From the Studios: Student Work

Armed with Duct Tape, Children Storm the Art World

Students Present the Fruits of Learning at the Chandler Gallery

For anyone who is despondent over the state of today’s youth “From the Studios: Artwork by ABC and MMA Students” at the Chandler Gallery provides a hopeful perspective on the next generation. The outpouring of youthful creativity from students enrolled in Maud Morgan Arts classes and the Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool program is charming: when given the opportunity to make animal benches, students in 2nd-5th grade sawed, hammered and painted a llama, a platypus, a unicorn, and Dr. Seuss’s Yertle the Turtle.

The student self-portraits in oil pastel show both the students’ considerable grasp of teacher Roz Sommer’s lessons and the individual personalities of the artists. In one fifth-grader’s self-portrait, the student’s red hair jumps out from the vivid green background, and the skillfully rendered rumpled collar of his flannel shirt softens the angles of his face. A sixth-grader painted her cheeks in patches of color, suggesting a swirl of thoughts behind the concern in her eyes. Many of the tongue-in-cheek titles such as “Flowers in Paris” are non-sequiturs referencing art history.

Other notable pieces include story quilts from 1st-5th graders with accompanying cards describing the scenes in each quilt, hand-bound books, and a balsa wood bicycle. Students also collaborated to assemble plastic beads into the Mona Lisa, and they used a painter’s palette as the setting for a 3D landscape made of clay. As for the duct tape, the children have wrangled the popular adhesive into the shape of…a duck.

“From the Studios: Artwork by ABC and MMA Students” is on display at the Chandler Gallery from June 1-19. The opening reception will be held on June 4 from 5:30-6:30pm. The Maria L. Baldwin School will hold its annual art show from May 21-29. Maud Morgan Arts is a program under the umbrella of the Agassiz Baldwin Community, a private non-profit organization with a forty-year history of quality programs and services in the Cambridge community. Maud Morgan Arts comprises a full arts program of classes and workshops for all ages, the Chandler Gallery, and a collection of original art by noted artist and community resident Maud Morgan (1903-1999). The agency works to reflect the diversity and talents of the community, bringing people together to make art, share art, and support visual arts education.