• The Main Building of Sacred Heart Schools

Spotlight on Middle School Art

Recent middle school art projects reflect a deep dive into self-identity, society, and surroundings
Stages of Self
 
Art should function as both a mirror and a window, says Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton (SHS) Middle School art teacher Lauren DiCioccio, which is why from the earliest grades, students examine self and identity through art. By the time they reach eighth grade, students are ready to use advanced techniques and symbolism to explore personal identity. “Eighth grade is a year of big transition, when students are standing at the threshold of adulthood,” said DiCioccio. “To look at oneself at these major periods of change is a really important job, not only in the present moment, but as a gift for your future self to look back on; to see yourself as you once were through your artwork is a really beautiful thing.”
 
Eighth graders portrayed themselves with a symbolic object, color, or place, adding a layer of meaning to how they represent themselves.
 
For her self-portrait titled, “Three Stages of Me,” AJ O’Donnell-Fernando (SHP ’27), chose to represent her sixth, fifth, and eighth grade selves. Using “cold, cool colors” and a mask conveys the gloominess of the global pandemic. Positioning the fifth and eighth grade selves next to each other was intentional, “to symbolize our similarities: regaining a lot of strength and happiness and [using] warm color palettes,” said O’Donnell-Fernando.
 
From Botanical Illustrations to Public Art Project
 
Complementing the sixth-grade science and history curriculum that explores using evidence-based claims, the class created black ink botanical illustrations of campus trees, and endemic and non-native flora, to examine the idea of evidence from an artistic viewpoint.
 
“Observational drawing lets us question whether art can be objective or subjective,” said DiCioccio. With the beauty of the SHS campus serving as inspiration, the project had an underlying goal: many new students enter Sacred Heart in the sixth grade, so DiCioccio was intent on “getting them outside, exploring and learning about our campus, and also working in community with each other, as they get to know each other as sixth grade students.”
 
Ultimately, the class intends to transform the pieces into a collective public art project, forming a labeled map that will serve to guide those new to campus around the 63-acre grounds, observing a variety of native and non-native plants and trees.
 
Ceramic Banquet
 
With the theme of giving everyone from the class a “seat at the table,” an eighth grade “Ceramic Banquet” project allowed students to observe how identity is tied to familial history or social identity. Students looked at the “Big 8” identifiers of ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status and chose one—or chose a story from their family history—to portray through “the language of food.” Projects ranged from a grandmother’s chocolate cake recipe to ravioli served as a beloved traditional Christmas dish, to a ceramic bowl representing social identity: an intentionally placed crack reflects societal pressures and the concept of ideals versus reality. “Each sculpture acts as a place setting that will be displayed together around a table, using the metaphor of a banquet meal as a statement about how our community comes together from diverse perspectives,” said DiCioccio.
 
Eighth grader Sophia Kaushik (SHP ’27) chose to make a dessert platter reflecting her dual heritage of India and Ukraine. “I made three ceramic treats from both places and arranged them in a pink bowl to reflect how these aspects of my heritage come together to represent me. [These] pieces demonstrate the sweet treats that have been my favorites as I grow up,” she said. The finished sculpture features the Indian treats ras malai, soan papdi, and jalebi, along with sweets from Ukraine: blinchiki, baranochki, and belochki.
Back

Sacred Heart Schools Atherton

Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton

150 Valparaiso Ave
Atherton, CA 94027
650 322 1866
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12