Spencer students produce bilingual book in crossdisciplinary project
It’s not often that a project fuses art, art history, Spanish language learning, cultural appreciation, writing and editing skills all into one. But when such a project is done, it enhances the learning for all involved.
During the first semester of this school year, students in Spencer High School art and Spanish classes collaborated on a bilingual book, “Hispanic Artists and Animals.” The recently-published book features artwork by Spencer art students, with Spanish and English descriptions of each piece written by students in Spencer Spanish classes, including distance learning students from the Weyauwega-Fremont, Whitehall, Blair-Taylor and Alma Center-Humbird- Merrillan school districts. The published books will be placed in the elementary libraries of each school for students to read and learn about Hispanic artists with bilingual text generated by the Spanish classes.
“We’re very happy to have the students apply what they learned and create; they did a great job,” said Lisa Vann, Spencer Spanish teacher and English language learning coordinator.
Students in Spencer’s high school art classes were tasked with creating a piece of art — whether a painting, drawing or sculpture — in the style of a famous Hispanic artist.
Please see Bilingual book, page 10
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Bilingual book,
from p. 1
The theme was animals. Students had to research multiple artists and choose which one they wanted to imitate. The student-artists then wrote an explanation of how they incorporated the famous artist’s style into their piece and sent it to students in the Spanish II-IV classes to translate the text into Spanish.
There were 20 authors and 17 illustrators. The students in Spanish II-IV also studied multiple Hispanic artists, providing the opportunity to compare and contrast artist techniques and influences.
The project was the brainchild of Vann and Spencer K-12 art teacher Carmen Schweiger.
“Carmen and I had wanted a project that would be a crossover between art and Spanish. There’s a lot of crossover between her department and mine, so we asked, ‘What if we did a project where we all worked together?’” said Vann.
She said it was gratifying to see how the students synthesized the information they learned and put their own spin on a famous artist’s way of interpreting the world. As an example, one student studied Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya (1746-1828). Goya went through a “light period” in the first half of his life in which he painted royal figures, after which he went through a “dark period” as his mental health declined, which led to him painting more gruesome scenes. The student-artist chose to represent these two periods of Goya’s life by painting a light, brightly colored jellyfish on a dark background, contrasting the dark and light sides of Goya.
Another student studied Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), who frequently painted seascapes or subjects surrounded
Please see Bilingual book, page 20
Above left, Jax Schweiger painted this piece, “Jellyfish,” for the book. He did his piece in the style of Spanish painter Francisco Goya. “I used harsher brush strokes and a wide variety of shades and highlights, a common occurrence in Goya’s works,” wrote Schweiger. Above right, Chloe Machtan drew this squirrel, with a nod to artist Fernando Botero. “I made a plump squirrel. I made the squirrel bigger because the artist Fernando Botero made all of his paintings very big and plump... I also added clothing that is stylistic of Botero’s characters,” Machtan wrote.
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from p. 10 by water. To allude to Sorolla, the student chose a swan floating in a pond as the subject of her piece, captured by wide brushstrokes to depict movement and flow.
Vann said the students enjoyed the project and all the connections they were making.
“It gets the students excited about learning. And to be able to use what they learn right away is an intrinsic reward. I think it’s an intrinsic motivator to continue learning, appreciate art and express themselves like the artists did,” she said.
Students were also proud to be published illustrators and authors, who will leave a legacy as a result of their studies. As another benefit, Spanishspeaking students will be able to check out the book and take it home to their families to enjoy, regardless of if they speak English or not.
“We are very proud of their students and all the dedication they put into this project so students can enjoy this book in the libraries of the involved school districts for years to come,” said Vann.
She also mentioned how it was neat that students from other schools and even other countries got to be involved, as she has foreign exchange students in her Spanish classes.
“It’s nice to see students from different school districts working together through technology. The kids got to work hard, use their talents and leave a legacy behind them — it doesn’t get much better than that,” she said.
Vann and Schweiger are hoping to make this an annual project, pending funding.
Editor Valorie Brecht contributed to this report.
Above is a piece by Oliver Schweiger, done in the style of Remedios Varo. “This art embodies her style because the shoebill stork is a tall and skinny bird, and in Varo’s work, the environment and those in it are tall and skinny. The art also focuses on the environment being very perspective-based and geometrical, and in my artwork, the background is that way,” wrote Schweiger. On right, Ferran Bautista drew this donkey based on “And so was his grandfather,” an aquatint (print produced from a copper plate etched with nitric acid) by Francisco Goya. In Goya’s work, “the donkey was used to satirize the aristocracy’s obsession with genealogy and suggest that foolishness rather than nobility was hereditary. The darker colors used strengthen the cynical intention of the image,” wrote Bautista.
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