It’s time to celebrate – the arts in Utah and the Winter Olympic games.  See BTSALP students perform Hamilton: The Making of a Patriot at the Utah State Capitol during Arts Day on the Hill. Do you know what an armature is? Fourth Grade students at South Summit Elementary School do! Learn all about their artistic process and check out their sculptures depicting Olympic sports.  Read all this and more in the current newsletter.

Click here to see videos on our Facebook page of Summit Academy Bluffdale’s performance of Hamilton: The Making of a Patriot.

Arts Day on the Hill

The 2018 Utah Legislative session is up and running and so far the support for the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program is incredible. February 5th was the annual Arts Day on the Hill where Utah arts advocates met with legislators at the state capitol to share all the amazing arts programming around the state. Performance and Visual Arts added to the day that was all about ART!

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Alexander Hamilton

The Making of a Patriot

A Musical Play Written by Stephanie Skolmoski

Performed by 5th and 6th grade students from Summit Academy Bluffdale

Directed by BTSALP Drama Specialist Trisha Bowen

American History is part of the fifth grade curriculum. Lin-Manuel Miranda has created quite an interest throughout America with his musical Hamilton. How wonderful it is to stir up a desire to learn more about the history of America. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s unique style – using hip-hop and rapping – in a setting of over 200 years ago has truly made history come alive and appeal to all ages.

During this performance, we can see a glimpse of Hamilton’s life – how it began and the legacy he left, the world he lived in and the groundwork that he helped create for this new nation. The students were able to perform the main song for Speaker of the House, Greg Hughes, in his office at the capitol.

This original musical was written by Stephanie Skolmoski so grade school students can learn more about Alexander Hamilton and the history he was apart of. No single historical figure was perfect, but the foundations that they helped lay for us, today, are remarkable.

Want to perform this play, need help or have questions? Email Stephanie at contactus@stephanieskolmoski.com.

South Summit Elementary School 4th Grade Studies

The 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea & Athletic Postures

in the style of Alberto Giacometti

BTSALP Visual Art Specialist: Kathleen Briley

Proportions:

• Using prompts and games such as Simon Says, students figure out body proportions and measurements
• Stick figure drawing using folded paper for proportion was the next step followed by gesture drawing
• Three students at a time “modeled” athletic poses for their classmates to sketch

Redraw:

• Using their sketches, students redraw their gesture drawings to use as templates for Olympic wire armatures. 6 feet of 12 gauge aluminum sculpture wire is needed for each armature.
• “Hey, we made wire armature sculptures today!” For homework, students took their redraws home and explained the process to their parents. Parents signed off after a successful explanation.

Taping:

• Wrapping the armatures in masking tape was the next step
• After the tape was applied each student chose a sport to portray (not all sports chosen were Winter Olympic sports)
• Students modeled for each other as body parts were bent into position

Painting:

• Stucco was applied to the base of the sculptures
• Then each figure was spray painted black and finished off with a metallic tone on top