January, 2003
Contact: Holly Brooker
(845) 255-1450 xt.1301

Eleanor Roosevelt. Native Americans. Brave firefighters. What do these American icons have in common with each other? They were all recently spotted hanging around the Ulster BOCES Conference Center in New Paltz.

Standing almost five feet in height, four beautiful mosaic-style pencil rendering portraits created by the Rondout Valley High School students in Bill Hutcheon’s Intro to Studio Art class were recently on display at the Ulster BOCES Conference Center in New Paltz. The portraits were based upon the style of contemporary artist Chuck Close. But the most amazing factor about this project is that the students did not know what they were working on until after piecing the finished product together, puzzle-style.

“I had the students look at half-inch square sections of original photographs, then coded them as difficult, medium, and easy. From that, the students then conducted careful observations of the pieces of photographs before recreating their own individual four-inch square pencil renderings of lights and darks on sections of paper, which correlated with the half-inch square of the original photograph they were shown,” explained Hutcheon, who says that by working with such small sections of the photograph, the students couldn’t imagine what it was they were creating. “My students kept saying, ‘Oh, these aren’t going to be anything.’ But they were shocked when we finished piecing the project together.”

Hutcheon said he is extremely proud of his students’ skills. “I told them these pieces of art were good enough to be on display in any New York City gallery.” And many people who passed through the Ulster BOCES Conference Center agreed. Kerhonkson resident Pat Robbins took time out from attending a workshop at the Ulster BOCES Conference Center to admire the portraits, her favorite being the one of Eleanor Roosevelt. “The artwork is absolutely beautiful,” remarked Robbins. “I had to stop and take a closer look!”

Each month, artwork from students in grades kindergarten through 12 from schools districts across Ulster County is displayed gallery-style at the Ulster BOCES Conference Center in New Paltz.