Category Archives: Arts (Visual Art & Music)

Black History Month exhibit showcases African art and much more

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By Brennan Meeks

(Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

In honor of Black History Month, Patterson hosted an African/African American history exhibit in Room 162. Staff member Mr. Ricardo Jordan organized the exhibit.

The exhibit explored black history and culture over the years and featured portraits of black inventors, spiritual objects, sculptures and other artwork. The exhibit also included books written by famous African Americans.

The exhibit was open during homeroom and class times and some teachers took their classes down to visit it. Students who saw the exhibit were very interested in learning about African American history and different African cultures.

Patterson celebrates Black History Month with special performance

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Drama Club members perform original poems modeled after the poetry of James Weldon Johnson (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

By  Tamika Addison

Members of  the Patterson Drama Club and Patterson Dance Team performed for our Black History Month assembly on  March 4th  in the auditorium. The Patterson Drama Club did a staged reading of  poems by Patterson students. These poems were written in Ms. Bell’s African American Literature class and were modeled after James Weldon Johnson’s ” Lift Every Voice and Sing “. The Patterson Dance Team performed a  series of  pieces which created a timeline from African Dance through modern hip hop. The performance demonstrated how modern hip hop moves evolved from African dance. The invited audience showed enthusiastic appreciation. Stay tuned for more activity performances!

With files from Ms. Bell

The Dance Team shows how African dance developed into hip-hop moves (Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Tamika Addison, Patterson Press)

The Arts at Patterson

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A student plays the steel drums in Mr. Gagne’s Music Club. Other instruments used by the club include an electric guitar, two pianos and an electric keyboard. (Photo: Clinton Adams, Patterson Press)

By Clinton Adams

Two teachers, both involved in the Arts, recently spoke to the Patterson Press. Both of these teachers are advisors for clubs that students can participate in.

Ms.Bell, the teacher for Drama Club, said that the Drama Club will be performing 3 different shows this year: a Christmas show (scheduled for December 20th), a Black History variety show, and a Spring musical called “Once on this Island”.

Mr. Gagne, the teacher for the music club, says he would like to have his club perform this year and they will go to various locations to play music for people.

The Drama Club meets from 3:45-4:45 in Room 201 or the Auditorium, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Music  Club meets Tuesdays at 3:45 in Room 200. Any students interested in these clubs should attend a meeting or talk to the teachers in charge.

Homerooms Compete in Door Decorating Contest

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A student helps decorate Mr. Laqui’s classroom door. It would be chosen as one of this year’s three winners, along with Mr. Wagoner’s and Ms. Berdin’s rooms. (Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

By Brennan Meeks

Patterson continued an annual tradition this year by hosting a door decorating competition to celebrate Homecoming week from Oct 22-26.

Students in each homeroom class worked together to create an original design promoting Patterson pride on their classroom doors, using whatever materials they could find. A team of judges announced a winner for each of the three floors in the building.

The homerooms that won the contest are Mr. Wagoner’s class (1st floor), Mr Laqui’s class (2nd floor), and Ms. Berdin’s class (3rd floor). Mr. Wagoner’s door was decorated with a clipper ship, paper footballs, and images of Patterson students.

Mr. Laqui’s door had a lot decorations, including footballs and a cemetery with gravestones and ghosts, representing Edmonson High School’s football team (who Patterson would face in the Homecoming game). The graveyard theme also connected with the fact that Halloween was coming up. Some of the footballs were pink, in honor of breast cancer awareness month. The background of this door is a football field with a lot of images of football players.

Ms. Berdin’s door featured a clipper ship, blue streamers and photos of Patterson football players’ heads with bodies drawn on with markers. Even Mr. Benton’s head was included as a football player!

We would like to congratulate these three homerooms, along with all the other classes who participated, for their hard work and creativity in making their doors look nice for Homecoming.

Mr. Wagoner’s room, 1st floor winner (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Mr. Laqui’s room, winner for 2nd floor (Photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Ms. Berdin’s room, 3rd floor winner (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Ms. McDermott’s homeroom decorates their door. (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

A student works on Ms. Mahoney’s door (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Ms. Varela’s door highlights the many different countries her students come from (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

students work on a poster that will go on their classroom door (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Ms. Reyes’ and Ms. Hope’s classroom celebrates Breast Cancer Awareness Month (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

A student puts some finishing touches on Mr. Tola’s door (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Mr. Pesa’s homeroom decorates their door (photo: Brennan Meeks, Patterson Press)

Community Fair brings school and neighborhood together

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Participants join in a traditional Mexican dance

Participants join in a traditional Mexican dance (Photo: Patterson Press)

By Brennan Meeks

Patterson High School held a Back to School Night and Community Fair on September 20, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The event was held mainly in the cafeteria but spread out into hallways and classrooms because there were so many things to do and see. Many local organizations from the Bayview area came out to support our school and inform students and their families about the services they provide. Among the community partners present were Johns Hopkins University, the Building STEPs program, CASA de Maryland and the Refugee Youth Project. Johns Hopkins Medical Center even sent a giant truck that provided free HIV screening and other medical services. Patterson put its many different resources and programs on display, such as sports, career pathway programs, health programs and much more.

Patterson had many visitors from the community, such as a local McDonald’s, which came to support us by giving away free sandwiches.  There were exciting entertainment acts, including a belly dancer, a hip-hop group and a a group of traditional dancers from Mexico. At the fair, the school also provided meals for teachers, students, staff, and families that were involved in the fair. At the fair, there were prizes that you can win just by completing a task. Also on display were many Patterson clubs that students can join. The Patterson Press table even featured old issues of the school newspaper dating back to the World War 2 era. The school store was open for anyone who wanted to purchase Patterson logo-ed shirts, mugs, pens, binders and much more.

Many Patterson students volunteered to help set up and run the fair, earning community service hours in the process. All of our Patterson family participated in this special event, making this year’s community fair a huge success.  We hope to do it again next school year. We would like to see a lot of family, staff members and students come back next time. Our mission is to make our school one of the top 500 schools in the nation, and this year’s community fair showed that we are well on the way to achieving that goal.

Rayvis Mitchell contributed to this article.

Ms. Diehl from Patterson's Health Corps, demonstrates how to eat a healthy diet. (Photo: Patterson Press)

Ms. Diehl from Patterson’s Health Corps, demonstrates how to eat a healthy diet. (Photo: Patterson Press)

CASA de Maryland

Latino rights organization CASA de Maryland promotes the Maryland Dream Act, which would grant more rights to undocumented immigrants in Maryland.  (Photo: Patterson Press)

Female coaches

Patterson’s female coaches encourage students to get involved in athletics. (Photo: Patterson Press)

belly dancer

A belly dancer performs for the crowd (Photo: Patterson Press)

Nail tech

Ms. Bridgeforth’s nail tech students give hand treatments and manicures. (Photo: Patterson Press)

eating

Students, family members, staff and visitors enjoy a meal together. (Photo: Patterson Press)

Clipper Corner

The school store (now called the Clipper Corner) sells Patterson T-shirts and other gear to students and visitors. (Photo: Patterson Press)

Free medical screenings

Health professionals provide free medical screenings on their mobile trailer. (Photo: Patterson Press)

Artist teaches Patterson students to make “living sculptures”

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Artist Doug helps Patterson student Mark Wilson create a sculpture of a hand. (Photo: Mengfei Chen, Patterson Press)

By Mengfei Chen, Patterson Press staff writer

Ms. Broere’s art class welcomed a guest artist into their classroom on February, 03, 2012. Doug Retzler, a local artist who is creating a living sculpture installation for the Greater Children and Nature Conference at Cylburn Park, was invited to Patterson to teach students how to make a grass sculpture.

At the beginning of this project, students were taught to mold clay into the shape of a hand, using their own hands as templates. Next, Retzler and Ms.Broere took the clay hands and put them in a kiln (an oven used for making ceramics). Then, they returned the hardened clay hands to the students who made them.

Once the students received their “hands”, they used more clay to cover the surface and make it three dimensional. At first, most students don’t know how to make the hands correctly until Retzler personally guided them one by one. This gracious man bent down to the same height as the seated students, took little pieces of clay and mended every parts of the “hands”. At once, students learn the way Retzler does it, and they follow his example.

While the students continue to make more hand sculptures, Ms.Broere showed them a machine used for drying ceramic. Its unique appearance and powerful functions impress the class.

Retzler plans to use plant seeds in the clay hands and grow a variety of different plantings, which will become part of his art exhibit at Cylburn Park called “Greening Hands”. The same will also be featured in a “Nature Art in the Park” exhibition in Leakin Park later this spring. In 2008, a Patterson High School art class helped create a similar Green Footprint display for the Baltimore Eco Festival. More information about his projects can be seen at: www.artandeffects.com

Hand sculptures made by Ms. Broere's art students with the help of artist Doug (Photo: Mengfei Chen, Patterson Press)

Artist Doug shows students how to make hand-shaped sculptures (Photo: Mengfei Chen, Patterson Press)

Performers bring Chinese culture to Patterson

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(Photo: Deyanna Bell, Patterson Press)

By Mengfei Chen, Patterson Press staff writer

A group of professional dancers and musicians from China celebrated China’s cultural and ethnic diversity with a dazzling performance entitled “Colorful China” at Patterson’s auditorium on November 15. The performance featured dozens of performers in richly decorated costumes representing China’s fifty-six ethnic groups. Historical and geographic themes like “the Fantastic Prairie” and “the Ancient Times” brought China’s diversity to the stage.

“We choose to have this show at Patterson High School is because we were told that this school has students from over 40 different countries” explained Mr. Wu, the Chinese government official in charge of the performance. “China is a diverse country [so this school is a good match for the theme of our performance]” Mr Wu added.

Before the performance, the Chinese performers worked with a number of Patterson students from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and national origins so that they could be a part of the performance. During “Colorful China”, these students dressed in Chinese clothes, held Chinese traditional instruments and participated in the show.

As students poured into the auditorium, a slide show of photos flashed across a screen above the stage, showing views of China both traditional and modern. ” Colorful China” presented a gift for Patterson High School and after Mr Benton welcomed the crew, the perform began.

The first scene was based on a Chinese festival.  It showed how various Chinese ethnic groups celebrate their new year. The Miao people, one of  the many ethnic groups in China, celebrate their New Year in November. Performers used dance to show the how jubilant the celebration is. The dancers cheered and greeted the coming new year.

The second scene was a wedding ceremony. The enthusiastic groom danced and sang to express how happy he was. The bride danced with him and responded to his love. This strange wedding really let the audience experience Chinese culture and made them feel as though they had been transported to China. At the same time, dancers invited students to join them, giving students a chance to interact with them and gain a more personal connection to the dance.

The third scene was a performance of traditional Chinese musical instruments. Four musicians played four different instruments: the gu zheng, the pipa, the Chinese flute and the urheen. They played one at a time first and then together. Those instruments reappeared in a later scene about the history of classical music traditions  in China.

The final scene was also the most intense and involved all of the dancers and musicians who had performed earlier. Patterson students wearing traditional Chinese costumes walked across the stage, as the Chinese performers joined them in one last dance. The man who played the groom in the wedding ceremony twirled with impressive speed, revealing a special cape that opened up into a huge spinning top. As the show came to an end, all the performers stood together on the stage and took a bow as the audience showered them a thunderous applause.

“Colorful China” built a bridge across international borders by allowing Patterson students to experience another country’s culture. Many students hope to see more performances of this kind from other countries in the future in order to build positive relationships with people from around the world.

(Photo: Deyanna Bell, Patterson Press)

(Photo: Patterson High School Yearbook staff)

(Photo: Patterson High School Yearbook staff)

(Photo: Patterson High School Yearbook staff)

(Photo: Patterson High School Yearbook staff)

Students create gifts for the Chinese performers (Photo: Patterson High School Yearbook staff)


Steel drum ensemble performs at Patterson

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Steel drum musician Kevin Martin brought his Rock Creek Steel Drum ensemble to Patterson on November 2 to perform for students and staff.  The performance was the start of a six week artist residency with Mr. Martin, who will teach students how to play steel drums, helping us to start our own Patterson Steel Drum Ensemble. Students who are interested in participating should sign up with Ms. Warzer in Room 251B.  Practice will be after school on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and/or Thursdays (depending on the week) in Room 14 in the basement, next to Ms. Holter’s room.  Listen to the end of day announcements for reminders.

Steel drum player performing for Patterson students and staff (photo: Deyanna Bell, Patterson Press)
(photo: Deyanna Bell, Patterson PresS)

Patterson teacher creates street art for the community

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Ms. Broere creating her painted crosswalk (Photo: Ms. Monica Broere)

By Mengfei Chen, Patterson Press staff writer

Patterson art teacher Ms. Monica Broere recently created public art for the Highlandtown neighborhood, by painting a scene on the crosswalk  of Eastern Ave and Conkling Steet. Ms. Broere was invited by a group of  professional artists invited her to make this fresh and amazing work of art. That is the first time that she has painted a street. She was excited to do this because she saw it as an opportunity to bring people together in the community.

“The reason I chose that particular image is because painted window screens are a traditional art-form in Baltimore and it began right in East Baltimore”, Ms Broere told the Patterson Press. Even though it is no longer common  to see this type of art in East Baltimore, it is even more rare outside of  this area. Ms. Broere’s excitement about the project is evident when she speaks about it.

The picture she painted is of a home and trees. Those natural and warm images really bring viewers back to the period before air conditioning, when  people had more connection with each other. With the rapid development of  society today, it is easy for us to lose our most important relationships. We should work harder to build a stronger sense of community with our neighbors. Ms. Broere’s artwork helps to accomplish that, encouraging strangers to talk to each other about the new artwork as they pass each other on the street.

Ms. Broere said that she would like to do something like this again in the future, possibly around Patterson High School. She may ask students for their opinions and try to create the  picture on the paper first. We hope this day is coming soon!

Before (Photo: Ms. Monica Broere)

After (Photo: Ms. Monica Broere)

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