture of mass production and mass consumption and the art movement of the time reflected this. Two artists from this movement that the students learned about were Andy Warhol and the duo team of Claes Oldenberg and Coosje Van Bruggen. Andy Warhol made repetitious prints of images from popular culture. Most people know him as the Campbell’s soup can artist. One of his most famous pieces is a repetition of different Campbell’s soup cans on canvas. He made art the way factories made products.
“Claes Oldenberg and his wife Coosje Van Bruggen made gigantic larger than life sculptures of ordinary objects. We can experience their work in many major cities around the US. Their sheer size lets us consider these objects in a way we would not think about them at their normal size. We experience them differently and notice details we would normally take for granted and it teaches us to look from a new perspective.
“My students combined the ideas of both of these artists to create larger-than-life sculptures. Working in groups they choose a popular snack _ candy _ to recreate on a large scale.. The goal was to make the sculptures resemble the real life versions of these products as closely as possible. They had to mix their paint to make just the right colors and problem solve the construction to make their product appear full! They focused hard on the fine details and commented that they never noticed some of the finer design elements on the wrappers that they picked. Being snacks, we usually rip open and eat them without much thought to the carefully designed logos we have come to recognize.
“When the pieces were finally displayed in the library, they always draw a lot of attention. Many students have commented that they’d like to be in the class that makes those! As the teacher, I have to be very selective of the groups that do this project. It is a lot of work and these take a long time to build. The groups that earn the privilege to make this project have to be able to get along together and have the stamina to focus, otherwise the projects run the risk of never getting finished. I am particularly proud of this group because not only did the projects all get completed .but the products are some of the best I’ve ever seen in my nine years of teaching! These kids deserve to be so proud of their work! They worked so hard and it really shows.”
Student artists, not in the photos, include: “Krabby Patties” by Avery Paro, Mackenzi Kesecker, Kahlan Murphy, Brayden Kleiboer; “Dumdum” sucker by Dustin Baker, Elizabeth Sindon, Emily Hobart, and John Gravino; and “Dill Pickle” by Haven Thomas, Aidan Wickam and Thalia Bates Garrafa.
And what did some of her students have to say about the project?
“It was stressful, but it was worth it!” – Elizabeth Sindon
“I thought it was really fun to work with everyone. There was a lot of communicating between us.” – Mia Rivera
“When we were making the candy box, it was very frustrating” – Henry Wheatley
“We added a lot of details, like all of the nutrition facts. We accidentally made it say “OMG Cholesterol!” Maddy Backus