Clifford Ross visits P.S. 196 in the Bronx
On an afternoon in mid-June, the fifth graders in Studio in a School artist/instructor James Reynolds’s class at PS 196 in the Bronx had an exciting visit with artist Clifford Ross, who came to celebrate Studio in a School’s Open Studio week. Ross is a painter, sculptor, photographer, and videographer who is especially known for his monumental and highly detailed images of mountains and hurricane waves. In order to create these images, Ross built his own camera with an enormous lens, and then blows his images up to room-size prints. His images capture details in a landscape that are up to one to two miles distant.
When the artist came to PS 196, he showed his video “Harmonium Mountain,” which is a documentary about a beautiful mountain in Colorado that Ross particularly loves. After the screening, the students responded to the piece by sharing comments asking questions. They were most interested in Ross’s process, sources of inspiration, and how he developed his ideas. Ross emphasized taking risks and shared how collaboration informs his work. The students then worked in pairs to develop abstract nature pieces in watercolors inspired by “Harmonium Mountain” that were later organized into a large work of art.
Photography by Mindy Best. Videography by Matthew Pulomena
