Chaos erupted on purpose recently at Old Donation School.
Students descended upon a 24 by 28-foot canvas and began drawing in the school’s atrium on Feb. 7.
Their task – according to abstract artist Taylor Anton White – was to draw a picture of two people assembling a chair.
He described the largescale project as “a drawing experiment.”
“The idea is how far collectively you can deviate from the prompt,” he told students.
Eighth graders Rohini Vanama, Ciyan Chan, Allyson Carlisle and Kiara Singh joined forces and created a smiling strawberry with two sharks on either side.
“We kind of combined everything and added random elements,” Kiara said.
That’s exactly what White had in mind when he encouraged students to divert from the original idea.
Andy Harris is friends with White and a fan of his work. The ODS middle school visual arts educator invited him to spend the day as the school’s guest artist.
About every hour, sixth, seventh and eighth grade art classes took turns expressing themselves on the paper.
They scribbled and drew whatever popped into their heads and used a variety of media, such as crayons, markers and charcoal.
The artwork, a mishmash of people, places and things, was constantly transformed.
Some students pasted paper on top of other’s drawings and created something different. There were no rules, except for being school-appropriate.
Leigh Drake, who also teaches middle school art at Old Donation, said they wanted a collaborative idea to involve and engage the entire school community.
Students in the school’s gifted visual arts and dance programs also participated. Others watched the artwork come to life.
Seventh grader Amelia Valentin-Machado said she was mesmerized by the art activity. “You have no idea what’s going on,” she said. “You can see a walrus and two seconds later it could be a backpack. It’s crazy.”
Asher Martin drew a large smiley face. “It’s a fun way to express myself,” he said.
The sixth grader said the project was not what he expected.
“It’s different that someone tells us to purposely go outside the lines.”
White, a Richmond resident, served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Eventually he studied art in college, which he said changed his life.
About 10 years ago – in his mid-30s – he became a full-time professional artist. His creations are exhibited in galleries worldwide.
White’s bio on the website of the Pulpo Gallery in Germany notes that his art “defies categorization, juxtaposing text, found objects and imagery such as cars, landscapes and inanimate objects, sometimes all within a single work.”
Harris and Drake said the day was a success.
“Students had the ability to take risks without judgment and be part of something bigger than themselves,” Drake said.
They were encouraged not to worry about what they considered a good or bad drawing, Harris said.
“We pushed students to let go of those constraints and to freely make marks to see what happened.”
He compared it to problem solving. Sometimes it’s best to take a break and return to look at something in a totally different way, he said.
Harris said White has a unique style and the ability to lead students in new ways of thinking about art.
“His creative perspective mixed with a crazy work ethic inspires everyone he meets.”
The plan is to display the finished graffiti-like art project in a local gallery.
View the time lapsed video of the Old Donation art project in the making (about six hours of creation in 100 seconds): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vprqMPKjwiX8zwV_fsbaGAc6gEjGHL9F/view?usp=sharing
