Curtis MAGAZINE Spring 2016
The
ARTS
curtis magazine spring 2016
Contents 2 FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL 4 TELLING OUR STORY WITH F.A.C.E.S. 8 MUSIC IN THE CURTIS YEARS
10 THE MULTICULTURAL CELEBRATION 12 DOUBLE GOLD FOR CURTIS 14 PINCH PERFECT 16 VISUAL ARTS GALLERY 18 MAKING CONNECTIONS 20 CCG: TINKER TANK 22 “THE CANALS OF VENICE”—A CURTIS CAPSTONE 24 STUDENT VOICE: MATTHEW CHANG 26 ALUMNI NOTES AND MATRICULATION
Curtis is committed to caring for the environment. To further this goal, this publication uses paper from well-managed forests and other controlled sources, and soy-based inks. curtis magazine spring 2016
Scan here to view 1st Grade’s CougarVille commercials.
Students wrote advertising jingles and filmed commercials that aired at the grand opening of Cougarville, the interdisciplinary 1st Grade Town Project.
curtis magazine spring 2016
Telling Our Story in the Arts
FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Dear Curtis Families, It is 7:15 a.m. and I am sitting on the balcony of the Head’s Residence. As I sip my first cup of coffee, I look out over our beautiful campus, observe the growing traffic on Mulholland, and listen to the birds chirping around their nests in the garden and the eaves. For a brief moment, all is peaceful and serene, but soon I start to see cars turning into campus and pulling into the Circle. An hour before the start of the school day, students are arriving for orchestra practice or choir rehearsal. Sleepily, they drag themselves out of cars and hurry into The Hal Gaba Music Center, where they tune up, refine their harmonies, and grow their confidence as performers.
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This is one of my favorite times of the day, not only because of the excitement that a new day at Curtis brings, but mostly because I feel inspired by this evidence of our students’ strength of purpose and dedication to the performing arts. And, as the day continues, the rhythm of the Orff Schulwerk instruments contributes to the symphony of sounds, and the music turns into the vivid colors and creative impulse of children in their art classes. Whether building a cardboard city, designing masks for an upcoming drama performance, or creating their own versions of the world’s architectural landmarks, students are actively engaged in and exposed daily to the visual and performing arts. Curtis’s arts program not only gives our students rich and varied opportunities to be creative and to express themselves, it enables them to step outside of their comfort zone and grow in confidence as they grow as artists. The most shy student is nurtured and supported to stand on stage and recite a line, while the most outgoing student is asked to be introspective when working on an art piece. Our arts faculty has created a program that developmentally grows with each child and nurtures in all students a joy for the arts. This spring, the arts department collaborated with members of the Diversity Cabinet to create the F.A.C.E.S. project: Families At Curtis Embracing ourSelves. This community-wide endeavor used selfcurtis magazine spring 2016
portraits as a medium with which to begin a dialogue among ourselves that explored the theme “Know Your Story.” More than 500 portraits of teachers, students, staff, and parents and guardians resulted from this conversation. They were installed on the Quad to give us a focal point for reflecting upon and celebrating the cultural riches of our school. As you read this issue of the Curtis Magazine, I hope that you will join me in celebrating the incredible opportunities and programs that Curtis provides for our students in both the visual and performing arts. We are a vibrant community of artists, musicians, actors, and—as we discovered through F.A.C.E.S.— much, much more.
Meera Ratnesar Head of School
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Stop-motion animated moviemaking for 4th Grade combines storytelling with traditional studio art techniques and video production. curtis magazine spring 2016
F.A.C.E.S. “Families At Curtis Embracing ourSelves”
By Kristen Coleman, Teacher (3) and Diversity Cabinet Co-Coordinator What do you see when you look in the mirror at your face? What do you see when you look into the faces of others? What happened when Art Teacher Drew Beckmeyer and Curriculum Integration and Collaboration Coordinator Molly Simms adapted the Hapa project, a multiracial-multiethnic identity project created by American artist Kip Fulbeck, with Head of School Meera Ratnesar’s theme for the year for Curtis, “Know Your Story”?
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Meet F.A.C.E.S.—Families At Curtis Embracing ourSelves— an ambitious, inclusive, and multifaceted undertaking that used art as a catalyst to move our community of teachers, students, parents and guardians, administrators, and staff to engage in deeper and continuing dialogue about identity. More process than project, F.A.C.E.S. created a brave environment and a variety of fun and inviting experiences that encouraged us to explore how we see ourselves and how we see others. From the beginning of the year, the theme “Know Your Story” was intended to include all stakeholders at Curtis. As a community, we are most creative and productive—and more likely to achieve our goals— when each individual believes that he or she truly belongs and his/her contributions to the group are valued. Accordingly, the Diversity Cabinet worked with Mr. Beckmeyer and Ms. Simms to develop a school-wide portrait project that launched the F.A.C.E.S. experience.
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In order to learn more about each other, the portrait project paired community members—parent with parent, employee with employee, and students with their buddies (6th grade with DK, 3rd with K, etc.). Participants began by tracing a projected photo of themselves and
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then coloring it in. Some partners added drawings along one edge that represented themselves and/or interests and attributes that were shared. Finally, portrait pairs were joined by cutting strips into adjacent sides of each drawing and interweaving the margins. Partners interviewed each other and discovered ways in which they were both similar and different. The process taught us much about each other that we had not known and strengthened our community’s bonds. Student interviews were recorded and were linked to the double portrait with a QR code. In the end, more than 500 portraits representing the Curtis Family were installed in the Quad for Open House. The display created a colossal visual document of our journey to “knowing our story” and a focal point for embracing ourselves. While the portrait project was the visual manifestation of F.A.C.E.S., the experience was much bigger than the art piece. F.A.C.E.S. lit a fire in the classrooms, where teachers designed many innovative projects and lessons to engage students in discussion and reflection. Teachers shared these experiences in a blog that inspired us all to sustain the dialogue. 6
Even a modest sampling of these satellite exercises illustrates how rich and varied the conversation grew from the seed of the portrait project. DK students in Mr. Hall and Ms. Loyd’s class took pictures of themselves and used iPad apps to add color and “unique” attributes to their faces. They finished the sentence “I am unique because….” In Miss Williams and Mrs. Nuccio’s class, Kinder-
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gartners sorted toys. Each child was given a toy and asked to put it in the pink box or the blue box and to explain why they identified the toy as being for a girl or a boy. The answers challenged children’s assumptions when a classmate would call out, “But I’m a boy/girl and I don’t like trucks/dolls!” In Lower Elementary Science, brown and white chicken’s eggs were used to jumpstart a student discussion about how people may be different on the outside but the same on the inside. First graders in Ms. Seidner and Miss Jackson’s class drew self-portraits using oil pastels and worked to blend colors to match their individual skin tones. They added a written list of things that one can see about them and things that one cannot see about them by looking at their faces. In Ms. Iason and Miss Watts’ 2nd Grade class, students wrote five ways they describe themselves and put their words into “I am” statements that became a giant collage on the bulletin board. Ms. Iason noted, “The children were fueled with excitement as they uncovered their classmates’ unique identities.” Ms. Koiles led a discussion about gender stereotypes for 3rd and 4th graders. The students listened to classical music and imagined what the composers might look like, which led to a conversation about how stereotyping distorts our perception of others and can limit our own potential. In the Library, 5th graders listened to a selection of poems that generated a lively conversation about culture, appearance, personality, family, and wealth.
Mrs. Atkinson challenged them to create poems that expressed their identity, using only the titles of books from the library shelves. Each child stacked her books so the spines formed the verses of a poem about herself. Mrs. Cohen’s 6th graders shared with the class a photo and the history of their family, and Mrs. Hand’s students did several rounds of “Who Are You?” at Morning Meeting. “The kids were surprised by some of the things they learned about each other, even though most of them have been together for many years,” Mrs. Hand reported. The inquiry into identity was not limited to the classrooms. While students were busy working on their portraits and interviews, the Parents Association Representatives for Diversity and Inclusivity invited Derrick Gay, a speaker and educational consultant on issues around diversity, inclusivity and cultural competency, to facilitate a conversation with parents and guardians about identity and raising and teaching children in an interconnected, global society. Many parents also partnered to contribute their likenesses to the portrait project.
The possibilities of F.A.C.E.S. as a tool to discuss identity are limitless. We hoped that with each classroom discussion and each session working with a partner on the portraits the students would become more aware of how they see themselves and others and more comfortable expressing their thoughts around identity. We hoped that both the adults and the children who participated in F.A.C.E.S. would gain a greater appreciation of the rich cultural and ethnic diversity that makes our community vibrant, strong, and unique. Through the sum of experiences that was F.A.C.E.S., our students have had the opportunity to grow in self-awareness. In the process of identifying commonalities and appreciating differences, they have developed a greater capacity for empathy and strengthened their bonds with one another and the Curtis Family. F.A.C.E.S. has been a profound exercise. By the end of the school year, F.A.C.E.S has enabled all of us to better articulate the theme “Know Your Story.” Taking this journey together, each of us has made some wonderful discoveries about ourselves as individuals and as a community.
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Music
in the Curtis Years
Educating, Inspiring and Building Life Skills By Jimmy Worth, Music Teacher (4) and Director of Choirs and Orchestras Research on music and the brain demonstrates that the study of music benefits children’s general cognitive development and yields gains in other academic areas, particularly mathematics. But, just as importantly, music is simply enjoyable, universal in its appeal, and fundamental to human culture. Music forms the backdrop for our lives, whether it is Top 40 filling the airspace in our car on a mundane ride or Pomp and Circumstance serving up a communal cue that an important rite of passage is about to take place.
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The music program at Curtis is designed to teach the whole child—to fulfill specific academic goals, develop children’s cultural knowledge and sensitivity, nurture their imagination and expressive impulses, and, at the same time, delight and inspire them. Singing, sight-reading, and playing a variety of percussion and wind instruments in class and performances help children build relationships, work together, solve interpersonal conflicts, and make ethical and effective decisions. The cumulative benefits help students develop important life skills while at the same time tapping and nourishing the innate human sensitivity to music. Beginning in the earliest grades, the music program complements the homeroom (academic) and visual arts curricula; together they deliver an enriched, integrated learning experi-
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ence to students. Activities flow from simple to more complex within the context of the school year, and then build upon prior knowledge at each grade level. Music teachers Annie Grimes (DK, 2-3) and Anita Carbajal (K-1) employ Orff Schulwerk as the starting point of our students’ musical education. “Orff
Schulwerk,” says Mrs. Grimes, “is an approach that addresses every aspect of musical behavior—vocal and instrumental performance, as well as creating, listening to, and analyzing music.” The children observe, imitate, explore, and improvise music and movement and use the Kodály approach (a syllabic convention corresponding to note durations) to reading and internalizing rhythm and melody. Folk songs from around the world, rhymes, singing games, and dances also form an integral part of the repertoire in the lower grades. “Good teaching is diverse,” notes Mrs. Grimes. “Our curriculum is eclectic and incorporates the school’s mission to create ‘a caring and inclusive community’.” Through instruments, play, and movement, students develop a sense of beat, tempo, dynamics, and melodic direction. Children hear and make music first, then read and write it later. Mrs. Carbajal explains: “In the Lower Elementary, along with developing individual musicianship, we strive to enrich the unlimited curiosity, imagination, and sense of play that are inherent in every child and lay the groundwork for a lifelong love for music.” Building on the experience and knowledge gained in the DK-3rd grade curriculum, students in Grade 4 continue to investigate a wide variety of music genres and styles from many cultures and time periods, using a variety of media. They learn more sophisticated vocal and choral techniques and use classroom instruments to explore elements like melody, tone quality, rhythm, harmony, expressive qualities, and form. Music literacy is a foundational part of the curriculum, but the emphasis remains on enjoyment, creative ex-
pression, and maintaining an enthusiastic and positive environment. After 4th grade, music education is integrated into the dramatic arts curriculum. Performing Arts Teacher David Frank explains: “In the 5th and 6th grades, emphasis is on interpretation and storytelling. Building upon the foundation laid in previous years, students are guided into the realm of truthful performance through literary analysis as they mature and transition to middle school.” In developing performance skills and acting repertoires, students may be asked to sing, dance, use instruments, and choreograph movement to music. Performance opportunities abound for our students. All grades take the stage for Winter, Spring, and Grandparents Day Concerts, and most present a themed musical show during the year. Upper Elementary students may join the Curtis Symphony Orchestra or Curtis Choir, both of which appear in a regional music festival and their own showcases at Curtis. In preparing for the annual cycle of shows and concerts, students learn teamwork and how to blend their individual musical skills together to achieve a collective goal. Curtis’s mission “to develop, in every child, a sound mind in a sound body governed by a compassionate heart” resides at the heart of the music curriculum and informs our pedagogy. Our collective goal is that Curtis children leave us as whole human beings with inquisitive minds, the spirit of collaboration, optimism, imagination, sensitivity, and a lifelong appreciation for the art of music.
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Exploring Diversity through the Arts
The Multicultural Celebration By Annie Grimes, Music Teacher (DK-3) and Katie McKenna, Art Teacher (DK-3)
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Education must evolve to reflect, include, and welcome the wealth of diverse cultures of the students in our classrooms. The Multicultural Celebration is a collaborative piece of the 2nd grade curriculum that uses music and the visual arts to teach students about the rich cultural diversity within our community and across the world. As students prepare for the culminating performance of song, dance, and spoken word, they learn about the traditions and customs, art, dance, food, and history of some of the different nationalities that make up our human family. As they take this journey around the world, they discover similarities as well as differences and gain a greater appreciation for their own and others’ histories and culture. Music is the universal language that cuts across all nationalities and geographical divisions. Introducing children to multicultural music in the Lower Elementary involves more than simply the study of ethnic music. Our students learn about the cultures that have given rise to that music.
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By teaching music in the context of the social and historical aspects of a particular culture, students form a more comprehensive and wellrounded view of the world and of their own place in it. For this year’s Multicultural Celebration, students learned six traditional dances from Israel, Mexico, Germany, Ghana, China, and the USA. In addition, the 2nd graders sang songs in Hebrew, Spanish, and Chinese. Teamwork is the cornerstone of this process and enables the students to recognize
the value of collaboration and the artistic power of being part of an ensemble. Multiculturalism is the focus of the 2nd grade visual arts curriculum. The students begin the year by investigating how different
cultures incorporate art into their celebrations and rituals, from the sharing of colors during the Indian festival of Holi to making cards for Valentine’s Day. The 2nd graders created two set pieces for the Multicultural Celebration performance. In class, we first explored the importance of piùatas in the Mexican celebration of Las Posadas and asked students to think about what role art plays in their own celebrations. The children then made their own piùatas to decorate the wings of the stage. For the second piece, students replicated monumental buildings found in four of the countries they learned about for the Multicultural show. This year, the buildings were the Empire State Building, the Dome of the Rock in Israel, El Castillo in Mexico, and the Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali. This project takes several months to complete and pushes the students to work collaboratively, patiently, and respectfully with one another towards completion. The Multicultural Celebration exemplifies the value of interdisciplinary and collaborative learning. Music and art serve as the lens through which students learn about diversity and world history. In learning about the experiences of others, our students make profound real-world connections to their own lives. They practice 21st century skills, including collaboration, problem solving, creativity, innovation, communication, and critical thinking. And, as they work together to present the joyful Multicultural Celebration to our community, they continue to grow as artistic and empathetic individuals.
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DOUBLE GOLD FOR CURTIS
By Jimmy Worth, Music Teacher (4) and Director of Choirs and Orchestras At the beginning of March 2016, 105 students from the Curtis Choir and Curtis Symphony Orchestra, with Director Jimmy Worth, Accompanist Kyoko Sasaki, and 12 faculty and parent chaperones, boarded buses bound for Cerritos College, in Norwalk, California, and the Forum Music Festival. It was to be Curtis School’s fourteenth year of performing for the judges in this exciting annual adjudicated festival for bands, orchestras and choirs, and the anticipation and positive energy were almost palpable in the crisp spring morning air. Upon arriving at our venue, the college’s Burnight Theater, we discovered that, once again, our groups, composed of students in Grades 3 through 6, were the youngest participants scheduled to appear that day.
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The Symphony Orchestra and Percussion Ensemble played two challenging selections: Fanfare and Rondeau, by Jean Joseph Mouret, arranged by Douglas Wagner, and The March of the Meistersingers, by Richard Wagner, arranged by Richard Meyer. The Curtis Choir was up next, and after a brief warm up, they took the stage to sing three numbers: Sing a Song of Peace, based on an ancient Latin round, with original English text and musical arrangement written by me; The Wonder of the Snow, by Earlene Rentz; and Jubilate Deo, by Sally K. Albrecht.
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Since this is a non-competitive festival series, each group was judged against a five-category national standard rather than in comparison to other groups performing that day. Evaluations included accuracy in pitch and tone quality, rhythm, balance and blend, musical style, and expressive elements. Groups receiving a Gold Rating (90% or above) rank in the top 10% of all school bands or orchestras of their age nationally. Our students were overjoyed at the awards ceremony to learn that, this year, both groups had
achieved a Gold Rating for their presentations. Our newly formed Percussion Ensemble received a special award for Outstanding Musicianship for its rhythmic accuracy and energy throughout the Orchestra’s pieces. And the Curtis Choir received an astounding fourteenth Gold Rating in as many appearances at the Festival. Fifth grade violinist Matthew Chang received an Outstanding Musicianship Award for his beautiful rendition of the obbligato I had written for him to play during the Choir’s performance of Sing a Song of Peace.
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The ecstatic young musicians beamed as brightly as the awards they brought back to campus. The Forum Music Festival gives our elementary-aged students a unique opportunity to perform for music professionals and the priceless sense of accomplishment that comes from diligent individual and group practice and building their musicianship over many months in preparation for this special event.
curtis magazine spring 2016
Modeling Magic in DK & K
P
c in h Perfect
Take a room full of eager children, dole out a dollop of modeling clay to each one, ask them to roll, poke, press, coil, mold, and pinch and what do you get? From DK, imaginary creatures that inhabit fantastic, dreamlike landscapes. From Kindergartners, a menagerie of snakes, snails, and slugs and a collection of tiny pots that resembles some astounding archeological cache of bowls made by a tribe of diminutive people. These are some of the projects that our youngest art students have made this year, using a variety of modeling clays, paint, and lots of imagination. 14
Children enjoy and learn from manipulating materials and objects, and clay is a favorite medium for them. It is easy and fun to use and the possibilities of what a child can make with it are as limitless as her imagination. Working with clay—rolling spheres and cylinders to begin to make a snake or pot, fashioning appendages and details, or forming up the sides of a bowl—reinforces skills that children are practicing in the home-
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rooms (such as holding and writing with a pencil) and in all areas of life. Projects in clay help students develop eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills. These early explorations with clay introduce children to pottery technique and lay the foundation for more challenging projects as they move to the next grades.
artists are encouraged to consider process and to make artistic choices about which colors and patterns to use. For pinch pot decoration, students learned about concentric circles and about artists, like Kandinsky, who have used them in their own work. Students thought about where they may have seen concentric circles in nature and man-made objects, too.
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In the DK-3rd grade art program, projects are multilayered and packed with opportunities for students to grow developmentally and as artists. Katie McKenna, lead teacher for DK, 2nd and 3rd grades, and Autumn Brannon, lead teacher for K and 1st grades, begin new units with conversations on the rug. They provide context, using history, art history, ethnic or cultural traditions, and relevant social currents. They encourage their students to make connections to themselves, what they know about the world, or something they might have learned in other areas of the curriculum. Working in clay teaches a number of new art skills. Snakes, snails, and slugs are ideal first animal sculptures for Kindergartners, who are already familiar with these creatures. These animals share a cylindrical body type, which gives students practice rolling out long ropes of clay—the starting point for all coil-made pottery. Pinch pots give Kindergartners experience forming a cup or bowl by pressing a thumb into the center of a rolled ball of clay—another basic pottery skill.
Decoration of finished pieces reinforces students’ understanding of patterns. Recognizing and making patterns requires children to think critically. The young
Artistic styles and movements are covered throughout the DK-3rd grade art curriculum. As preparation for their mixed-media clay project, DK students were introduced to Salvador Dali and Surrealism and talked as a group about how to use imagination and dreams as inspiration for surrealistic subjects. They created imaginary beings from clay and then built a habitat or environment for them, using wax resist for the sky and painted egg cartons for the terra firma. The resulting worlds were as unique as the young artists who dreamt them up and included everything from lollipop trees and dark, eerie tunnels to cupcakes floating in a purple sky. We are charmed by the Kindergartners’ tiny pots and slithering beasts and we gaze with wonder at the DK students’ fantastic landscapes and beings. These works are a testament both to the imaginative curriculum in the visual arts for Curtis students and the willingness of our students to enthusiastically embrace the creative opportunities they have in the arts programs.
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Visual
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ARTS
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Making Connections
➔ Visitors to art classrooms this spring will have noticed the widespread use of cardboard as a sculptural medium. In addition to being relatively inexpensive, readily available, and reusable, cardboard is strong and pliant, is easily bent into a desired shape, and, while it can be painted, its raw, industrial quality is particularly suited to subjects like structures and machines. Cardboard is the medium of choice of noted Los Angeles-based artist Kiel Johnson, who visited Curtis for two days in March. Students were captivated by samples of his work: fanciful animal masks; a lifesized model of a single-lens reflex camera; a banjo
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meticulously constructed and realistic in every detail; and a miniature cityscape covering every inch of a 4’ x 8’ plywood base. Teachers Drew Beckmeyer and Molly Simms invited Johnson to meet with the 3rd and 5th grade students so they could hear from a professional, practicing artist and learn about design principles and techniques for working with cardboard. “Children benefit from meeting many people who do different things in the real world. These experiences inspire children, help them imagine their own futures, and expand their thinking about what is possible,” explains Ms. Simms. This year, the 5th graders were challenged to make arcade games from cardboard that people could actually play. The project was patterned after the now famous arcade that 9-year-old Caine Monroy built in his father’s auto parts store in Boyle Heights in 2011. His amazing creation was documented in the short film, “Caine’s Arcade,” which has inspired children all over the world to use cardboard in imaginative ways.
The 5th graders collaborated in groups to design prototypes of a variety of apparatus, from fiendishly tricky variations on skee-ball and ball toss games to updated versions of Tip-the-Cat (Tip-the-Lollipop) and Whack-a-Mole (Whack-a-Pac-Man). Each group had the opportunity to pitch their ideas to Johnson, and he provided useful feedback about engineering, design, and construction that helped students refine their models. The 5th grade arcade was open for business at the Emerging Artists Exhibition in May, and visitors clamored for a turn at all the fantastic inventions. In addition to mentoring the 5th graders, Johnson gave hands-on demonstrations to all the 3rd and 5th grade classes, teaching them how to coax cardboard into different shapes and to create a variety of miniature buildings similar to those he makes for his own amazing cities, which are highlighted in his TEDx Talk “The Art All Around Us.” The sessions with Johnson both sparked students’ imaginations and gave them the tools to realize their own visions using cardboard. Mr. Beckmeyer explains: “Johnson’s transparent use of accessible materials means that a child can be at once impressed and inspired by the artist’s work and completely understand the steps taken to create
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it. For students, feeling that a professional’s work is both exciting and not beyond their reach is an incredibly important connection to make.” Using the techniques they learned from Johnson, the 3rd graders were excited to make their own cardboard city. Every day at morning and lunch breaks, changing constellations of these young architects could be seen hard at work in the Library Media Center, growing a city with their collective imagination. Over the course of two weeks, they managed to cover two large interlocking plywood surfaces totaling nearly 18 square feet. The little city acquired a hotel, a shopping center, a football stadium, and even a small boat pond. When the project officially ended, the students’ enthusiasm did not. The city was picked up and landed in one 3rd grade classroom, where the children continued to work until yet a third platform had to be added to accommodate the sprawling metropolis. Johnson’s visit showed our own young artists how to dream big no matter how small their city or arcade might be and to use their imaginations to make amazing art from even the most ordinary materials.
For students, feeling that a professional’s work is both exciting and not beyond their reach is an incredibly important connection to make.”
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CURTIS CREATIVE GUILD
Tinker Tank By Drew Beckmeyer, Art Teacher (4-6)
Towards the end of the 2013-14 school year, I started to appreciate something that had been happening spontaneously in my classroom all year. Sixth graders—anywhere from 2 to 30 at a time—had been coming in every day during lunch. The core group worked on projects that were completely self-initiated and frequently had little to do with the 6th grade curriculum. On a given day, you could see students mixing music on their laptops, programming apps, building large structures from scrap materials, hand embroidering, and more. When someone did something interesting, or had a breakthrough, everyone would come over to observe or recap. Other than pointing to supplies and keeping an eye on the clock, I was irrelevant in the best possible sense.
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With the end of the school year in sight, I began to worry that the magic of those lunches would disappear. So I pitched the idea of forming a group to perpetuate what the students had begun to do naturally. They would have space, resources, and an open-ended mission. And CCG took off. Within two months, the group had programmed two Raspberry Pi computers to move around a miniature city and transmit video feed back to a control center. There were no templates, no instructions, no competition, no grades, and no cost beyond time—and none of that was class time. The robots moved around the city perfectly for about six minutes before stalling. I mention the computers that took two months to program and six minutes to stop working not only because it represents the cross-disciplinary STEAM work that comes out of this group, but also because it illustrates why CCG is necessary and important. The unveiling of this robotic maze happened on the night of Open House, 2014, and its intermittent functioning mostly succeeded to confuse visitors. But, at 8 p.m., there were kids, some in CCG and some not, ducked behind a curtain, deconstructing, testing, powering on and off until they had figured out the problem, cheering when it worked,
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laughing when it inevitably shut down a minute later. Everyone else was gone, save the parents, who were trying to leave, and nobody looked to me for help. Product had become secondary and the process had completely taken over. And that is where meaningful learning can happen. From the beginning, students have done both large-scale, group-driven installations and small, individual projects. This year, some
are following an interest in traditional media, drawing and painting. Others are building whimsical creatures and imagined structures using a variety of materials that are available for the taking on open shelves in the art studio.
citizenship. Prototypes include machines that dispense tickets for washing one’s hands and for returning playground balls to the correct classroom. Tickets would then be redeemed for healthy snacks provided from a food cart also designed by CCG students.
One strand of CCG’s mission is to design thoughtfully for the campus community. This year, the group developed a narrative of Santa climbing a mountain to deliver a gift and then constructed a colossal peak that spelled out their story in art. It was installed in the foyer of the Pavilion and helped set the stage for the Winter Concert as guests arrived.
Asked why this group matters, 5th grader Campbell Scotch replies, “When kids come to CCG, they can let their creativity flow. We learn more about ourselves and can make the ideas we have in our minds come out in real-life using our hands.”
As a group, the students are also pushing boundaries—conceptualizing and building machines for the campus that they hope will incentivize good student
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So we continue to step back, provide opportunity, and give students space to let the process take over. Note: Science Teacher Gianna Vargas is a faculty comentor for CCG along with Mr. Beckmeyer.
When kids come to CCG, they can let their creativity flow. We learn more about ourselves and can make the ideas we have in our minds come out in real-life using our hands.”
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A Curtis Capstone
“The Canals of Venice” The culminating performing arts experience for 6th graders, and a capstone tradition that links recent generations of graduating students, is the production of “The Canals of Venice.”
“Canals” is a modern-day tale about the Canal family and their comical neighbors living in Venice Beach, California. With help from their teacher, David Frank (Performing Arts 5-6), the students write and perform a story based on their study of commedia dell’arte, a hugely popular theatrical form that originated in Old World Venice and flourished, primarily in Italy and France, from the 16th to 18th centuries. The formula persists to the present day and is widely enjoyed in a variety of popular fare from animated shows like Spongebob Squarepants and the Simpsons to sitcoms like Modern Family. 22
The students recast the traditional stock characters of Pulcinella, Columbina, Pantolone, Capitano, Dottore, and their comedic companions, as self-absorbed 21st century teenagers (“the young lovers” and their confidants), battling restaurateurs, con artists, the ineffectual doctor, the bragging soldier, and so on. The players wrestle with the romantic entanglements, misunderstandings, and misfiring schemes that characterize commedia dell’arte storytelling.
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In the course of bringing “Canals” to life, the students drew on many facets of the curriculum they had been exposed to beginning in 5th grade and building through the 6th grade year. In 5th grade, the students explored ways to create a character, learned theatrical and musical terminology, and practiced performance techniques. This year, they broadened their knowledge of dramatic literature and strengthened their analytical skills by reading and discussing Greek and Roman comedies. They expanded their knowledge of the history of theater and their own acting repertoire by studying European commedia dell’arte, Japanese Noh and Kabuki, and Peking Opera
performance forms. They honed their writing and interpretative skills by composing Haiku poems and choreographing dances to convey their meaning. At the end of the 6th grade year, the presentation of “Canals” brought together the many threads of their two years of performing arts education with Mr. Frank. The students collaborated to write the script, drawing connections to their study of the history of theater and playwrights that included Plautus, Aristophanes, and Shakespeare. They used the skills they developed from practicing sensory exercises to breathe life into their characters and “make it real!” as Mr. Frank habitually says. They continued to practice “PVLEGS”—poise, voice, life, expression, gestures, and speed—the six traits of speaking that are used in all classrooms to help students build effective public speaking and presentation skills and self-confidence. They even made their own character masks in art class.
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“Canals” is broad comedy and its jokes, double-entendres, acrobatic tricks, plot twists, dancing, and pratfalls hit the mark for both student and parent audiences. The players were rewarded by the audience’s generous laughter throughout the performance and well-earned applause as the curtain fell and the house lights came up. The show may be over, but in the process of putting it all together, the 6th graders leave Curtis’s program with valuable, translatable skills. Mr. Frank says, “The primary goal of the performing arts program for 5th and 6th grades is to help students develop their critical thinking and learn to express language. By the time they leave Curtis, we want them to be confident to speak in a public setting.” curtis magazine spring 2016
STUDENT
VOICE
Matthew Chang, 5th Grade
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Ever since a young age, I’ve been interested in music. While other babies cry when they go to concerts, my parents told me I always sat still and quietly, appreciating the music. My family has always been focused on music. My dad played trumpet and piano, my mom played piano, and my older sister Megan plays piano and violin. Everyday, I would watch Megan practice piano, and later, violin too. I would go to her violin lessons and watch to try and see how to play. Hearing the violin’s beautiful sound made me really want to play. At the end of her lessons, my teacher would give me her violin and let me hold it. He would bow while I attempted to finger Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Soon after, I wanted to follow in my sister’s footsteps and start taking violin lessons. Since I began piano lessons earlier, at age four, I had a good background for music theory and sight-reading. When I was six, I started taking violin lessons. I joined the Curtis Orchestra in 1st grade. It was my first time being in a musical group. Playing in ensembles has made me discover how fun it is to play music with other people. Besides the Curtis Orchestra, I also am part of the Palos Verdes Regional Symphony Orchestra. In addition, I love playing chamber music with others. I enjoy entering competitions because it gives me a chance to perform and see different judges’ comments. Also, for many of them, if you win, you get to play solo with an orchestra. I love expressing all my musicality and emotions into the music. Every performance I participate in, I always try my best, no matter how many people are watching me, or how many competitors are against me.
Matthew received an individual award for Outstanding Musicianship for his accompaniment of the Choir at the Forum Music Festival this spring.
to music. Everyone interprets music differently. When playing an instrument, there is so much freedom to express yourself. Each period of classical music is unique and has different characteristics. I love playing piano and violin for people and seeing their reactions and gratitude at the end. It makes me glad to know that I’ve made other people happy and inspired. As I participate in more and more competitions and performances, I have become less nervous. I’m more confident, and I like to try new things, whether it be challenging pieces or different ways to express my musicality.
What I love about classical music is that there are so many interpretations of playing. There is no wrong answer when it comes
“
What I love about classical music is that there are so many interpretations of playing. There is no wrong answer when it comes to music. Everyone interprets music differently. When playing an instrument, there is so much freedom to express yourself.”
curtis magazine spring 2016
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curtis magazine spring 2016
{ NOTES } Alumni Class
1970s Anne-Marie Cordingly (’78) is now a substitute teacher at Town School for boys and Hamlin School, in San Francisco, after teaching for 17 years at Town. She has three children: Trey (21), Quincey (20), and Bruce (16). She and her five siblings attended Curtis, and she is still in touch with several of her Curtis classmates.
1980s
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Gifford Lindheim (’84) has accepted the position of Head Football Coach at El Camino College after seven years as Head Coach at Santa Monica College, where he led the Corsairs to five consecutive American Pacific Conference titles and 34 straight conference game wins, making SMC the only undefeated junior college team in the state last season. Deborah Kelson (’87) lives in San Francisco with her husband, Elliott Brown, and their children, Leah (6) and Adam (4). She recently published her first children’s book, Peanut Butter or Jelly, a story about “the sticky relationship between everyone’s favorite condiments as they angle for top billing in the name of their sandwich.”
1990s Todd Cohen (’91) and his wife, Danielle, welcomed their first child, Adam Louis Cohen, in April. Dad reports that Adam is “a happy, healthy little guy and hopefully a future Cougar!” Jared Milmeister (’91) is a family man with three children and has been Vice President of All Auto Parts for the past 13 years. Previously, he was a professional tennis coach and worked as the director of tennis programs at a number of clubs. Eric Ferkel (’92) recently moved back to Los Angeles with his wife, Rachel, and daughter, Lila. He is practicing orthopedics at Southern California Orthopedic Institute. curtis magazine spring 2016
Michelle Paster (’92) has transitioned to working as a licensed realtor and teacher after a ten-year career building a documentary video company. She still lives in Los Angeles and writes, “I camp, kayak and mountain bike, if any alumni are interested in joining me!” Jon Berry (’95) lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with his wife, Meghan (O’Malley), and their children: Miriam (5), Virginia (4), Simon (2), and Helena (1). He is a lawyer focused on constitutional and regulatory law and is currently working as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. Brian Millman (’97) and Stekki Mazo were married along the Intracoastal Waterway in Savannah, Georgia, in October 2015. Brian graduated from Columbia Business School in 2014 and currently works in New York as a consultant in the sports marketing and media industry. Samantha Billett Rosenblum (’97) and Evan Rosenblum welcomed a daughter, Sydney Lucile, in August 2015. Samantha is a co-executive producer of the The Real Housewives of Dallas. She has been working in reality television since she graduated from USC, including a stint with Donald Trump as a producer of The Celebrity Apprentice. Nick Melvoin (’98) is an educator, attorney and organizer, who currently works with local education nonprofits to improve the support teachers across the state receive in the classroom. His time teaching at an LAUSD middle school in Watts, Los Angeles, as part of Teach For America and his subsequent work on a landmark civil rights case led him to law school, where he spent time at the ACLU, the Department of Justice and the Obama White House. He is currently running for a seat on the LAUSD Board in 2017.
2000s Sam Berry (’00) reports that he has been teaching 6th grade reading at a charter school in Austin, Texas, since 2015.
Lauren Gaba (’02) is engaged to Brian Flanagan and the couple will marry in October 2016. Lauren studied Marketing and Advertising at Emerson College and she works in the marketing group at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles. Natalie Levine (’02) and Emily Levine (’00) are recruiters and entrepreneurs who recently launched their start-up WorkGrades! (workgrades.com). The platform “makes it easy for candidates to reach out to past employers, verify work history, and compile recommendations,” and it saves reference checks for the future to make job searching easier. Julie Barzilay (’03) is currently a production associate for ABC News, in New York, where she produces stories on health and medicine. She graduated from Harvard with a degree in the History of Science and earned an M.Phil. from Cambridge in the History and Philosophy of Science. She will begin medical school at Stanford University this fall. Brett Mirman (’06) graduated from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism this spring. She recently launched her website allthingstwenty.com, which is devoted to exploring “all things that twenty-somethings might be interested in,” from fashion and skincare to lifestyle products, trends, playlists, and reviews. Leila Ehsan (’07) graduated this year from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History and International Relations. She was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach English in Tajikistan beginning in September. In her spare time, she plans to hike the country’s mountains, work for a human rights NGO, and study for law school entrance exams. Aleksandra Martinovic (’07) graduated from University of the Pacific in 2015 and is currently a student at the University of Utah, where she is pursuing a professional doctorate in audiology. Aleksandra recently completed her first marathon. “I picked up running as a stress reliever,” she says, “and one day found myself registering for the Salt Lake City Marathon.”
Daniel Dávila (’08) is a sophomore at USC in Thornton School of Music’s Popular Music Program. He plans a career as a singer and is working in the industry as a session singer and the lead singer of an R&B band while in college. He performed with USC’s SoCal VoCals for the President at the White House residential staff holiday party last winter and also toured Hong Kong with the group. In 2013, Daniel sang a duet for a Grammy’s Christmas track. Noah Pompan (’08) is a sophomore at Gettysburg College, where he plays on the nationally ranked men’s lacrosse team. He recently co-founded BOOM Social (theboomnow.com), a mobile application designed to help college students share experiences in real-time through geolocation-based photo and video, using a seed grant he received as winner of his college’s 2016 Entrepreneurial Fellowship. Sam Takowsky (’08) traveled throughout Southeast Asia this spring. He will be living and working in Los Angeles for the rest of the summer as an intern for Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors in the investment firm’s Master Limited Partnerships sector. Courtney O’Brien (’09) will enter the freshman class at Princeton this fall, where she will play soccer as a forward for the Tigers. During a gap year, she lived in New York City and interned in the PR department at Louis Vuitton and in product marketing at Olie Biologique. She also traveled in Thailand, Ireland, and Puerto Rico.
2010s Nelson Del Rio, Jr. (’10) graduated from Yellow Wood Academy, Washington, in June. He is a Varsity sculler with Seattle Rowing Center, where he trains yearround. He won the 2015 US Jr. Rowing NW Regional JV 1x and will compete in the 2016 US Jr. Rowing NW Regional and Jr. Nationals Varsity 4x. Nelson will take two gap years to focus on Arabic language and Middle Eastern culture and policy and will attend Middlebury Institute of International Studies, in Monterey, California, in 2016-17.
the Bears when she enters the freshman class at UC Berkeley in the fall. Alanna Richman (’10) will be a freshman at Colgate University in the fall. As a senior, she was chosen to participate in Marlborough’s selective Honors Science Research Program. Working in the renowned Clark Research Lab at UCLA Medical Center, Alanna researched a protein that is believed to trigger germ cell cancer. Her research was presented at the Marlborough Honors Research Fair in April. Kimball Winans (’10) will play football as a kicker/punter for Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut, where he will be a freshman this fall. Sylvie Sanders (’11) is pursuing her passion for sabre fencing and is currently training for her third USA Summer Fencing National Championships. She is “still a massive science nerd” and hopes to be a neurosurgeon with Doctors Without Borders. She continues to cherish many friendships with her Curtis classmates. Kendall Lubkeman (’13) is moving from her home in Los Angeles to London this summer and transferring from Harvard-Westlake School to the American School, where she plans to complete high school. Georgia Salke (’13) is a rising sophomore at Harvard Westlake. She writes: “I’ve found a passion for science here, which was no doubt started by the amazing science department at Curtis. Thank you, Curtis, for a great four years. They made a big impact on the rest of my academic career.” Jai Bhavnani (’14) created Blinko (goo.gl/9zmjTy), an app that enables a camera to directly read a link, phone number, or social media username without QR code technology. Jai says that Blinko was downloaded 10,000 times within the first ten days of going live and that he “would not have been able to do this without the amazing foundation Curtis built for me!”
Gabe Golob (’10) will attend the United States Naval Academy as a plebe in the fall and will play Division 1 baseball for the Midshipmen. At Harvard-Westlake, Gabe was named 2015 Varsity Pitcher of the Year.
Emma Limor and Jagger Lambert (’15) took first place for HarvardWestlake at the LADL Middle School Debate Tournament in January. The rising 8th graders were also teammates in debate at Curtis and credit their first coaches, Debbie Taus-Kahn and Ginger Healy, with preparing them so well for their middle school debate careers.
Alexandria Oser (’10) has been rowing for the club team MAC in Marina del Rey for two and a half years. She will row for
All alumni are listed by their 6th grade class year.
Casandra Campeas Casandra is a practicing travel and fine art photographer, who is currently living and teaching in Spain with a grant from the Fulbright Program. She graduated from Pitzer College with a degree in photography/studio art in 2011. Stationed in Torrelodones, on the outskirts of Madrid, Casandra teaches art, English, and history in a secondary school. The grant supports a project to photograph Córdoba and its places of worship. She says, “I’m fascinated by the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish influences that one finds in southern Spain, particu- 25 larly in the city’s famous Mosque-Cathedral. The evidence of this coexistence is so beautifully expressed in the different textures and architecture. It’s truly breathtaking.” Casandra is immersed in the local community. In her free time, she teaches English to immigrants and photography to seniors with cognitive disabilities. Her work with the people she has met has inspired her desire to continue to teach English—or Spanish—to non-native speakers. When she returns to Los Angeles, she plans to earn bilingual and teaching credentials and to teach art and photography. Casandra’s photography can be viewed on her website casandracampeas.com.
curtis magazine spring 2016
Matriculation of the Curtis Alumni High School Graduates of 2016
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Katie Albert, California State University, Northridge Harrison Bailes, Boston University Adam Benezra, University of California, Berkeley Kelly Bond, University of Washington Raymond Boucher, Vanderbilt University Lexi Bowers, Barnard College, Columbia University Hunter Brookman, University of Chicago Laura Campbell, Vanderbilt University Sofia Cappello, Hampshire College Sarah Cohen, University of Wisconsin Courtney Corrin, University of Southern California Christopher Darden, Pomona College Claire Davis, University of Southern California Nelson Del Rio, Jr., Middlebury Institute of International Studies (Gap Year) Griffin Fisher, San Francisco State University Gabe Golob, United States Naval Academy Bennett Gross, Cornell University Erin Gruenwedel, Columbia College (Chicago) Jonas Hirshland, University of Michigan Annie Jones, Toni & Guy School of Cosmetology Joseph Katz, Colgate University Natasha Katz, University of Michigan Marley King, Sarah Lawrence College William Klink, Johns Hopkins University Erika Kort, Tulane University Justin Kreisberg, Boston College Katie Kreshek, University of Michigan Julian Lehrer, Arizona State University Pearce Levey, Parsons School of Design Christina Li, University of Miami Kelly Loeb, Indiana University Katie Lord, Wesleyan University Ryland Marcus, Emory University curtis magazine spring 2016
Justin Mercadel, Texas A&M University Caitlin Neapole, Queens University Sebastian Nikcevic, University of Arizona Kenneth Noble, Brown University Alexandria Oser, University of California, Berkeley Paige Pearson, University of California, Santa Cruz Michael Pizziferro, University of California, Los Angeles Alivia Platt, University of Colorado, Boulder Justin Pratt, University of San Francisco Philip Quartararo, St. Mary’s College Alanna Richman, Colgate University Nicholas Richmond, Vanderbilt University Ashley Roski-Amendola, University of Southern California Noah Rothman, Colgate University Jeremy Samuels, New York University Lily Schrage, The Art Institute and Vocademy (Gap Year) Josie Shaughnessy, University of Washington Abby Shaum, New York University Clement Sheng, Boston University Nicolette Slusser, Boston University Eric Smith, Stanford University Isabella Smith, Colorado College Morgan Smith, Duke University Blake Solnit, University of Arizona Evan Statt, Chapman University Griffin Styne, Northwestern University Dylan Thinnes, Santa Monica College Rio Thorogood, University of Southern California Dietrich Tribull, Duke University Sandra Veerman, Amsterdam University College Shelby Weiss, Georgetown University Kimball Winans, Trinity College Alec Winshel, New York University
Curtis Magazine Spring 2016 Contributors Drew Beckmeyer Matthew Chang Kristen Coleman Annie Grimes Katie McKenna Jimmy Worth Photography Donald Chang Matthew Fienup Dede Haglund Lauder Photography Ashley Williams Design Robin Yamaguchi Curtis School 15871 Mulholland Drive Los Angeles, CA 90049 publications@curtisschool.org
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curtis magazine spring 2016
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curtis magazine spring 2016
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