P S Art 2016 Exhibition Schedule www.nyc.gov/schools/artseducation

Holden On To Childhood
Samantha Rapkiewicz
Grade: 8
School:
Art Teacher:
Summer Arts Institute, Manhattan
Laura Blau
Altered paperback copy of Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger; mixed-media sculpture
STUDENT: The creative process takes
great patience and the ability to work
through frustration. Art for me is
therapeutic and enjoyable. Ms. Blau
inspired me to explore new media and
to take risks. I gained confidence as she
continued to encourage me let my art
take me in new directions. In my book
art, I took many risks and developed my
own techniques. I added a subway map,
painted subtle shades of yellow to look
aged. The bench was created out of
cardboard, and wires and found objects
were used to create an assemblage. I
had to play a lot with the balancing the
weight of the materials. This required
me to glue individual pages, solidify
parts with varnish, and rearrange items
that were attached.
TEACHER: For our unit on book
arts, students were challenged to
alter a found book on a subject
of their choice. Students studied
contemporary book artists and were
asked to consider the concept of
appropriating a manufactured item
(a readable book) and repurposing
it into an objet d’art. Students were
offered unlimited formatting options for
displaying and decorating the books.
They considered flat, suspended, or
free-standing sculptural pieces. The
higher ordered task within the unit
was the challenge to evoke emotion in
the viewer, and to create a work of art
that spoke to the book’s content.
Samantha’s manipulation and
assemblage of the physical book
pages, and her incorporation of other
materials such as wire, NYC subway
maps, a door handle, and a constructed
cardboard park bench, are impressive.
She was able to capture elements of
the story successfully.
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