Equipped with new printmaking inks and tools, third and fifth graders in Kendall Fousek’s art classes expressed their creativity and crafted unique images. As part of their lessons, they explored the printmaking medium and learned how to enhance their artworks with texture and color.

“Printmaking is an immersive, expressive medium which allows the individual to make creative decisions,” Fousek said. “At the beginning stage, the medium is not predictable, so the artist has to work with flexibility and an openness to the possibilities. Our students embraced printmaking, shared wonderful discoveries, and took pride in their artwork.”

Throughout the experience, Fousek said the students worked cohesively as a group to share materials and ideas and showed responsibility in the care of the tools and materials. 

At the beginning of the lessons, they used brayers and stamping tools to explore the elements of art and create additive monoprints. They focused on familiarizing themselves with the tools and materials to gain a greater intuitive understanding of printing. Then, they were challenged to use different tools and paper to create a new print. During their next lessons, the students explored subtractive printmaking, using black ink only while focusing on the elements of line and value. They created their prints by inking a printing plate and then removing the ink to draw an image, then printing onto paper that image from the printing plate. 

Thanks to a generous grant from the Bronxville School Foundation, the students had an abundance of printmaking inks and brayers, as well as new printmaking tools, such as patterned rollers, stamps, sponge pattern rollers, combs, sponges and barrens.

Article written by Plamena Quintavalla.

Photo courtesy of the Bronxville School Foundation.

Bronxville High School students will present “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” as their fall production from Nov. 2-4. Under the expert guidance of theater director Robert Cross, the production is made possible thanks to the talented cast and crew members and infusion of new theater technology.

Adapted from the bestselling novel by Mark Haddon, the funny and poignant play is about adolescence, fractured families and growing up. It follows Christopher Boone, a neurodivergent teen who is brilliant at math but much less adept at social interactions. All the events of the play are filtered through his mind as he struggles to untangle the mystery of his dead neighbor’s dog and the secrets of his own family.

“I hope the audience will fall in love with the prickly charms of Christopher, our central character,” Cross said. “As a neurodivergent teen, he experiences the world through a unique prism – as highly structured and mathematical in form but also chaotic and overwhelming. There is a constant tension between his driving need to find order and logic versus the confusing aural, visual and emotional sensations he is bombarded with along his journey.”

Cross said the character’s journey of self-discovery and self-actualization also dovetails with the classic coming-of-age story, and audience members can recognize reflections of themselves in Christopher as he struggles with and breaks through his own limitations.

The production boasts 16 talented actors and 20 crew members, who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes. The cast is led by Jeffrey Rohr (Christopher), Gwen Kirst (Siobhan), Manny Rivera (Ed), Aryia Banihashem Ahmad (Judy), AJ Diaz (Roger), Kat Seuffert (Mrs. Alexander), Abigail Chang (Mrs. Gascoyne), Elle Reilly (Mrs. Shears), Jack Pasquale (Ensemble) and Maeve McWilliams (Ensemble).

Cross said he is excited to debut several new pieces of theater technology to stage Christopher’s world from Paddington Station to the streets of Willesden, outer space and more. Thanks to a generous grant from the Bronxville School Foundation, he and his students have countless possibilities to stage the unstageable as the auditorium is equipped with a powerful, professional-grade stage projector and a new rear-projection screen.

Article written by Plamena Quintavalla

Photo courtesy of the Bronxville School Foundation