The International School of Luxembourg’s Grade 9 art students spent the last month learning how music can lead to more complex art creations, such as graffiti painting on one of the school’s playground walls.
The project began at the beginning of the school year when students went on a field trip to the Pompidou-Metz for the “MusiCircus” exhibition.
“We went to the Pompidou and experienced a display of art that was a cross section in between art and music. Modern art was incorporated and the use of colour and line was amazing” said student Maria Diss. After this visit, each student had to choose their own song and produce an abstract painting which displayed their emotions conveyed by the music.
Elisa Martini, 9th Grade art student, explained the art creation process as follows, “Playing around with painting techniques and using the basic art principles led to the production of abstract pieces, each with a different universe painted onto it. From the paintings, we crafted sculptures using foam-core, which had to be linked back to our paintings. All of this project was a great way to introduce us 9th graders to all the art principles of movement, balance, colours, etc. and to help us explore and take advantage of the materials around us too.”
In a further step, Stick, a local graffiti artist, took the inspiration of the imagery created by the 9th Grade visual arts students and painted a large grey wall on ISL’s playground. Stick who has been a graffiti artist since 1995 describes this mural as a “fantastic landscape”.
Mike Hitchman, Upper School Principal at ISL, summarised this project at the unveiling ceremony on Tuesday, May 23, as a “true authentic learning experience” and the mural as a “long standing memory of life at ISL, of the 9th grade students, and of Stick”.
