DAY SIX: PASTA MAKING AND FRESCO PAINTING

We started the day with work time to finish our portrait of an artist and women of the Renaissance presentations. As some of us finished, we continued working on our oil paintings. Before we began our main event of the day, a few people presented their work. For our main event, we made pasta. We split into seven groups of two and got straight to work. We channeled our Renaissance thinking and just estimated measurements instead of being modern and using measuring cups. After making the dough, we used an old-fashioned, hand pasta press. We worked together to thin the dough out and then cut it into perfect pieces.

                           Students work with Mr. Wadzeck to cut          Two students show their rolled pasta dough.

                                        their pasta into long strips.

After everybody finished making their pasta, we cooked the pasta and topped it with our choice of sauce, from pesto to bolognese. My group had basil and cheese mixed in our pasta, and we all had a very fun and yummy lunch. Our food was so good that people from other classes came to steal some bites! After everyone was done eating, we all cleaned up and then went on to our afternoon.

A student uses a trowel to spread her plaster on her board.

Afterward, we continued the afternoon with fresco and oil paintings. We plastered our boards to prepare for our painting. We made a variety of frescos, such as flowers, jellyfish, and koi fish. Other students worked on their oil paintings, which included subjects such as flowers and portraits. We then began our presentations on women (or men) of the Renaissance.